WarSclerotic

Israel Hayom | Foreign policy establishment strikes back.

Clifford D. May

Israel Hayom | The Russian opportunity cannot be missed.

Dror Eydar

Israel Hayom | Iran has all but become Nazi.

Dan Margalit

In one of his papers, Holocaust scholar Professor Saul Friedlander posited a question: why couldn’t the Nazis suffice with portraying the Jew as subhuman, a villain, evil-doer, wicked and harm-seeking? Why did they take pains, once they assumed power, to paint the Jews as a virus, as an ugly rat and a germ? Friedlander, a Holocaust survivor himself, offered a response: that was their way rallying of popular opinion behind a Jewish genocide.

It is much easier to accept the extermination of a virus than to come to terms with the murder of your next door neighbor, even if he or she are sub-human. I thought about Friedlander’s paper on Wednesday, watching Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivering his speech.

He did not attack Israel; nor did he lash out against Zionism. Rather than attack the Jewish people as if he were an enemy leader, he used the lowliest of rhetoric by choosing to portray the Jews — Israelis and Zionists — as if they were non-humans. As if they were not descendants of Adam and Eve. This is as close as it gets to Nazi rhetoric.

There were other troubling features in his rare public appearance, but stripping Jews of their humanity was the lowest point. The world has looked the other way. It is not lending its ears. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton have tried to play dumb, as if the subconscious malice-filled campaign coming out of Tehran has been somehow lost on them. They yearn for a deal, at any price. Despite the draft agreement being taken off the table — because France had sobered-up in the nick of time — Iran now wants to discuss it again. But it wants more than that — it also wants to punish the West; it seeks revenge after the West slammed the brakes and did some thinking.

The battle extends beyond diplomacy or economic interests. If and when next round commences, Iran’s psychological abuse will have already compromised the enlightened world’s ability to think clearly.

Most world leaders prefer to keep their eyes shut than confront the geopolitical reality as it is; they prefer to look the other way rather than grapple with the complexities of Iran’s leaders. Surprisingly, this posture has been assumed by some Jews as well. Thomas Friedman’s column in The New York Times has in recent years served as a litmus paper when it comes to the Obama administration’s stance toward Israel. He has been traveling all over the Middle East, leveling criticism on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That is his right.

But even if all of Friedman’s accusations on Netanyahu were true, they would not measure up to the culpability Khamenei and his cohorts have for setting the region ablaze. Not even one thousand of one percent of that blame can be laid at Netanyahu’s doorstep. The Western media has all but ignored this fact. This too would have fit nicely with the effort to rally the people against the Jews.

Considering this lay of the land, Netanyahu embarked on a mission that was bound to fail when he left for Moscow on Tuesday, hoping to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to check Iran’s nuclear program. He could not shy away from the moral imperative to wage this campaign. That said, when Netanyahu boarded the plane he too knew that the odds were stacked against him. There cannot be any moral rationale for sitting idly by when you have an enemy like Iran, with its twisted logic. You must be cognizant of that particularly if you are a head of state that can retaliate for this aggressive behavior with a proper response.

Settlements and Iran | Jerusalem Post – Blogs.

Prof. Ira Sharkansky

Israel appears to be losing big time on the two issues topping its international agenda.

Palestinian nationalism had yet to be born when World War I was being settled, but they came soon after. Moreover, Balfour was careful to make it clear that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”

Lots of other things are happening in the politics of the Middle East and the US that may influence what happens here, and the Jews have not lost the capacity to maneuver among dangers and possibilities.

Netanyahu, Putin and their so-called ‘chemistry’ | JPost | Israel News.

PM emerges from nearly 4 ½ hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin; concludes that the 2 countries have many overlapping interests; only Putin, his closest advisers, know to what extent he was swayed by Netanyahu.

MOSCOW – Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu emerged from his nearly 4 ½ hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday saying that the talks were “very good,” “genuine,”  “direct,” and that not only have the two men  developed a “chemistry,” but the two countries they lead have many overlapping interests.

None of which gives much of an indication of what really happened behind closed doors, or what was said when the two men met one-on-one for between an hour to 90 minutes. Those details, as Netanyahu himself admitted, will have to wait for his biography.

Until then the public must content itself with leaks — of which there have been few — and the public statements. And from the public statements it is clear that the gaps between Russia and Israel on Iran remain.

