Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran
Jerry Gordon comment: Assuming that this Times on-line article is confirmed, one wonders what the ‘quid pro quo ‘ was given for the Saudis to give Israel overflight rights for an Iran attack. If and when ‘the balloon goes up’ we’ll see in the outcome what sort of deal was struck. Until then, all this talk of Saudi Israel preparations and clearances is meant to raise the credibility of a Israeli military option in attacking Iran’s key nuclear facilities. There are other options in Israel’s quiver as we have posted. See “The necessity of thinking Outside the box”.
by Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv and Sarah Baxter, Times on-line, July 5, 2009
Israeli F-16 returning from Syrian raid
Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility.
The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials.
“The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” a diplomatic source said last week.
Although the countries have no formal diplomatic relations, an Israeli defence source confirmed that Mossad maintained “working relations” with the Saudis.
John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who recently visited the Gulf, said it was “entirely logical” for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace.
Bolton, who has talked to several Arab leaders, added: “None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn’t trumpet it as a big success.”
Arab states would condemn a raid when they spoke at the UN but would be privately relieved to see the threat of an Iranian bomb removed, he said. (Continue Reading this Article)
This supposed “leak”, along with the recent demonstration of Egypt-Israel cooperation in letting Israeli warships transit the Suez Canal — not to mention Biden’s recent statements giving Israel a green light to attack Iran — look like, among other things, political posturing by Obama to let the Iranians know that there are serious consequences to their slighting him. It’s one thing to threaten to wipe Israel off the map, and an entirely different thing to belittle the “Messiah”. Perhaps Achmadinejad is taking these things to heart.
Comment by BlandOatmeal — July 6, 2009 @ 12:30 pm
U.S. Vice President Gives Israel Green Light to Attack Iran
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132216
by Gil Ronen
(IsraelNN.com) United States Vice President Joe Biden raised the pressure on Iran by appearing to give a green light for Israel to conduct a military strike against the Persian theocracy.
In his appearance Sunday on ABC News’ “This Week,” Biden was asked three times by host George Stephanopolous if the Obama Administration would stand in the way of an Israeli military strike.
Three times, he said that Israel was free to do what it needed to do. “If the Netanyahu government decides to take a course of action different than the one being pursued now, that is their sovereign right to do that. That is not our choice,” Biden said.
Comment by yamit82 — July 6, 2009 @ 6:56 pm