Posted on 03/02/2015 9:25:16 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Reports came out overnight about a story which, if true, will be another damaging blow to the US – Israeli relationship. According to “an unnamed Israeli minister” who is quoted in a Kuwait newspaper, a 2014 plan by Israel to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities was scotched, in part, because the United States may have threatened to shoot down their planes if they tried it.
The Bethlehem-based news agency Ma’an has cited a Kuwaiti newspaper report Saturday, that US President Barack Obama thwarted an Israeli military attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2014 by threatening to shoot down Israeli jets before they could reach their targets in Iran.
Following Obama’s threat, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was reportedly forced to abort the planned Iran attack.
According to Al-Jarida, the Netanyahu government took the decision to strike Iran some time in 2014 soon after Israel had discovered the United States and Iran had been involved in secret talks over Iran’s nuclear program and were about to sign an agreement in that regard behind Israel’s back.
The report claimed that an unnamed Israeli minister who has good ties with the US administration revealed the attack plan to Secretary of State John Kerry, and that Obama then threatened to shoot down the Israeli jets before they could reach their targets in Iran.
It’s not the first time such an idea has been floated. Apparently it’s a plan previously proposed by Mika Brzezinski’s dad.
Former US diplomat Zbigniew Brzezinski, who enthusiastically campaigned for Obama in 2008, called on him to shoot down Israeli planes if they attack Iran. “They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?” said the former national security advisor to former President Jimmy Carter in an interview with the Daily Beast.
“We have to be serious about denying them that right,” he said. “If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a ‘Liberty’ in reverse.’”
Israel mistakenly attacked the American Liberty ship during the Six-Day War in 1967.
Right up front, even though there are multiple outlets talking about this story today, there simply isn’t enough information available to say how much credibility we should lend this report at the moment. It’s apparently sourced from an Israeli news outlet who is quoting a Kuwaiti paper who is quoting a nameless source. I’ve yet to see anyone else with direct knowledge of the alleged events stepping up to verify it.
So how likely is this to be true? There are two sides to that coin to be sure. To begin with, we can draw on the history of this presidency and our degraded relationship with the Israeli Prime Minister. Obama wants peace, if only to have everyone go along to get along so he can get back to his executive amnesty plans and a few more rounds of golf. While the President is gun shy about putting troops anywhere, he’s never been averse to sending out fighter jets to set loose a few missiles. And, while extreme even for him, it’s not beyond the pale to imagine him taking a step like this – even involving an attack on an ally – if he felt he could justify it as a move to prevent a larger war.
By the same token, there are too many factors in place which call this into question. The obvious one which I already noted is the lack of sourcing. But perhaps even more dubious is the timing. Having a story such as this break just as Netanyahu arrives in the United States to talk about the exact same issue – how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program – makes the story suspicious to say the least. If this was one of those “known things” among the intelligence community and the events took place last year, why would everyone have sat on such a juicy item for all this time?
Read through the source material and decide for yourself. I can’t rule it out, but I’m also not ready to jump in and endorse this one as fact yet.
” The report claimed that an unnamed Israeli minister who has good ties with the US administration revealed the attack plan to Secretary of State John Kerry, and that Obama then threatened to shoot down the Israeli jets before they could reach their targets in Iran.”
NAME him!
Then we can act.
Roger Simon of Pajamas Media has a different view:
More likely, the report, which emerged from Kuwait, is disinformation timed to discredit Prime Minister Netanyahu and make him seem a warmonger in advance of his address to Congress Tuesday.
The source stated that, since 2008, it is no longer possible for the U.S. to intercept Israeli jets flying over Southern Iraq, the normal route to Iran.
The U.S. simply does not have the facilities in place anymore, and if it were to get them, the “spin up” would be obvious to almost everyone, making it ineffective. Moreover, there have been many reports that Saudi Arabia has agreed to let the Israelis fly over their territory if they attacked Iran, making U.S. interception all the more difficult.
Still further, the source noted, it would be unclear if U.S. air force personnel would obey an order to attack their Israeli colleagues — some of whom they may have trained with. On top of that, the Israelis are often more experienced fighter pilots. The ones chosen to attack Iranian nuclear installations would undoubtedly be an elite team.
A more practical way for the U.S. to stop an Israeli attack would be for the administration to alert the Iranians in advance — something it could do without the knowledge of the Pentagon, the source said. The source also added, though, that no doubt the Israelis had already thought of that, and factored it in.
Would it surprise anyone that he DIDN’T protect his Muslim buds?
I dont get the sense that BIBI will name him during his speech but stranger things have happened!
Thanks for the link.
” A more practical way for the U.S. to stop an Israeli attack would be for the administration to alert the Iranians in advance — something it could do without the knowledge of the Pentagon, t”
Anyone doubt that Obama would do this ?
Many years ago there were persistent stories that during the Yom Kippur war U.S. Navy carrier aircraft had tangled with Israeli aircraft on one or two occasions when the Israeli aircraft strayed too close to Sixth Fleet carriers. Supposedly there were losses on both sides.
I’m guessing this is Snopes’ biggest project of the week to “debunk” this while joshearnestly asking why anyone would be stupid enough to believe it.
I think it would be best if Bibi didn’t name him. Keep Obama off course.
That sounds a little more believable.
Yoko has dread locks ?
I swear I heard about this before now, and during the Obama presidency. Does not mean it is true, but removes the “timing” issue referred to in the article.
Yoko Jarret....now there’s a revolting thought indeed
This is nothing new as the United States has had a long standing policy of denying Israel airspace over Iraq for a mission to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.
That’s why I discredited the story from the start. Maybe the Grand Kenyan has his own personal Weegee board and just thinks he has an air force in Iraq. He doesn’t have ANYTHING in Iraq that could bother a flight of PO’d Israelis. I have a vision of Odumbass putting on his Napolean hat and standing on the helm of his weegee board commanding a few panzer divisions to stop those wascally ‘Raelis. Got to save the hometown of his white hut mutha.
This would invoke a court marshal of the people disobeying the order which would be problematic for Obama ....
I didn’t research the timing but it seems there is a correlation between the purging of Generals and this reported event.
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