Asi -

I understand that, but the context is important.

If he said it in a way that implies we'll defend Israel from Iran even if Israel is the one who attacks first, that is a de facto signal for Israel to go right ahead and do so.

Peter: That's exactly what he did. And went into some detail about how we've always stood behind them and such.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/0....

Israelis perceive few bluffs in Netanyahu Iran speech

By Crispian Balmer

JERUSALEM | Tue Mar 6, 2012 7:44am EST

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's uncompromising speech to a pro-Israel lobby in Washington has persuaded the public back home that war with Iran is increasingly possible.

Netanyahu evoked the horrors of the Holocaust, quoting a 1944 letter where the United States rejected a request by Jewish leaders to bomb the Nazi death camp, Auschwitz. His message was clear: Israel cannot rely on others to defend its people.

"As prime minister of Israel, I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation," he told the influential pro-Israel lobby AIPAC on Monday after meeting U.S. President Barak Obama. "We have waited for diplomacy to work, we have waited for sanctions to work. We cannot afford to wait much longer."

The words resonated in Israel, with analysts, commentators and former military officers seeing a distinct sharpening of tone towards Tehran, which itself has called for the destruction of the state of Israel.

"The pistol isn't only loaded, but the safety catch has been released," Uzi Dayan, a former general and national security adviser, told Israel Radio.

Israel is adamant it will not let Iran build an atomic bomb and has been pushing Washington to pile pressure on Tehran to force it to abandon its nuclear program. The Jewish state is believed to be the only nuclear power in the region.

Iran says its program is for civilian purposes, but few in the West believe this, with the European Union and United States applying increasingly severe economic sanctions to force Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment drive and return to talks.

Israeli experts, including Dayan, say sanctions will only work if there is a credible military threat behind them. This has led skeptics to believe that the accompanying rhetoric is just for show, but the language has reached such a peak that Netanyahu will lose all credibility at home if it proves to be hot air. "Netanyahu sounds like a man whose mind is made up," editorialist David Horovitz wrote on his TimesOfIsrael website.

DIFFERENT LANGUAGE

The U.S. president has appealed for sanctions to be given more time and although Washington agrees with Israel that it is unacceptable for Iran to get a nuclear weapon, the terminology used by Obama and Netanyahu this week was different.

While Obama talked of preventing Iran from "obtaining" a bomb, Netanyahu spoke about preventing it from "developing" one.

Officials say this means Israel wants to see Iran deprived of the various jigsaw pieces needed when manufacturing a bomb. Washington, by contrast, would only move if it saw Tehran actively trying to put the pieces together.

"We want Iran to be stripped of the capability, to drop the military nuclear program altogether," said one Israeli security official, who declined to be named.

The Israeli position flows from the so-called "Begin Doctrine," enshrined by former prime minister Menachem Begin in 1981 after his airforce destroyed an Iraqi reactor that Israel believed would produce plutonium for warheads.

The raid, he said at the time, was proof his country would "under no circumstances allow the enemy to develop weapons of mass-destruction against our people.

Monday's speech represented Netanyahu's clearest endorsement of this doctrine since taking office in 2009, but critics said he still had to convince a skeptical public of the need for war.

"Today's Israel does not subscribe to this," said Uri Dromi, a spokesman for former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, adding that the war of words from both Israel and Iran reminded him of the build up to World War One, when Europe stumbled into mayhem.

"He is preparing us for war, but I am not sure we are ready for it. It is not a smart game. It is a gamble," he said.

An opinion poll published last week said just 19 percent of Israelis thought their nation should attack Iran, even if they did not first get the support of Washington.

Many Israelis fret the country is not prepared for conflict, with analysts predicting it could be hit with a barrage of missiles from Iran and its allies, such as Hizbollah in Lebanon.

Curiously, just hours after Netanyahu spoke, Israel's Civil Defense Minister Matan Vilnai issued a message via SMS.

"Israel has the operational capability of intercepting missiles coming at it from any place on earth... Today every citizen knows the requirement to be prepared for any emergency situation in the best possible way."

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams and Allyn Fisher-Ilan; editing by Janet McBride)

The one thing netanyahu isn't is full of hot air.

Believe him.

All he has displayed is hot air.

Mazalo: You obviously don't know much about his past.

What you see is a desparate man peddling fear porn. Sorry, this smacks of the same bull**** that Bush and Co were selling. MAY, COULD, WILL....all built on a foundation of pre emptive bull****. I understood Afghanistan, I shook my head at Iraq, I reeled at Lybia, and I'm 100% these people are completely unhinged.

He can peddle his BS elsewhere...he seems to want war and is determined to have it. Doesn't mean I have to buy his bull****.

Give examples of Netanyahu ever bluffing?

Not your typical blowhard politician.

wiki wrote..

After graduating from high school in 1967, Netanyahu returned to Israel to enlist in the IDF. He trained as a combat soldier and became a team leader in an elite special forces unit of the IDF, Sayeret Matkal. He was involved in many missions, including the rescue of the hijacked Sabena Flight 571 in May 1972 in which he was wounded by friendly fire.[11] He took part in numerous cross-border assault raids during the War of Attrition. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he fought in special forces raids along the Suez Canal, and then led a commando team deep into Syrian territory.

And some of the stories about him would make your toes curl, but they're not generally public info.

