White House Rejects Netanyahu’s Request To Meet With Obama…

[HonestChieffan]

This seems really odd. In an Election year, turning down an ally head of state for a simple meeting.



The White House declined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request on Tuesday to meet U.S. President Barack Obama during a UN conference in New York at the end of the month.

An official in Jerusalem said that the prime minister’s office sent the White House a message stating that although Netanyahu will spend only two and a half days on U.S. soil, he is interested in meeting Obama and is willing to travel to the U.S. capital specifically for that purpose. The official added that the White House rejected the request and said that at this time Obama’s schedule does not allow for a meeting.

The White House’s response marks a new low in relations between Netanyahu and Obama, underscored by the fact that this is the first time Netanyahu will visit the U.S. as prime minister without meeting the president.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to ease the tension on Tuesday, saying that the differences between the U.S. and Israel should be ironed out “but behind closed doors.”

“We must not forget that the U.S. is Israel’s most important source of support in terms of security,” he said in a statement.

Earlier on Tuesday, Netanyahu launched an unprecedented verbal attack on the U.S. government over its stance on the Iranian nuclear program.

“The world tells Israel ‘wait, there’s still time’. And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?’ Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,” Netanyahu told reporters on Tuesday.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomac...emium-1.464328

[Lightrise]

I don't see where there is anything to talk about right now. They get 3 billion a year in aid, the most of any nation and frankly they don't need it. Now if Netanyahu were to proclaim at the conference that Israel would leave land they have stolen that might be different. The Israeli people are not behind Netanyahu on the march to war which would be a catastrophe for everyone. The middle east is a mess right now and the best policy is to stick with the crushing sanctions on Iran. We don't need Netanyahu to create chaos and that is exactly what he does.

[LiveSteam]

Originally Posted by Lightrise

I don't see where there is anything to talk about right now. They get 3 billion a year in aid, the most of any nation and frankly they don't need it. Now if Netanyahu were to proclaim at the conference that Israel would leave land they have stolen that might be different. The Israeli people are not behind Netanyahu on the march to war which would be a catastrophe for everyone. The middle east is a mess right now and the best policy is to stick with the crushing sanctions on Iran. We don't need Netanyahu to create chaos and that is exactly what he does.

Stolen land & crushing sanctions

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by LiveSteam

Stolen land & crushing sanctions

Every election year brings a few honest-to-god nutballs to DC. Bushliedpeopledied type whack jobs. This time around its this guy and como.
Good thing is they soon go away.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Lightrise

I don't see where there is anything to talk about right now. They get 3 billion a year in aid, the most of any nation and frankly they don't need it. Now if Netanyahu were to proclaim at the conference that Israel would leave land they have stolen that might be different. The Israeli people are not behind Netanyahu on the march to war which would be a catastrophe for everyone. The middle east is a mess right now and the best policy is to stick with the crushing sanctions on Iran. We don't need Netanyahu to create chaos and that is exactly what he does.

Stolen land? Are you even remotely aware of the history, or are you just vomiting talking points?

[qabbaan]

"Our commitment to Israel is stronger than ever."

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by qabbaan

"Our commitment to Israel is stronger than ever."

But **** 'em if they want to meet with us.

[Bo's Pelini]

Who gives a shit?

[Brock]

Just cash the checks, Benjie.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by HonestChieffan

This seems really odd. In an Election year, turning down an ally head of state for a simple meeting.

It's called doing the right thing for the right reasons regardless of the political fall out.

I'm to the right of most of you on Israel. The majority of Israel is not ready to go to all out war and attack Israel. Netanyahu does not have the full suppport of his people back home for his hawkish war stance.

BTW I met him several times. I was working with a guy who best buddies with his brother that died in the Enteebe raid. He was on that raid too. Broke bread together at least 5-6 times together.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Netanyahu does not have the full suppport of his people back home for his hawkish war stance.

Yup that's true, plus other countries are coming to Iran's aid so that she is no completely isolated. There's a shift there, small but it's something.

But there was some Israeli military guy, I saw a few weeks ago, claiming Israel didn't have the capacity to carry out what would be needed to do the job. He wants America to do.

I also have read that Obama has told Israel to lay off Iran until after the election. So I am not completely sold on him not being for an attack by them.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by Lightrise

I don't see where there is anything to talk about right now. They get 3 billion a year in aid, the most of any nation and frankly they don't need it. Now if Netanyahu were to proclaim at the conference that Israel would leave land they have stolen that might be different. The Israeli people are not behind Netanyahu on the march to war which would be a catastrophe for everyone. The middle east is a mess right now and the best policy is to stick with the crushing sanctions on Iran. We don't need Netanyahu to create chaos and that is exactly what he does.

I don't think you have any idea what you are talking about.

[BucEyedPea]

The truth is, top military analysts in both the US and Israel agree that Israel doesn’t have the capability to wipe out Iran’s nuclear program, which intelligence has concluded is not being weaponized, on its own. So now that the US has expressed firmly that it won’t back an Israeli first strike, even many in Netanyahu’s cabinet have given in.

As far as having moral authority to oppose an Israeli strike, Netanyahu is no one to talk. Even his highest officials admit that Iran has not made the decision to build nuclear weapons and that even if it had nuclear weapons it wouldn’t commit national suicide by using them on Israel. Thus, there is no imminent threat and no moral or legal case for preemption.

Link from those who said Iraq was based on lies BEFORE going in.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

I also have read that Obama has told Israel to lay off Iran until after the election. So I am not completely sold on him not being for an attack by them.

Dont kid yourself. Obama or Romney will go to full out full scale war to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

[BucEyedPea]

Americans Do Not Want or Need a
Pre-Emptive War against Iran

Three former U.S. Centcom commanders — Gen. John Abizaid, Anthony C. Zinni, and Admiral William Fallon — have expressed opposition to bombing Iran’s nuclear installations. The same is true for the recent chiefs of Israel’s three principal intelligence agencies -- Mossad, Shin Bet, and the Israel Defense Force.

These men understand Iran’s asymmetrical retaliatory capabilities that include sowing hundreds of mines in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 30 percent of the world’s seaborne oil passes. Among other unintended consequences of an attack on Iran would be an assault against oil production facilities in pro-Western Gulf nations — Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. Oil prices would triple, and rather than an economic recovery, we would see a recession much deeper than the one we have endured.

Former Mossad head Meir Dagan — who served an unprecedented eight-year term from August 2002 to November 2010 — views bombing Iran as “the stupidest idea" he had ever heard. He believes that such an attack would unleash a regional war conducted mostly through Tehran’s proxies — Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and perhaps even Syria, which, he says, may seek to divert attention from its internal problems by focusing on a “threat outside the country.”