Anyone who thought that Netanyahu was going to waltz into the Kremlin and persuade Putin to see Iran, and the Geneva talks, just as he does, was fooling himself. Netanyahu can’t even convince US President Barack Obama of this.

But that was never the expectation. The fantasy, perhaps. A hope, but not an expectation.

The expectation was for Russia to adopt a tougher line among the the P5+1 countries — the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.  The expectation was to get Moscow, which has the closest ties of any of the P5-1 countries with Iran, to perhaps get in front of the ball and lead in a similar manner in which it led in September toward a Syrian agreement to dismantle its chemical weapons program.

It was not coincidental that Netanyahu, in his public comments with Putin, praised what he has started calling the “Russian model” on Syria.  He would like to see that model adopted vis-a-vis Iran, and for Putin to lead the charge..

Will it happen? Will Putin step up to the plate. If he does, it is likely to be done slowly, imperceptibly, in baby steps not dramatic lurches, and in a way that promotes Russian interests. .

No one but Putin and his closest advisers know to what extent, if any, he was swayed by Netanyahu’s argument against the deal on the table in Geneva that gives Iran sanctions relief without demanding that they dismantle what could give them nuclear arms capabilities: the centrifuges and the heavy water reactor at Arak.

Putin gave no public indication that he was swayed. But that is not how Putin operates.

These types of conversations are not generally capped with an ah-ha moment, with one leader being completely swayed by the other.  Diplomatic officials thought that the conversation with Putin was indeed “good,” not necessarily because he adopted Netanyahu’s position, but perhaps because some of his arguments rubbed off and left an impression.

And Israel does not have a bad history of using arguments that leave an impression on Putin.

Among the issues that did come up in Wednesday’s talks were Russian sales of state-of-the-art arms systems to Syria and Iran, an issue that has caused much consternation in Israel for over a decade. Even though there are periodic reports of Russia  selling these game-changing arms — such as the S300 — to Iran and Syria, the truth is that Russia has refrained from selling some of these weapons systems to those countries, an indication that Putin does listen, and even internalize Israeli arguments, even if he doesn’t stand up behind the podium and say so.

In recent days senior Israeli officials are openly talking more and more about the Geneva talks as a marathon, not a sprint, and that even if an agreement is signed that will not be to Netanyahu’s liking, the battle will continue, the race will go on.

The Iranian nuclear file has been open now for some 30 years, and Netanyahu has no illusion it will now be closed in one fell swoop. The prevention of a nuclear-armed Iran is  long difficult process, and if Netanyahu fails in his efforts to convince Putin and the world that the proposal on the table is a bad deal, then after the proposal is signed he will wake up the next morning and keep plugging away.

And Russia, where policy change is often measured in millimeters not miles, will continue to be one his targets.

Iran stands fast on Arak heavy water reactor for plutonium-fired nuclear weapon.

Arak reactor under construction for plutonium

The Iranian negotiators face the delegations of six world powers in Geneva Thursday, Nov. 21, with strict orders not to give ground on the two major sticking points holding up a first-step deal on their nuclear program: The heavy water reactor under construction at Arak for producing plutonium and Iran’s “right” to uranium enrichment. If Iran gains those two points, whatever concessions its negotiators may come up with are worthless, because they will leave Tehran in possession of two optional nuclear weaponizing tracks instead of one – plutonium as well as enriched uranium.

debkafile’s sources report that Tehran is fighting tooth and nail for Six-Power acknowledgement of its “right to enrich uranium” – ostensibly to come away from Geneva with a “historic feat” to show the Iranian people that the economic hardship they suffered under economic sanctions was worth the candle.

But concession of this “right” has a more sinister purpose: It would give Iran’s nuclear aspirations the enormous boost of an international license to keep its uranium enrich facilities, including the underground plant in Fordo and the centrifuge production line, fully intact and ready to go at any time.

The infrastructure already standing, say US intelligence sources, is capable of topping up enriched uranium stockpiles already in hand to the amount needed for five nuclear bombs in less than a month – 26 days is the number often cited.
The second option of plutonium would also be available when the Arak reactor is finished.
US, Russian and British sources are presenting the gap in the resumed Geneva talks Thursday as minor and bridgeable.

debkafile’s sources say they are just playing for time to chip away at a draft accord that by its nature would be a compromise solution which gives ground to Tehran.

