July 31, 2012

By Barak Ravid  Jul.31, 2012

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday in an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 that he has yet to make a decision on whether or not to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Netanyahu said that “Israel cannot count on anyone else” when it comes to the Iranian threat.

During the interview, the prime minister was asked to comment on reports that Israel’s entire military top brass, headed by IDF chief Benny Gantz, oppose a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran. Netanyahu said that it was “irresponsible reporting.”

Netanyahu noted that when Former Prime Minister Menachem Begin made the decision to attack the nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981, then Mossad chief Yitzhak Hofi and director of Military Intelligence Directoriate Yehoshua Saguy also opposed the attack.

“In Israel, the political ranks make the decisions and the operational ranks carry them out,” said Netanyahu.

The Prime Minister’s Office initiated the interviews and summoned representatives of the four major TV channels to hold the interview on Tuesday afternoon. Each interviewer received 15 minutes with the prime minister, and Netanyahu’s media advisers conditioned the interview on it being broadcast in full and without editing.

Palestinians attack Mitt Romney for ‘racist’ comments: BBC

Mitt Romney has been accused of racism for suggesting to Jewish donors that “culture” might explain Palestinians’ income inferiority to Israel.

A senior Palestinian aide said the Republican presidential candidate had failed to note economic restrictions placed by the Israeli occupation.

But the Romney campaign said his remarks in Israel were misinterpreted.

The former Massachusetts governor is now in Poland, for the third and final leg of a week-long foreign tour.

Mr Romney is set to face Barack Obama in November’s presidential election.

‘Hand of providence’

Speaking at a breakfast of about 40 donors in Jerusalem on Monday, Mr Romney said he had thought about how Israel had achieved greater prosperity than its neighbours.

“As you come here and you see the GDP [Gross Domestic Product] per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000 dollars, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality,” Mr Romney is reported to have said.

He referred to a book called The Wealth And Poverty Of Nations, by David Landes, which examines how some societies became more prosperous than those of their neighbours.

Mr Romney said he had concluded from the book that “if you could learn anything from the economic history of the world it’s this: culture makes all the difference.

He added: “And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognise the power of at least culture and a few other things.”

Mr Romney also said he recognised “hand of providence in selecting this place [Israel]”.

The economic disparity between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is even wider than Mr Romney’s remarks suggest.

According to a World Bank report, in 2011 Israel’s GDP was $31,000 per head, compared with just over $1,500 in the West Bank and Gaza.

‘Scratching their heads’

Saeb Erekat, an aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, responded quickly to the comments.

“It is a racist statement and this man doesn’t realise that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation,” Mr Erekat said.

“It seems to me this man lacks information, knowledge, vision and understanding of this region and its people.

“He also lacks knowledge about the Israelis themselves. I have not heard any Israeli official speak about cultural superiority,” he added.

Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said his remarks had been “grossly mischaracterised”.

His campaign added that the candidate’s comments had been more general and had included examples of income disparities between the US and Mexico, and Chile and Ecuador.

Meanwhile, a White House spokesman said Mr Romney’s comments had left some people “scratching their heads a little bit”.

At the breakfast, Mr Romney sat next to casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who has given millions of dollars to Republican presidential campaigns.

The owner of the American football team New York Jets, Woody Johnson, and hedge fund manager Paul Singer were also guests at the breakfast, which is thought to have raised about $1m.

Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon came to Mr Romney’s defence.

“It is unfortunate that the Palestinians find every reason and opportunity to discomfit or to criticise or to attack Israel or anyone who pays respect to Israel and Jewish culture,” he said, reports the Associated Press.

On Sunday, Mr Romney caused controversy when he described Jerusalem as the country’s capital.

He said in an interview with CNN that he would favour moving the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, where it is currently located.

The status of Jerusalem is a key issue in peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Mr Romney’s visit to Israel followed a three-day visit to London. There, he was criticised in the British press for expressing doubt about whether Britain was ready to stage the Olympic Games.

Panetta: Sanctions have yet to compel Iran to give up nuclear ambitions: Haaretz

U.S. Defense Secretary stresses need for continued economic and diplomatic pressure on Tehran; Panetta due to arrive in Israel on Wednesday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta acknowledged Monday that increasingly stiff international sanctions have yet to compel Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. But he argued that more pressure eventually would lead Iran to “do what’s right.”

Iran’s disputed nuclear program, which Tehran contends is only for peaceful purposes, is a prominent backdrop to Panetta’s five-day tour of the Middle East and North Africa. On Wednesday he’ll be in Israel, whose leaders have said they are contemplating a military attack on Iran to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, a step they view as a threat to Israel’s very existence.

The Obama administration wants Israel to give sanctions and diplomacy more time to steer Iran off its nuclear course, although Panetta repeated the administration’s standard line that “all options” are on the table in the event that non-military pressure does not work.

“These sanctions are having a serious impact in terms of the economy in Iran,” he told reporters during a visit to the North Africa American Military Cemetery, where 2,841 U.S. servicemen killed in the North Africa campaign against Nazi Germany in 1942-1943 are buried.

“And while the results of that may not be obvious at the moment, the fact is that they have expressed a willingness to negotiate (with the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China) and they continue to seem interested in trying to find a diplomatic solution,” he said.

Those on-again, off-again negotiations have not come close to resolving a problem that U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has cast as one of the biggest failures of the Obama administration. Romney was in Israel this week showing support for Israel and asserting that if he were president Iran would never get the atomic bomb.

Panetta, who has declined to comment on Romney’s visit to Israel, stuck to his argument that the administration’s current approach is the right one.

“What we all need to do is to continue the pressure on Iran, economically and diplomatically … to negotiate and to ultimately do what’s right in joining the international family,” he added.

After meeting in Tunis with the country’s new Islamist leaders, Panetta was headed to Egypt for talks with its new Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, in Cairo, as well as Egyptian military leader Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi.

In his remarks at the U.S. military cemetery, Panetta said Washington plans to promote closer counterterrorism cooperation with Tunisia’s new leaders. Panetta’s press secretary, George Little, said the Pentagon chief also raised the idea of more U.S. assistance in securing Tunisia’s border with Libya and in Tunisian maritime security. Little said specifics were not discussed.

Little said the U.S. is worried about the spread of al-Qaida’s influence in North Africa, while adding that “the sense is that the threat here (in Tunisia) is not as great as elsewhere” in the region.

Tunisia was the launching pad for the wave of revolt that swept through the Arab world in 2011. It had one of the most repressive governments in the region. The uprising began in December 2010 when a fruit vendor, Mohammed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in the town of Sidi Bouzid to protest his lack of economic opportunity and the disrespect of the police.

The transition here from dictatorship to democracy has been smoother than in neighboring countries like Libya and Egypt, with no power-hungry military or armed militias to stifle the progress. But there is an increasingly bold ultraconservative Muslim minority who want to turn Tunisia into a strict Islamic state.

Panetta denies reports of plan to discuss Iran attack with Israel: Haaretz

U.S. Secretary of Defense, who will meet Netanyahu, Barak during a broader Middle East and Africa trip, says ‘various contingencies’ to be discussed.