FEB. 3 – Ynet news reports: “The State of Israel must conduct itself by the notion that ‘the work of righteous will be done by others,’ but should prepare in accordance with the words of our fathers: ‘If I am not for myself, who will be for me?’” Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon told Herzliya [...]
FEB. 1 – “Israel’s government has long tried to raise international concern about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and is likely to welcome the new US deployments in the Gulf if it signals a hardening of policy,” reports The Guardian.
JAN. 31 – Laura Rozen of Politico reports: “Israeli sources say CIA director Leon Panetta traveled to Israel this past week. He met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Mossad chief Meir Dagan, one former Israeli official said. The main subject of conversation was Iran, as well as ‘relations’ in general, [...]
JAN. 30 – “‘Nuclear weapons in the hands of a fanatical regime such as Iran’s pose a threat not only to Israel but to the entire world,’ President Shimon Peres told International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano on Saturday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,” reports YNETnews.
JAN. 27 – “U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is using meetings in London this week to press ahead with imposing tough new international sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program,” reports the AP.
And in Germany:
“German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that time and patience were running out on Iran’s nuclear program and that [...]
JAN. 27 – “Israeli leaders called Iran a threat to the world on Wednesday, which is International Holocaust Memorial Day, and vowed that the Jewish people would never again fall victim to a fanatical regime,” reports Reuters.
JAN. 26 – “Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday accused Iran of using talks with world powers on its nuclear program ‘to buy time,’” reports WashingtonTV.
JAN. 25 – “Israel’s prime minister has called on the international community to band together against enemies calling for the destruction of the Jewish state,” the Associated Press reports.
JAN. 22 - ”Israel is anxiously awaiting the publication of an updated United States National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, with defense officials hoping it will finally prompt toughened sanctions against the Islamic Republic,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
JAN. 18 – “If we don’t apply sanctions, crippling sanctions against this Iranian tyranny, when shall we apply them?” asked Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, during a visit today to Germany. “If not now, when? The answer is now.” See this dispatch from the Jerusalem Post and AP.
JAN. 17 – In his dispatch this morning for The Jerusalem Post, Herb Keinon speculates as to why NSC staffer Dennis Ross joined US National Security Adviser James Jones on his recent trip to Israel, and why Jones departed next for Lebanon.
JAN. 15 -”The Obama administration will not initiate an offensive campaign against Iran,” predicted Israeli lawmaker and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi at a New York forum yesterday, according to several Israeli media reports.
Hanegbi, who is a member of the opposition Kadima Party, said the United States will not succeed in eliciting allied support [...]
JAN. 13 – U.S. National Security Adviser Jim Jones has arrived in Israel today for three days of talks. According to several Israeli media outlets, the meetings are ”veiled in secrecy” and are most likely to center on Iran. See today’s brief report in the Jerusalem Post.
JAN. 11 – The following links may be of interest to Countdowniran.com readers:
Israel and Iran: The Gathering Storm. The Economist. Jan. 7, 2010. Israel’s Government Spokesman, Mark Regev, is asked about the piece in the Jan. 8th broadcast of “Frost Over the World.”
JAN. 11 – Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called today upon the international community to impose “tough sanctions” against Iran.
Speaking at a Likud faction meeting, Netanyahu said he would raise the issue next week at a special joint session of the German and Israeli governments in Berlin.
“The international community must adopt tough sanctions against Iran, now,” said the Prime [...]
JAN. 7 – “As long as the Iran conversation was broad and dealt only with ’sanctions,’ the Congress, the White House and the pro-Israel community seemed to be on the same page,” reports JTA Washington Bureau Chief Ron Kampeas. “But now that Iran has rejected just about every bouquet sent its way and the talk [...]
JAN. 7 – Israel’s Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, says a nuclear-armed Iran would bring an “end” to stability in the Middle East, according to Israel Radio.
“There is still time for diplomacy to work,” Barak told a forum yesterday at Tel Aviv University. But he said Israel expects the West to establish a “final deadline” for exhausting those efforts.
“No option should [...]
JAN. 6 – Next month, Israel plans to begin distributing gask masks and protection kits to its citizens. See report in today’s Haaretz.
JAN. 5 – Prof. Efraim Inbar, Director of Bar Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies in Israel, has characterized the West’s handling of Iran and its suspected weapons program as “inept.”
JAN 4 – Israel’s Defense Ministry has announced a large-scale, simulated attack drill to take place in Tel Aviv, next week.
Israel’s various emergency services will coordinate a “response” to a biological attack involving more than 1,000 victims.
See report in today’s Haaretz about the planned simulation.