And what compromise can be expected when Washington failed to challenge Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s avowal on Day One of the Geneva talks that Iran will not step back “one iota” from its nuclear rights, and his grotesquely barbaric rant against Israel as “the roguish, filthy, rabid dog of the region,” whose regime is “doomed to extinction?”

This degraded language, not heard since the Nazi German era, informed the Obama administration in the harshest terms that for the sake of a deal, Iran will not give an inch under pressure, whether from economic sanctions or from Israel and parts of the American Jewish leadership.

Khamenei also blasted US government as unworthy of trust.

If President Barack Obama was serious in his often repeated commitment to Israel’s security, he ought to have protested in some way against Khamenei’s unspeakable rhetoric, possibly even delaying the proceedings before they started their second day in Geneva.
But the Iranian leader apparently got away with it, judging from the Obama administration’s mild response – a senior US official said it was “uncomfortable,” but did not condemn it as unacceptable like the French President Francois Hollande, and the British Foreign Secretary William Hague declined any comment at all, fearing to rock the boat in Geneva.

Their evasions told Tehran that Washington and London are so hooked on closing a deal at this time that they can be trusted to find some way around the Arak and enrichment hurdles to reach their goal.

The French team alone stood out in Geneva against Iran’s continuing construction of the Arak reactor, arguing that possession of this facility would nullify any other concessions Tehran might offer.

Israel, Gulf in ‘strange alliance’ against Iran – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Talks of emerging deal between Iran, West bring unprecedented public ties between Israel, Gulf; J’lem sees nuclear Iran as existential threat, Sunni Persian Gulf find Shiite republic dangerous to region

Associated Press

When US Secretary of State John Kerry made another stop in the Middle East this month, he received an expected earful over Washington’s outreach to Iran: Don’t trust Tehran, tighten sanctions even more, anything short of complete nuclear concessions is a grave mistake.

Kerry’s meeting wasn’t in Israel, though. It was in Riyadh, listening to Saudi leaders.

In one of the region’s oddest pairings, Israel and the Gulf Arab states led by Saudi Arabia increasingly are finding common ground – and a common political language – on their mutual dismay over Iran’s history-making overtures to Washington and the prospect of a nuclear deal in Geneva that could curb Tehran’s atomic program but leave the main elements intact, such as uranium enrichment.

The scene of the explosion in Beirut (Photo: AP)

“The adage about ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ is playing out over Iran,” said Theodore Karasik, a security and political affairs analyst at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis. “This situation opens up some interesting possibilities as it all shakes out.”

There seems little chance of major diplomatic breakthroughs between Israel and the Gulf’s array of ruling monarchs and sheiks. But their shared worries over Iran’s influence and ambitions already has brought back-channel contacts and “intimate relationships” on defense and other strategic interests through forums such as the UN, said Dan Gillerman, a former Israeli ambassador to the world body.

The stepped-up anxieties on Iran could bring new space for the Gulf-Israel overlap.

Egypt’s military-backed government, which ousted the Iran-friendly Muslim Brotherhood, could be an easy fit into a regional bloc standing against Iran and demanding tougher lines from Washington, which has been roundly criticized by some for abandoning its longstanding allies in favor of trying to settle the nuclear standoff with Iran.

Egypt’s leadership depends on Gulf money as a lifeline and seeks to rebuild its ties with Israel, whose peace treaty with Cairo was considered a historical annoyance by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Saudi and other Gulf states are critical money-and-weapons pipelines to Syrian rebels in a proxy war with Iran, the main Middle East backers of Bashar Assad‘s government. Iran’s other loyal force, Lebanon‘s Hezbollah, is also in the mix in Syria. On Tuesday, an al-Qaeda-linked group claimed it carried out a pair of suicide bombings at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut that killed 23 people, including an Iranian diplomat, in an attack that was widely seen as retaliation against Hezbollah and Lebanon’s role in Syria.

Israel may now be able to look more to Saudi assistance and intelligence in efforts to undercut Hezbollah, which has fired rockets into Israel and waged a 2006 war. Saudi Arabia also gave important backing the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 with Israel and could assume an even greater role in future Israel-Palestinian talks.

