Israel on the Offensive In Bid To Press President Obama To Attack Iran
By Danny Schechter
New York, New York: It feels like Iran Week in the USA.
Using an exaggerated if fictive Iranian threat to create nuclear weapons as their pretext, Israeli politicians are blatantly and publicly inserting themselves in America's Presidential elections, demanding that President Obama do their bidding by articulating so-called "red lines" to further threaten Tehran.
Until, now Israel has been content to mobilize its powerful lobby and media assets to apply pressure from the shadows, using political contributions and diplomacy of a covert type so that Tel-Aviv's direct intervention could have plausible deniability. That is no longer the case.
The New York Times reports, "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel inserted himself into the most contentious foreign policy issue of the American presidential campaign on Tuesday, criticizing the Obama administration for refusing to set clear "red lines" on Iran's nuclear progress that would prompt the United States to undertake a military strike. As a result, he said, the administration had no "moral right" to restrain Israel from taking military action of its own.
Mr. Netanyahu's unusually harsh public comments about Israel's most important ally, which closely track what he has reportedly said in vivid terms to American officials visiting Jerusalem, laid bare the tension between him and President Obama over how to handle Iran. They also suggested that Mr. Netanyahu is willing to use the pressure of the presidential election to try to force Mr. Obama to commit to attack Iran under certain conditions."
This is calculated interference of a direct kind, virtually dictating to Washington to do what Israel wants it to do. It is part of a strategy of intimidation, and in the process tries to tilt the election to the Republicans who have rubberstamped Israeli demands and increasingly operate like an echo chamber of a lobby that has always presented itself publicly as non-partisan. That pretense seems to be slipping too.
Meanwhile, financial backers of the right-wing setters in Israel have become among the most visible donors to Republican politician
Example: Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has pledged a whopping $100 million dollars to defeat President Obama. Support for Israel policy toward Iran is one of his major issues.
Just this week, the Center of American Progress issued a report showing that Adelson is hardly just being ideological or idealistic in pumping money into the Romney Campaign.
They say that he is likely to personally benefit if Romney is elected and follows through on his promise to cut taxes;
Here's the conclusions of their latest Progress Report: "Sheldon Adelson Stands To Get $2 Billion Tax Cut If Mitt Romney Is Elected:
"Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson's backing of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney may not just make political sense for the billionaire -- it may also be in his best interest financially.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
