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Friday October 26, 2007

Israel now leads lobby against Iran

by leslie susser
jta

leslie susser | jtajerusalem |In a major policy change,Israel haslaunched a high-profile diplomatic initiative tothwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions following PresidentBush’s warning that a nuclear Iran could produceWorld War III.Over the last several days,Prime Minister EhudOlmert embarked on whirlwind trips to Russia,France and Britain.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livniwent to China.Together with the United States,these countriescompose the permanent members ofthe UnitedNations Security Council.Israel’s goal is to persuadethem ofthe pressing need to tighten U.N.-mandatedsanctions against Iran and convince Iranian leadersto abandon their nuclear program.In Israel,Bush’s remarks highlighting Iranianthreats to destroy the Jewish state sparked heateddebate.Many lamented that the U.S.president madeit seem as ifIsrael is the only reason for Iran’s nucleardrive — perpetuating a false perception Israelis say isnot in their national interest.The remarks also prompted a debate in Israel over thecountry’s readiness for a possible missile attack from Iranand its army’s offensive options.Olmert returned from his lightning visit to Moscow lastweek heartened by President Vladimir Putin’s declarationthat Russia has no intention ofallowing Iran to acquirenuclear weapons.But some seasoned Israeli diplomatsbelieve Putin may be playing a double game.Avi Primor,a former envoy to Germany and theEuropean Union,argues that Iran is less interested in usingits nuclear profile to destroy Israel than in gaining hege-mony in the Persian Gulfand controlling its considerableoil resources.Were that to happen,Primor says,Iran and Russiawould have more than 80 percent ofthe world’s oil andcould hold the West ransom.Until now,Israel deliberately had kept a low profile onIran for fear that too active a role would make the Iraniannuclear issue seem like a bilateral confrontation betweenJerusalem and Tehran,absolving the international com-munity ofresponsibility for dealing with Iran.But over the past few months,Israeli leadershave detected a number ofworrying develop-ments.With Russia and China opposed to tightening thescrews on the Iranians,the Islamic regime is ignor-ing international sanctions.Furthermore,rising oilprices enable Iran to better absorb economic sanc-tions.Perhaps worst ofall,the International AtomicEnergy Agency is allowing Iran to continue itsefforts to enrich uranium.These changes,together with Bush’s remarks,jus-tify Israel’s new high-profile approach,the Israelidaily Ha’aretz argued in a recent editorial.“The minute President Bush placed his concernfor Israel at the top ofhis arguments for confrontingIran,Israel had to come out into the open and makeits position clear,”the editorial said.“The trips byOlmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to coun-tries that are permanent members ofthe SecurityCouncil for talks on how to stop the Iranian threatare the first,appropriate steps in this direction.”Several Israeli pundits took issue with Bush forputting Israel at center stage.“No thanks,Mr.President,”veteran Ha’aretz columnistUzi Benziman wrote.“There are already those who argueIsrael’s existence is the source ofall the Middle East’s trou-bles;references ofthe kind Bush made last week reinforcethis impression and arouse dangerous anti-Israel senti-ment in all corners ofthe globe.”“Bush’s efforts — diplomatic and economic pressure aswell as increasingly explicit threats to employ military forceagainst Iran — are the way to tackle the problem.Israelshould be left outside ofthe frame,”Benziman argued.

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