US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman (Photo: EPA)

 “A nuclear deal… is likely to intensify behind-the-scene political cooperation between the Persian Gulf states and Israel, especially when it comes to lobbying in Washington and in Brussels,” said Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-born political analyst based in Israel.

Already, there have been some curious cross currents by foes viewing Israel and Saudi Arabia as being on the same page.

Explosion near the Iranian embassy in Beirut (Photo: AFP)

 After the Beirut bombings, Iran’s foreign minister blamed Israel for the attacks. Hezbollah and Syrian officials, however, indirectly pointed the finger at Saudi Arabia, which is a leading backer of Syrian rebel factions along with Gulf ally Qatar.

On Monday, the official Saudi Press Agency put out a statement categorically denying a report in Britain’s Sunday Times that the kingdom and Israel were making “contingencies” for an attack on Iran if diplomacy fails to make deep cuts in Tehran’s nuclear program.

EU FM Ashton and Irani FM Zarif (Photo: EPA)

 It’s not difficult, though, for Middle East commentators to speculate on the meeting of minds between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The roots of their shared fears over Iran are so similar.

Israel considers a nuclear-armed Iran – or even if it is near that capability – as a direct threat to its survival after decades of anti-Israel remarks by Iranian leaders and attacks by Iranian-backed groups such as Hezbollah. Israel also worries about shifts in the regional balance of power. Israel is believed to have a nuclear arsenal, but neither confirms nor denies its existence.

Iranian students burn an Israeli flag outside the Fordo facility (Photo: EPA)

 Iran denies it seeks nuclear weapons. But any deal with world powers seen as easing concerns could later be used by Iran to boost calls to ban nuclear arms across the region – and put pressure on Israel over its presumed nuclear warheads.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that his country was ready to “defend itself” if Iran appeared on course to develop a nuclear weapon.

Saudi Arabia, which generally sets the political tone for the rest of Gulf, also sees Iran as a dangerous neighbor. The Sunni-ruled Gulf states routinely assail Shiite power Iran for allegedly backing revolts such as Bahrain’s Arab Spring-inspired uprising or supporting coup plots – although no clear evidence has ever been made public.
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partners are deep-pocket customers of US weapons and aircraft, but also allow the Pentagon extensive footholds in the region, including the headquarters of the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain. The arrangement is meant to buy protection from Washington and intimidate Iran.

During Kerry’s visit this month, he assured Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal that Washington’s “deep relationship” is solid and enduring.

But there was no mistaking Saudi Arabia’s lingering anger over the US decision to back off on possible military strikes on the Iranian-backed Syrian government over its suspected use of chemical weapons in August. Instead, Washington sided with a Russian-drafted plan to collect and dismantle Assad’s chemical stockpile.

Saudi Arabia is a main backer of the Syrian rebels fighters through aid channels believed overseen by Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

Secretary John Kerry and Saudi FM Prince Saud al-Faisal (AP: Photo)

  Shortly before Kerry’s trip, Saudi Arabia snubbed a seat on the UN Security Council in an unprecedented protest mostly aimed at US policies in the Middle East.

“We have a common enemy, Iran, and we have shared disappointments from our allies, mainly the United States, something that created a somewhat strange alliance between Israel and the Gulf states,” said Gillerman, the former diplomat.

Gulf leaders keep a cool distance in public from Israel, but it’s not been a total separation.

The boldest link so far has been from Qatar – home base of the influential pan-Arab network Al-Jazeera – that allowed an Israel trade office until it was closed after Israel’s attacks on Gaza beginning in late 2008.

Israeli passport holders are generally banned from entering Gulf countries because of no diplomatic relations, but exceptions have been made for athletes and selected international conferences. Still, there are sensitivities. Last month, Israeli flags were edited from some TV coverage of World Cup swimming competition in Qatar.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor, said Israelis seeking to travel to the Gulf are likely to rely on a second passport if they are dual nationals.

Uzi Dayan, a former Israeli deputy chief of staff and national security adviser, said Israel is singled out as the main alarmist over Iran’s nuclear program, but the Sunni Arabs in the Gulf, Egypt and elsewhere are just as galvanized in opposition.

“There are more actors and participants than what you hear. We choose to do it from the main stage in a loud voice,” Dayan told Israel’s Army Radio.

