What did Biden really say about Israel and Iran?

Joe Biden's wording concerning a potential Israeli attack on Iran was very carefully crafted. He did not say that Israel has permission to overfly Iraq or that the US would aid Israel in attacking Iran. He said that Israel has to make its own decisions and the United States has to make its own decisions. This can be interpreted in many different ways. Of course, he had to say that Israel is a sovereign nation, but that doesn't mean that the US has to support it.

 

Aluf Benn wrote:

 

The person who returned Iran to center stage is John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who has become the Republican Party's leading spokesman on foreign affairs. In an article published in The Washington Post last week, Bolton said an Israeli attack is now the only way to halt Iran's nuclear program.

Actually, the person who returned Iran to center stage was Mir Hossein Moussavi. The election fraud and the drama of the protests took the spotlight off Israel, and the Netanyahu government was wise enough to signal compromise over the settlements issue, which became uninteresting. Then Michael Jackson died, and everyone forgot about the Middle East entirely.

 

Ami Isseroff

 

 

U.S. wants Iran to know it can be attacked
By Aluf Benn

 

Iran's nuclear program has been restored to prominence on the American-Israeli diplomatic agenda. After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu adopted the "two states for two peoples" formula on the Palestinian issue, American recompense came in the form of Vice President Joe Biden's statement that Israel, as a "sovereign nation," will decide for itself how to deal with Iran.

 

George Stephanopoulos, the ABC television presenter to whom Biden made this remark, thrice asked him how the U.S. would respond if Netanyahu took independent action on Iran. Biden did not hesitate. The U.S., he said, "cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do" if they feel threatened by another country.

 

That is almost exactly what Condoleezza Rice, former president George W. Bush's secretary of state, said when asked the same question a year ago. However, Biden declined to say whether the U.S. would allow Israel to overfly Iraq en route to Iran.
 
Biden's words should not be understood as American permission for Israel to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. Rather, they were a veiled warning to Iran that if it does not embark on a serious dialogue with President Barack Obama's administration, it is liable to be attacked.

 

An Israeli government source said Biden's statement was not coordinated with Israel. But it clearly serves Netanyahu, who sees halting Iran's nuclear program as a historic mission.

 

In recent weeks, Israel's diplomatic attention has been diverted from Iran to Washington's demand for a settlement freeze. The person who returned Iran to center stage is John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who has become the Republican Party's leading spokesman on foreign affairs. In an article published in The Washington Post last week, Bolton said an Israeli attack is now the only way to halt Iran's nuclear program.

 

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