Netanyahu Cancels DC Visit Fearing Ambush

Like the gleeful sound one makes upon hearing that a particularly obnoxious and troublesome relative will not be attending a family gathering, Washington officials probably issued a collective sigh of relief when hearing the news that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has canceled his visit to Washington planned for next week. The Israeli Prime Minister has caused enough diplomatic problems for the Obama government recently and his appearance at an international summit on the spread of nuclear weapons could have further embarrassed both Israel and the United States.

Netanyahu will not attend the weapons conference because he is afraid to confront a group of representatives of Arab nations who plan to bring up the issue of Israel’s non-participation in the Non-Proliferation Treaty. These nations want to force Israel to publicly acknowledge its nuclear capability and permit international inspection of its facilities.

The Jerusalem Post refers to the Israeli nuclear arsenal as “alleged,” maintaining the ludicrous Tel Aviv “policy of ambiguity.” The headline of the Hebrew version of Ynet says Netanyahu is afraid of an “ambush” by the Arab delegates to the conference. Israel will send Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor to the conference to be the flak-catcher for Netanyahu. The Israeli leader’s absence will deflect attention from the potential bad publicity that discussion of Israel’s nuclear capability will generate.

Israel maintains an arsenal which is assumed to be between 100 and 300 warheads depending on the source of the data estimate. Mordechai Vanunu revealed details of Israel’s nuclear arsenal to the British press in 1986. He served 18 years in an Israeli prison after being abducted from Italy by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad. Vanunu is prohibited from leaving Israel, where his freedom of speech, association and movement have been severely limited by authorities since his release. He has been designated as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

According to the Federation of American Scientists website, it has been reported that “fearing defeat in the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israelis assembled 13 twenty-kiloton atomic bombs.” The fact that Israel may have seriously considered a nuclear strike in 1973 first became known to the general public in Seymour Hersh’s 1993 book, The Samson Option. If my memory serves me, Hersh claimed that Israel loaded the nukes on missiles and aimed them.

Surely the Americans must be ecstatic about Netanyahu not coming for another visit, although they are forced by their “very special relationship” with Israel to explicitly deny the obvious. The dubious honor for the denial fell on the shoulders of General James Jones, who told reporters that “of course we wanted the Prime Minister [Netanyahu] to come [back for another visit].”

Isn’t the very special Israeli-American relationship getting more special all the time?

Author: Ira Glunts

Visit Lobelog.com for the latest news analysis and commentary from Inter Press News Service's Washington bureau chief Jim Lobe.

One thought on “Netanyahu Cancels DC Visit Fearing Ambush”

  1. what difference does it make? Israel has more than 250 nuclear weapons, and it is NOT a signatory to the NNPT, and it also gets billions of ILLEGALLY DOLED OUT DOLLARS from the Untitled Snakes, against the Symington Amendment that forbids non NPT signatories from receiving U.S. foreign aid.

    so, what’s the difference whether this asshole shows up or not? He’ll still get billions of hot off the press shekels, I mean, dollarz, from the A.I.P.A.C. boot licking Congress and Senate that commits treason every single time they fund more money to this outlaw rogue State.

    what is the fucking difference??

    1. Well said Symington. Flawless.
      I reckon the solution to political stability & prosperity is not military interventions it is fixing underdevelopment & building friendships & trade…It seems only team Israel stands in the way this and wants to control everything by meddling, destruction & repression via USA infiltration/bribes/media………..
      ….the agenda seems to be almost always about "team Israelis" gain & who they want to steal off or exterminate to gain absolute control………..
      Where is Israels tabled proposition for a fair settlement? This says it all.

  2. I'm delighted this jerk won't be showing up. Netanyahu's days of coming and going as he please may hopefully be numbered.

  3. Who's worse, Nuttyyahoo or the Congressmen/evangelicals who lick his shoes clean? No wonder the guy's arrogant. He's the 98-pound weakling spinning Hercules on his little finger.

    1. you can say that again…and SO embarrassing, so craven. Congress knows which side its bread is buttered on, not the side with the American people for sure

  4. Israel considered JFK to be an existential threat, in 1963, because JFK demanded transparency from Israel, concerning its nascent nuclear weapons program. PM Ben Gurion, founder of the Mossad, resigned rather than comply with JFK's ultimatum. Later that year, JFK was murdered and LBJ gave Israel the green light to go ahead with its nuclear wepons program. Complicit and compromised, LBJ forgave the IDF for attacking the USS Liberty, because the Israelis could have leaked evidence of LBJ's connection with the assassination. That's the "conspiracy theory" that makes the most sense.

