It seems Israel’s leadership considers that its strategic, military, diplomatic and political ‘window of opportunity’ to make war against Iran is fast closing.
Israeli and US leaders seem united in their strategic goal of destroying Iran – as they were in destroying Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan – but they’re also at loggerheads as to which tactical road to tread. The US prefers more economic and diplomatic pressure, coupled with continued covert operations inside Syria until the Assad government collapses and then Iran can be dealt with. Israel favors unilateral all-out military attack against Iran now.Either way, this week may mark the final days of very intensive talks between US leaders and Israeli leaders. Last week, Israel’s president Shimon Peres and ultra-right Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman were in Washington putting pressure on US authorities, calling for immediate military action against Iran. Then, on Monday President Barack Obama welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, reassuring him that “the United States will always have Israel’s back” and that whilst the United States “would prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon”, he added that, “we do believe there is still a window that allows for a diplomatic resolution to this issue.”Still, tensions have been running high between the two countries. When US General Martin Dempsey called for moderation over Iran, it earned him Mr. Netanyahu’s accusation of being “a servant of Iran”. Whatever finally happens, it will have to happen soon, because Israel, the US and the UK are very much aware that like the proverbial boy that cried “Wolf!” until nobody believed him anymore, they just cannot continue crying “We’re gonna take out Iran over its nukes!” and then do nothing. Last week’s meetings in the US were particularly important. They had President Obama visiting for the Nth time the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC – American Israeli Public Affairs Committee – an organization that wields tremendous political, economic, financial, media and military leverage inside the US. So much so that at times it seems that AIPAC and the intricate network of pro-Zionist organizations it is part of, literally run the country. For AIPAC is the key transmission system whereby Israeli objectives and interests are imposed upon the US government, Congress and its media; and they do this in no uncertain terms.Anybody who dares criticize AIPAC will immediately be struck by its Olympian bolts of lightning and branded an “Anti-Semite”, which is the very worst thing that can happen to any politician, diplomat, military officer, academic or journalist in the United States of America. Among those hit by such Israeli lightning, are former president Jimmy Carter, his National Security Advisor and Trilateral Commission ideologue Zbigniew Brzezinski, and academics Stephen Walt of the Kennedy School at Harvard University and John Mearsheimer of Chicago University. Former president Carter wrote a book in 2006 called Palestine: Peace not Apartheid in which he highlighted the glaring similarities of gross racial injustice that exist between today’s Israeli ethnic cleansing in Palestine and yesterday’s South African Apartheid. That got put him in AIPAC’s line of fire. In 2007 Professors Walt and Mearsheimer published a book, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, focusing on the excessive clout and leverage that pro-Israel lobby organizations like AIPAC have on US foreign policy, and that earned them their share of Israeli ire. The authors describe the Lobby as “a core consisting of organizations whose declared purpose is to encourage the US government and the American public to provide material aid to Israel and to support its government's policies, as well as influential individuals for whom these goals are also a top priority", adding that the "loose coalition that makes up the Lobby has significant leverage over the Executive Branch”. AIPAC, they say, has a veritable "stranglehold on the US Congress" due to its "ability to reward legislators and congressional candidates who support its agenda, and to punish those who challenge it."Considering that Zionism is basically a political ideology, the authors explained that although "the bulk of the lobby is comprised of Jewish Americans there are many American Jews who are not part of the lobby…which also includes many Christian Zionists.”Walt and Mearsheimer explained that "No lobby has managed to divert U.S. Foreign Policy as far from what the American national interest would otherwise suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that US and Israeli interests are essentially identical…What sets the Israel Lobby apart is its extraordinary effectiveness." They conclude that when the Lobby succeeds in shaping US policy in the Middle East, then "Israel's enemies get weakened or overthrown, Israel gets a free hand with the Palestinians, and the United States does most of the fighting, dying, rebuilding, and paying.”Today, in what appear to be final talks between the US and Israel before war is unleashed, Mr. Netanyahu emphasized that “Israel must have the ability to defend itself, by itself, against any threat.” And then thanked president Obama for affirming in his speech before AIPAC that, as he himself put it, “Israel has the sovereign right to make its own decisions.” According to Monday’s New York Times, Israeli officials interpreted this to mean that the United States would not try to block a preemptive Israeli strike.Will it be war, then? Let’s hope not, but very dark and heavy clouds have certainly gathered on the horizon. It may just be a coincidence, but interestingly, in recent years key foes of Israel have been destroyed by the US and UK on dates that coincide with the Jewish Festivity of Purim that falls every year on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar. Based on the Old Testament Book of Esther, Purim celebrates the slaughter of 75,000 enemies of the Jews throughout the Persia Empire (modern Iran, of all places!)Purim falls on a different date each year in our Western calendar: in 1991 it fell on 1st March (actually it started at sunset on 28th February) which was the exact day the Bush I administration called victory in Iraq. In 2003, Purim fell on 19th March which is when Bush II invaded Iraq. Last year it again fell on 19th March, marking the first massive NATO attack on Libya. This year Purim falls on 8th March. Will Israel and the US go into War Mode this week?
Adrian Salbuchi for RT
Adrian Salbuchi is a political analyst, author, speaker and radio/TV commentator in Argentina. www.asalbuchi.com.arDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the story are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.