Netanyahu and Barak V. Israel's Defense Community
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) August 22, 2012 - 12:00am

One of the most astonishing features of Israel's current debate over the Iranian threat is the utter failure of the country's two top leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, to win significant support for an Israeli attack on Tehran's nuclear installations.

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Top Iran official: If Israel attacks, it will bring about its own 'annihilation'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
August 21, 2012 - 12:00am

An Israeli attack on Iran will lead to Israel's "annihilation," a senior Iranian official told the country's state-run TV station Press TV on Monday, ahead of the Non-Aligned Movement summit due to take place in Tehran later this month.

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Israeli defense officials consult with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef over Iran strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yair Ettinger, Barak Ravid - August 21, 2012 - 12:00am

Senior defense officials have recently been visiting the ultra-Orthodox Shas party's spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, to discuss a possible Israeli attack on Iran. Some want the 91-year-old rabbi to support it, others to oppose it. At least one visit, in which the rabbi was briefed on Iran's nuclear program, came at the behest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is battling for support in the cabinet to strike Iran.

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A proper Zionist live fire zone
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - (Opinion) August 20, 2012 - 12:00am

When police of the African National Congress are slaughtering platinum miners who demand that the mine owner (a private transnational company registered in London! ) pay them a wage that begins to befit the hardships of the job and value of the metal in operating rooms and on the fingers of plutocrats, there is no chance that one Palestinian tractor impounded by Israeli soldiers will attract the attention of a single foreign news editor anywhere on earth.

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KABOOM
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) August 20, 2012 - 12:00am

Worried about a war with Iran, regional instability, more terrorism, rising oil prices or plunging markets? Don't be -- at least not yet. Think 2013. If Israel can't get assurances that the U.S. is prepared to use force, then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak will act later this year or early next. But for now, there will be no war and certainly no deal over the nuclear issue. And the reason for that is pretty compelling: the mullahs, the Israelis, and the Americans all don't want one right now -- and here's why.

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How Iran strengthened Israeli democracy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) August 20, 2012 - 12:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak deserve a medal for their contribution to strengthening Israeli democracy. For the first time a broad and noisy public debate is taking place over whether to go to war, with the encouragement and participation of the prime minister and the defense minister. When Israel does attack Iran it will not be a war of deception: The pros and cons have been discussed ad nauseam in the public arena. One can argue about the wisdom of Barak and Netanyahu's policy, but they did not act covertly.

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U.S., Israeli navies hold joint Med maneuvers in tense times
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 19, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli and American naval counterparts spent the last week holding a joint search-and-rescue exercises in the Mediterranean Sea, which included live fire and seaborne helicopters landings. The "Reliant Mermaid" drill also tested the U.S. Navy's destroyer-mounted Aegis-missile defense system, which, theoretically, could defend Israel against Iranian missiles.

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Bibi's Iran Plan Rests on Shaky Ground
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) August 19, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel’s leading television news program, Channel 2 News, now informs us that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak are “on the brink” of approving an Israeli military attack on Iran.

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Israeli threats about Iran -- crying wolf or laying groundwork?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Carol J. Williams - (Opinion) August 17, 2012 - 12:00am

They're passing out gas masks in Jerusalem and testing a new text-messaging system for alerting Israelis to incoming rockets. The civil defense preparations follow a week of renewed warnings by Israeli officials that airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities may be imminent, despite U.S. misgivings, to thwart Tehran's alleged pursuit of nuclear bomb-making capability.

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Zone of Insanity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by James Traub - (Opinion) August 17, 2012 - 12:00am

It must drive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crazy that scarcely anybody outside his immediate circle of advisors -- oh, and Mitt Romney -- understands the imperative for war against Iran. Israel's retired security chiefs uniformly consider a war unnecessary right now. Israel's president, Shimon Peres, agrees. A poll released this week found the Israeli public opposed to war by a solid 46 percent to 32 percent. As for the United States, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta insists that "the window is still open to try to work toward a diplomatic solution."

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