Iran negotiator: No deal without right to enrich uranium – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Iranian deputy FM says there is ‘lack of trust’, no deal excluding right to urniaum enrichment will be accepted. Meanwhile, French FM urges West to stand firm, hopeful deal could be struck this week

News Agencies

Iran will not sign up to a nuclear deal with world powers unless they accept its right to enrich uranium, its chief negotiator to talks in Geneva said Thursday.

“No deal that does not include the right to uranium enrichment from start to finish will be accepted,” Abbas Araqchi said on his Twitter account, quoted by official news agency IRNA.

Araqchi also warned of a “lack of trust” as an obstacle to sealing an accord at nuclear talks in Geneva between the Islamic republic and major powers.

“The main obstacle is the lack of trust because of what happened at the last round. As long as trust is not restored, we cannot continue constructive negotiations,” Araqchi told state television.

France: West must stand firm

Meanwhile, France’s foreign minister said on Thursday the West needed to be firm in its dealings with Iran over the country’s nuclear program, but he was hopeful an accord could be struck this week.

“I hope so,” Laurent Fabius told France 2 television when asked if there could be a deal. “But this agreement can only be possible based on firmness.”

France and other major powers are meeting with Tehran’s representatives in Geneva this week for a third round of talks with a view to reaching a preliminary agreement on curbing Iran’s nuclear program.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech that Tehran would not step back from its nuclear rights and he had set “red lines” for his envoys in Geneva.

Khamenei also called Israel a “rabid dog”, and criticized France, which spoke out against a draft deal floated at the Nov. 7-9 negotiating round, for “succumbing to the United States” and “kneeling before the Israeli regime”.

France has consistently taken a tough line over Iran’s nuclear program, helping Paris forge closer ties with Tehran’s foes in Israel and the Gulf.

Dismissing Khamenei’s comments, Fabius said France’s position had been accepted by the other five other major powers – United States, Russia, China, Britain and Germany – and that a strong stance was not just a question of defending Israel’s security, but of ensuring security in the region and world.

“For now the Iranians have not been able to accept the position of the six, I hope that they will accept it.”

Western governments suspect Iran has enriched uranium with the covert aim of developing the means to fuel nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies.

Policymakers from the six governments have said an interim accord on confidence-building steps could finally be within reach to defuse a decade-old standoff and dispel the specter of a wider Middle East war over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions.

France has set four conditions for an interim deal: Put all Iranian nuclear installations under international surveillance, suspend 20 percent uranium enrichment, reduce existing enriched uranium stocks and stop construction of a heavy water plant at Arak that could potentially produce weapons-grade plutonium.

“I’m not saying a deal will get done, but we are now in a process and we’re entering the core of the subject,” a French diplomat said. “The problem now is reconciling the red lines from both sides.”

Washington Watch: US presidency bleeding from self-inflicted wounds | JPost | Israel News.

By DOUGLAS BLOOMFIELD

11/20/2013 22:52

Nixon had Watergate, Clinton had Monica Lewinsky, Reagan had Iran-Contra, Bush 41 had “read my lips” and his son, Bush 43, had Katrina and Iraq.

The worst wounds politicians suffer are usually self-inflicted. Nixon had Watergate, Clinton had Monica Lewinsky, Reagan had Iran-Contra, Bush 41 had “read my lips” and his son, Bush 43, had Katrina and Iraq.

And now it’s Barack Obama and “if you like your insurance plan you can keep it.”

He’s the latest and most visible victim of self-inflicted wounds, and this one could prove fatal to his presidential legacy. Last year’s presidential election was rife with examples, particularly on the Republican side.

A parade of hopefuls became frontrunners du jour – Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich – only to quickly shoot themselves down.

Mitt Romney’s ambitions suffered a potentially fatal wound when someone released a video of the GOP nominee’s infamous candid 47 percent remark at a private fundraiser with fellow multi-millionaires.

Romney made repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a top target of his 2012 campaign, and Obama interpreted his victory as an endorsement of the program, but the GOP has carried on the attack campaign into Obama’s second term.

House Republicans have passed more than 40 bills, amendments and resolutions and even shut down the government for 16 days at a cost of $24 billion to the US economy in repeated failed efforts to kill Obamacare.

They held funding for the federal government hostage to their demand that Obama agree to drop his signature legislative achievement.

Instead it was the Republicans who ran up the white flag, but not before doing enormous damage – not to Obama and Obamacare but to themselves.

