Yesterday during his AIPAC speech, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled his country will not sit back and watch as Iran obtains a nuclear weapon, the same nuclear weapon Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would surely use to eliminate the Jewish State. From Commentary:
“Unfortunately, Iran’s nuclear program continues to march forward…We’ve waited for diplomacy to work. We’ve waited for sanctions to work. None of us can afford to wait much longer. As prime minister of Israel, I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation.”
No diplomacy and no sanctions leave just one other option on the table. And the line at the end shows that Netanyahu hasn’t made Obama any promises against taking unilateral action.
Later in the speech, Netanyahu spoke about how America declined to bomb Auschwitz in 1944, out of concern that “such an effort might provoke even more vindictive action by the Germans.”
“The American government today is different,” continued Netanyahu. “You heard that from President Obama’s speech yesterday. But here’s my point. The Jewish people are also different. Today we have a state of our own. And the purpose of a Jewish state is to secure Jewish lives and a Jewish future. Never again…We deeply appreciate the great alliance between our two countries. But when it comes to Israel’s survival, we must always remain the masters of our fate.”
Yesterday during a meeting with Netanyahu, Obama said he hopes for more diplomacy while Netanyahu made it clear Israel will do what it needs against Iran in order to protect itself, with or without the United States.