The Times of Israel has a handy summary (and Breitbart has more here) of Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s remarks earlier this week concerning the perils of Obama administration foreign policy from Israel’s perspective. It’s a sort of “emperor has no clothes” moment, with Ya’alon “declaring that Israel cannot rely on the US to thwart Iran’s nuclear program, accusing the administration of broadcasting weakness throughout the world, and warning that its perceived weakness was inviting further terrorism against US targets.” The ToI reports:
Speaking at a Tel Aviv University event reported by the Haaretz daily, Ya’alon said Israel could not afford to rely on the Obama administration to lead an action against Iran’s nuclear program, and that Israel could only rely on itself. Israel had believed that “the one who should lead the campaign against Iran is the US,” but instead, “the US at a certain stage began negotiating with them, and unfortunately in the Persian bazaar the Iranians were better,” he said. Therefore, “we (Israelis) have to look out for ourselves.”
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In his reported remarks Sunday, Ya’alon was adamant that “Iran is fooling the world” about its nuclear program,” but said the West preferred to put off any confrontation — “to next year, or the next term; but it will blow up in the end.” The Iranians had been “on all fours” because of sanctions and diplomatic isolation, but had been allowed to recover, he charged. The interim deal signed in Geneva in November “is very comfortable for the Iranians,” he said, enabling them to establish themselves as a threshold state “and break out to the bomb when they choose to do so.”
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Moving to a wider critique of the Obama administration, Ya’alon reportedly stressed several times that the US was radiating weakness in every region worldwide. “The Sunni camp [in the Middle East] expected that the US would support it, and would be as determined as Russia is in its support of the Shiite axis,” he was quoted as saying. “I hear voices of disappointment in the region. I was in Singapore, and I heard disappointment at the strengthening of China and the weakening of the United States. Look what’s happening in the Ukraine; there, to my sorrow, the US is broadcasting weakness.”
Like the little boy in the fairy tale, Ya’alon expresses what every sentient observer sees. In Israel’s case, however, this irreverence cannot stand. Ya’alon’s words must be rolled back, one way or another. The Jerusalem Post reports: “‘Mystified’ US slams Israeli defense minister Ya’alon’s criticism of Obama.”
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