Republicans are talking about repairing Obamacare, but they’re not being honest. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Michigan), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee and author of the so-called “repair” bill that passed the House on Friday with 39 Democratic votes, admit that repair is the last thing they want.

When CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Upton whether his bill wasn’t a “Trojan horse” because he really isn’t interested in repairing Obamacare, the congressman admitted, “There’s not a Republican out there who wouldn’t want to repeal it.”

But don’t blame the Republicans for what went wrong; all their efforts to damage and destroy ACA have failed, sometimes, like the shutdown, with disastrous consequences for them.

What has Obamacare bleeding and in the ICU are self-inflicted wounds.

Those include a dysfunctional White House decision-making process that spurns help from experts, rank incompetence among the high level bureaucrats charged with implementing the new health care plan, a wholesale lack of accountability at high levels and a president bizarrely aloof from even the most basic details of what he expected to be his signature accomplishment.

The Republicans argued from the outset that Obamacare wouldn’t work and would in fact make health care worse for many Americans; incredibly, the Obama team seemed determined to prove them right.

Millions of Americans feel – not unjustifiably – that they were lied to. Obama and company have set back the critical cause of health care reform by years.

The president’s pitiful performance has affected every other area of US policy – at home and abroad. It is not a stretch to say US credibility in the Middle East has suffered because of the self-inflicted image of incompetence and weakness created by the health care fiasco.

The crisis has amplified the impression of confusion and disarray in Obama’s Middle East policy.

The United States looks weak and ineffective as turmoil spreads in Egypt, Libya, Iraq and Syria. US-Israel relations, after a brief uptick earlier this year, are again in the pits as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu accuses the administration of being overeager to cut a nuclear deal with Iran.

Making matters worse, the Saudis and some other Gulf Arabs are siding with Israel on this one.

Obama has failed to enact top legislative priorities like immigration reform and gun safety. The administration is haunted by IRS targeting of conservative groups, Justice Department tapping journalists’ phones, the Snowden gusher of leaks and revelations about NSA snooping on foreign leaders.

Obama can’t be blamed for all that, but it has happened on his watch and, as he likes to quote Harry Truman, his desk is where the buck stops.

The administration has been shuffling staff to try to get the ACA website and sign-up working, but so far no one is being held accountable, and no one has lost their job, even though officials admit they won’t meet their latest deadline to get it fully operational by month’s end.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama is left out there twisting slowly, slowly in the wind, suffering from the damage done to Obamacare and his presidency with no one to blame but himself.

Netanyahu ‘promises’ Iran will not get nuclear weapons | JPost | Israel News.

By HERB KEINON

11/21/2013 10:52

PM to Russian Jews warns “true” face of Iran is not the one of propaganda films produced by smiling Iranian FM Zarif, rather that of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calling Jews “rabid dogs.”

MOSCOW – Iran will not get a nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said unequivocally to a group of Russian Jewish leaders Thursday.

After saying that the “true” Iran was not the one of propaganda films produced by Foreign Minister Javad Zarif smiling and speaking about a peaceful future, but rather that of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calling Jews “rabid dogs.”

Khamenei, at a rally in Iran on Wednesday, called Israel an “illegitimate regime” led by “untouchable rabid dogs.”

“It is forbidden for Iran to have nuclear weapon,” he said. “And I can promise you they won’t have nuclear weapons.”

Netanyahu, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday for some 4 ½ hours, said that both Russia and Israel share the goal of preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons. He did not, however, reveal whether he succeeded in persuading Putin to take a more forceful stand against Iran at the talks between the P5+1 currently taking place in Geneva.

Netanyahu is trying to get the Russians to take a more active role in those talks, in the hope that this would lead to a type of agreement with Iran similar to what the Russians brokered regarding Syria’s chemical weapons. Syria, because of its leverage in Syria, was instrumental in getting Syrian President Bashar Assad to agree in September to dismantle his chemical weapons arsenal.  Of the P5+1 countries — the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany — Russia has the closest ties and most leverage with Iran.

In addition to meeting Russian Jewish leaders, Netanyahu briefed senior Russian journalists Thursday morning. He is also scheduled to do two more media interviews and visit the new Jewish museum in Moscow before heading back to Israel late Thursday night.