Posted on 12/09/2007 3:39:18 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
"The manner in which the Americans relate to the intelligence report on Iran is similar to the way in which they viewed those reports they received during the Holocaust on railways transporting hundreds of thousands of Jews to their death at Auschwitz," Minister Yitzhak Cohen of Shas said during a security cabinet meeting Sunday morning on the Iranian nuclear issue.
"It can not be that (US President George W.) Bush is committed to peace as was declared at Annapolis, and then the Americans propagate such an intelligence report which contradicts the information we have proving Iran intends to obtain nuclear weapons," Cohen said. "How can we rely on the Americans if they publish this report that emasculates what the world explicitly knows regarding Iran, and renders impotent the entire struggle against the Iranians?"
Minister Cohen asserted that the report must have been "ordered by someone who wants dialogue with Tehran" and formulated an historical analogy to express just how serious the situation is: "In the middle of the previous century the Americans received intelligence reports from Auschwitz on the packed trains going to the extermination camps. They claimed then that the railways were industrial. Their attitude today to the information coming out of Iran on the Iranians' intention to produce a nuclear bomb reminds one of their attitude during the holocaust."
Cabinet Member Cohen had this to say to his fellow ministers not present in the meeting: "Whoever thinks that the president of Iran is a lover of Zion, with Kosher certification from the Americans, misleads and is mislead. He is not a lover of Zion, but instead an aspiring strangler of Zion. Someone in America fell asleep on his watch, but we must remain awake and aware.
Neither Cohen nor the Shas party would confirm nor deny the remarks the minister made in the meeting.
Earlier a senior security source told Ynet that "Iran will do all in its power to proceed on the path (to a nuclear weapon), while trying to confuse the western world." In the meeting, policy makers attempted to formulate the Israeli response to the American National Intelligence Estimate, published last week, which asserted that Iran suspended its activities for acquiring nuclear weapons in 2003.
Cabinet ministers were be briefed on the issue after the meeting but are not yet expected to make any decisions regarding the Israeli response to the report, which will likely prevent the imposition of a third round of economic sanctions on Iran by the UN Security Council.
The uniform stance of most cabinet members is that Israel must neutralize the effects of the American intelligence report.
According to senior ministers, Israel has information proving that Iran did not cease in its efforts to obtain a nuclear bomb, and is only acting in secret. Nevertheless, none of the three top ministers, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, or Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni seeks to create a confrontation with the American administration.
A senior security official who has seen the materials Israel possesses claims that there is enough incriminating information regarding Iran's intentions.
"Even if the world lacks clear evidence, the (Iranian) agenda is clear. We have no doubt that it is (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs who are directing the program. Israel has gathered enough information to obligate the international community to continue with its intensive activity against creating a bomb," he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai, also of Shas, said before the cabinet meeting: "International pressure on Iran must continue. We know the truth, as does the rest of the world. We must not play dumb in the face of the report's supposed findings. This report is mistaken and is only trying to delay the inevitable. It has only intensified the danger. Don't say this is more of the usual, because we are thus likely to fall asleep and wake up with a nuclear Iran."
Minister Yishai warned that "these attempts at postponement endanger us and the world at large."
According to the minister, this is not the right time to address the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, but that "we must act on all levels to eliminate the Iranian danger."
Over the weekend NATO foreign ministers met and decided to continue applying pressure on Iran after European Union leaders expressed the identical opinion in a meeting last week with American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Foreign Minister Livni, who met with Rice in Brussels during the NATO convention, welcomed the unified front, but instructed Israeli ambassadors and representatives throughout the world to expand the diplomatic struggle to impose additional sanctions on Iran.
The Foreign Ministry, it seems, fears Moscow and Beijing will use the NIE's findings as an excuse to veto any such sanctions on Iran in the Security Council, which is set to begin conducting on the issue Monday.
Israel is a crucial ally for strategic, economic and most of all, spiritual reasons.
Those who stand with Israel will be blessed, and vice versa.
May we ensure our leaders never forget that.
It seems to me that Minister Cohen is overstating his objection just a wee little bit.
It might also do him some good to reflect on the fact that we were the ones who eventually liberated the camps and exposed the German’s atrocities to the world. He should also reflect that the US has been Israel’s only consistent friend even in the face of such provocations as the sinking of one of our naval vessels. I would say the Minister needs a little perspective.
It might also do him some good to reflect on the fact that it is the liberals in this country who are embracing the NEI report.
Israel does what it sees to be in its best interest. That usually, but not always, coincides with what is in our best interest.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
What an ungrateful ass. Mr. Cohen should ask Europe for help.
Typical blackhats winning friends and influencing people as usual.
I’m as mad about the NIE’s obvious sabotage of Bush as anyone, but tarring Americans with a broad brush and throwing Auschwitz into the mix is not doing any good.
But, dont you know? All Americans are stupid...or fat...or lazy...or health obsessed...or greedy... or whatever else the thought bosses feed into the mindless drones.
And exactly where would Israel be without our help over the years that came at great expense to us?
You can cast all the scorn you want on the CIA but don’t call the NIE a product of America and particularly Americans. It is a product of anti American operatives pushing their own agenda and it will be exposed as just that.
Yes, giving the impression that Auschwitz is somehow our fault is really, really low.
Say thank you and shut up.
its authors must be proud of the damage they are doing with their work of fiction.
Was it ever really any different?
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and it would do us some good if we don’t allow those liberals to be in charge of this country
it’s too bad he didn’t listen to what Rav Shach said:
http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5762/toldos/T62orshachspch1.htm
“This I also want to say to you, that we must not antagonize the peoples of the world. We are bound by three oaths, including a vow not to go up with force and not to antagonize them. Everything should be done peacefully. We need not be afraid or make a commotion. On the contrary, we should go with a smooth and pleasant policy.
We have to recognize and acknowledge what America has done for us and is doing for us, our whole lives. During the war with Iraq, she did much for us. We may have beaten them [by ourselves], but they certainly prevented the loss of many of our lives. Without American help we would not have been able to stand up to the rockets of Iraq. America fought and did us a big favor, and we must recognize and acknowledge what she has done for us, whether from pure motives or not. We must express our gratitude for the favor she has done us. We must not rebel and reject her; we must express our gratitude.
Also with regard to what America is doing now, we must understand that she has all kinds of alliances and obligations to others. Naturally we cannot agree to all the things she does. However we must realize that she has all manner of other obligations, and we must not reject her, and we must always remember what Chazal say, “Don’t rebel against the nations of the world.”
Its a good question. America has been and still is Israel's only earthly ally. Still, CIA and State worry me. A congress that can send men into war and then undercut those very men, worries me. And the men who wrote this report that denies in the first line what the rest of the report affirms, these men worry me.
The fact that Bush did not clean house, or perhaps tried and failed as in the Porter Goss episode, this worries me.
And, for that matter, the fact that Israel can elect a man like Olmert when they are right on the edge, that also worries me.
Iran cares not a whit what is in that report, and they most assuredly do not fear the men who wrote it. I think they feared the Bush that could topple the Afghans with a hundred green berets, and they feared the Bush that could topple Saddam in a week of fighting. I don't think they fear any of us right now. They've learned what the Vietnamese learned; you don't defeat the Americans on the battlefield, you defeat them in Washington DC, you beat them in the newsrooms, and you defeat them in the halls of congress.
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