US submission to Iran's evasive tactics spurs international pressure against Israeli military strike
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis
12 Sept. The US will join other major powers in seeking an early meeting with Iran although Tehran's refusal to discuss its nuclear program was described by Washington officials as "disappointing."
Far from meeting the Obama administration's gesture halfway, Iran's new defense minister Ahmed Wahidi warned Washington Saturday, Sept. 12, "not to try to militarize the region" and denying the production of weapons of mass destruction as "contrary to our religion and principles."
DEBKAfile's Washington sources say the Obama White House is relying on the public's short memory on Iran's prevarications. Last time they meet, on July 20, 2008, Iran's negotiator Saeed Jalili listened quietly to the Bush administration's undersecretary of state William Burns' words on its nuclear activities, then announced he would come back with an answer from Tehran, which he never did.
The former commander of the big Israeli air base at Hatezerim, Brig. (ret.) Shelly Guttman, said Saturday that for the first time since the Yom Kippur War, Israel faces an existential threat. Nevertheless, Russia and France are leading the way to stalling military action. Thursday, Sept. 10, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin warned that the use of force or new sanctions against Iran would "not solve the problem," after Israeli leaders spent the whole week conferring on a decision about a military operation to pre-empt Iran's rapid progress toward a nuclear weapon. A French general said a military strike on Iran "was no longer viable."
French president Nicolas Sarkozy said: "It is a certainty to all of our secret services. Iran is working today on a nuclear (weapons) program. French intelligence goes further even than US intelligence agencies which maintained in an assessment to leaked to the media on Sept. 10: "Iran has created enough nuclear fuel to make a rapid, if risky, spring for a nuclear weapon.
IT IS MUCH EASIER TO DESTROY A PEOPLE WHEN THEY ARE DEMONIZED!
Israel goes to war on UN report charging it with war crimes
DEBKAfile Special Report
15 Sept. The foreign ministry denounced the report, compiled by a team headed by former South African judge Goldstone, as "unbalanced, shameful and dangerous" in its even-handed treatment of Israel, which acted in self-defense, and the aggressive Hamas terrorist organization."
President Shimon Peres said it was "a mockery of history, legitimacy for terror and denial of any nation's right and duty to defend itself."
Jerusalem refused to cooperate with the investigation because its mandate was loaded a priori against the Jewish state by the UN Human Rights Council, which routinely singles Israel out for castigation while turning a blind eye on Palestinian violations. In this case, the panel disregarded the deliberate Hamas strategy of using Palestinian civilians as cover for launching terrorist attacks, said the foreign ministry in Jerusalem.
Israeli diplomats have been instructed to challenge the Goldstone report on those grounds and urge UN Security Council members to reject it as a document unbefitting referral to the War Crimes Court at The Hague. Washington has voiced concern about its content.
Israel Defense Forces investigated more than 100 Palestinian complaints of misconduct during Operation Cast Lead, only one of which, the charge of looting by a single soldier was corroborated. (He is serving a seven-month prison sentence.) Another 23 files are still under investigation. In all cases, commanders and soldiers were ordered expressly to observe international rules of engagement and avoid collateral casualties.
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