So his service record commands us to fall in lockstep while he kicks off world war....because his and Os ass are in a sling politically? They can both of them invite their bud in Iran and all go jump off a cliff together.

He HAS TO bluster now.

The question that remains unanswered is whether he will nail them. I would not bet against it, but irrespective of this there are very real risks if he bombs.

Nonetheless I would bet on the military hit over not.

Look, it's obvious you have something against him. I'm just trying to tell you that he's no blow hard.

I don't agree with MANY things he's done. Hell, MOST things. But ignoring his character in this is a VERY bad mistake. Also thinking he's just a typical blowhard politician is another VERY bad mistake.

He *WILL* take unilateral action no matter how much it*****es off other countries (including the US) if he feels it necessary. Don't doubt that.

Last post:

I never said he was bluffing. He wants war...but he's been begging our people to be bloodied for him. I'm not sure if he's willing to commit HIS troops and HIS people to HIS cause.

Time will tell.

His personal history says that he'll commit his own people without hesitation if he feels it necessary.

Bibi will protect Israel in the most forceful way if he truly believes his country is threatened.

While I can cynically accept a financial incentive for US war mongering, I just can't feel it with Israel. I also don't think they're ones for colonial adventurism, or even religious adventurism.

I don't always agree with them, but I believe that they believe.

Netanyahu didn't give that speech because he's an *******, he gave it because that's what he truly thinks.

He may be wrong, he may be misled, but I'd have to be convinced that there's anything more cynical there.

JT has this one.
Bibi will strike, if needed.

Hopefully, the Iranian leadership will have a very surprised look on their face.
"But, the Huffington Post Said..."

What some internet posters think, is not going to be a concern to Bibi.

He is not in your mom's basement. (Maybe he was when you where conceived)
Bibi lives in the real world.


War is coming to the ME.
Today, Tomorrow, November 5th.
The questions are,
Who, When, How Big?

Israel not striking, does not bring Peace.

bob

BREAKING NEWS:

(AP) Pilot dies in Israeli-made jet crash in Nevada

LAS VEGAS -- Authorities say a pilot for a defense contractor is dead after an Israeli-made military fighter jet crashed at Fallon Naval Air Station in northern Nevada.

Base and company officials say the F-21 Kfir (kuh-FEER) aircraft crashed just after 9:15 a.m. Tuesday inside the west gate of the military airfield, about 60 miles east of Reno.

Petty Officer 1st Class Doug Harvey says it was snowy and foggy at the time.
Airborne Tactical Advantage Co. official Matt Bannon in Newport News, Va., says it's too early to say what caused the crash of the single-seat, single-engine aircraft. Bannon says the name of the pilot won't be made public until his family is notified.

The aircraft is one of several types that the company provides under contract to the U.S. military.

Story apparently picked up by AP from here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/06/4316448....

This is the aircraft:



Production note: The Kfir is an illegal Israeli-made copy of the French Mirage V airframe combined with an American-made General Electric J-79 turbojet engine

MY NOTE: There is a building sense of 'rushed' preparations with the spate of crashes happening in the last few weeks.

Bibi is crazy enough to nuke Iran if necessary.

Also interesting...
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-de....

Quote:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested the United States approve the sale of advanced refueling aircraft as well as GBU-28 bunker-piercing bombs to Israel during a recent meeting with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, a top U.S. official said on Tuesday.

The American official said that U.S. President Barack Obama instructed Panetta to work directly with Defense Minister Ehud Barak on the matter, indicating that the U.S. administration was inclined to approve the request as soon as possible.

If this isn't a diversion (they've already got them)... this is a major step toward war... I wonder how soon could the US supply them with such hardware... within a month??

There were reports of deliveries from the US to israel of bunker busters months ago.

Lets not forget the Israel US missile drill that was postponed. All the assets were in place, including US Military personnel in Israel for the first time. That’s a lot of hardware just sitting there. It was to be the largest missile drill in history. If memory serves me right.

I am out of posts. Note Islamic law not only allows lying to deceive the enemy, it encourages it.

Everything about Netanyahu's visit suggests to me not a difference of will but of timetable. IMHO, Israel wants to go now. Obama, on the other hand, doesn't want anything messy to destroy his Big Chance.

So, what if this happened:

Iran is backed into a corner. However, Iran already had nukes obtained on the black market, or even dirty nukes.

In the face of an impending Israel strike, they set off a nuke within their borders, at one of their dummy nuclear sites (c'mon, you know at least one of them has to be a decoy). They then claim that Israel has conducted a nuclear strike on their peaceful nuclear program, and call upon the Islamic nations to come to their aid. Muddy waters. Iran rains missiles down on Israel, claiming it's in self defense.

Just thinking out the scenarios that could play out here.

Land: Why even bother with the false flag? Just preemptively strike Israel in the name of self-defense, that's the new international hotness anyway. Along with Lebanon and Syria. Rest of the Arab world may just join in to have a common external enemy again.

JT-

Don't underestimate the value of the false-flag. Landshark has this figured right (though I still don't believe we get a shooting war out of this within 12 months). No reason for Iran *not* to false flag, gives them ALL kinds of cover for whatever types of ops they want to run.

The biggest advantage I see to a nuclear false flag would be to justify a nuclear attack in "retaliation". Both internationally and domestically (remember, they've told their people that nukes are evil and against Islam, but if it's tit-for-tat....) If you're going the conventional route well.. the current rhetoric could probably be construed as enough justification honestly.