    Obama is now considered to be an existential threat to the Jewish state. Joe Biden is standing by, ready to play the role of LBJ. With friends and allies like Israel, who needs enemies?

  5. RE: "Isn’t the very special Israeli-American relationship getting more special all the time?" – Ira Glunts
    MY COMMENT: Yes, it's beginning to look a lot like Festivus™, all around the house….

  6. Netanyahou is a sleazebag. A lying, desperate, racist, land-stealing sleasebag. The fact that he represents Israel says a lot. But it is no different when Bush or now Obama represent America. Both America and Israel are desperate sleazebag countries. They have neither honor nor the respect of the World. They are both hypocritical liars, schemers and cowards. They both have tremendous military machines that murder at will but will not prevail. It is just a shame that so many well meaning Israelis and Americans have to live under and be represented by sleazebag governments.

    1. …so many well meaning Israelis?
      90% of well meaning Israelis suported the Gaza invasion in 2008.

      1. we're always hearing about well-meaning Israelis, peace loving Israelis, the Israeli doves, etc etc. Where are they all hiding? How come this peace-loving nation consistently has racist, insufferable warmongering asswipes like Netanyahoo representing them to the rest of the world?
        Answer: the Israeli dove is nearly extinct. And the majority doesn't care what the world thinks. Lets cut off the $3bn gravy train NOW. I imagine Bibi wouldn't last longer than a fart in the breeze were that to happen

  7. What the hell's the matter, NuttyYahoo, you war criminal sonofabitch? Aren't you man enough to confront the Arabs' accusations regarding your nuclear stockpile?

    You poor little Zionist, you!

  8. Under the new regulations, any Palestinian, including those born in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, could be classified as an “infiltrator” if they don’t have explicit permission from the Israeli military to reside in the territory.

    This appears designed to set up for immediate deportation tens of thousands of Gazans, but analysts warn that even more troubling is that the ambiguous new definition of “infiltrator” is so broad that it could cover virtually every Palestinian
    http://news.antiwar.com/2010/04/11/israeli-milita

    1. The plight of Palestinians is linked to Israel's special financial support from the U.S. Israel gets special finacial support because the U.S. does not have a republican form of government; public law 62-5, in §3, limited the number of districts each state shall have to the number of representatives they were entitled to in congress on Aug 8 of 1911, which not only limits the number of representatives and electors today, it denies US Citizens the popular vote; electors are chosen by political parties and presidential candidates are marketed like Captain Crunch or the Jolly Green Giant. With no representation in proportion to population growth there is no representation in proportion to taxation; hence, no republican form of government that is gauranteed by the Constitution in Article 4. It seems to me that the majority of Americans cannot afford to put a politician in their pocket; their votes don't count, and the only voice people ,like myself, have are expressed on blogs, but the number of people who read blogs is out of proportion with their taxes, which support new regulations that classify Palestinians as infilitrators.

  9. What will happen to the blood pressure of all you anti-semites(sorry, semites aren't Jews and you just hate zionists)? Will it spike when Natanz is blown sky high? Will your faces redden when the mountain side near Qum develops a hole?

    May I suggest for you and some of your best friends… a healthy dose of Xanax and perhaps Blazing Saddles on DVD instead of the upcoming BREAKING NEWS reports. Smart sanctions plus Russian anti-aircraft delivery to Iran ='s Iran's 17 installations and counting goes up in smoke. Check out Bibi's speech today in Israel. Justification is set.

  10. Co-existence has never been a Zionist position. After all, these "chosen" ones are alone entitled to nuclear arsenal, to all Palestinian lamd, and to trample anyone daring to differ. Anything less might compromise their ultra-racist ideology. Can't let that happen now, can we? Indeed, don't Americans know who the master is? And, Obama has the gall to stand up to Nutty! If it weren't for the Zionists, the US wouldn't know what to do with the $3b! Tut, tut, the sheer gall of it….

    1. The point is these clowns are making Israel a target & getting people of all colours killed for land they don't even need. There is plenty of land …food is cheap. They are causing global radicalisation AGAINST Israelis…Brainwashing children & ridiculously conscripting people for no good reason?
      The incoming criminals cover for the outgoing ones! They are a total disaster for any decent human being & must be stopped before they nuke people..they are this mad….Israel is the real biggest danger in my view….& they wont stop till they get control but it can not work because others are not stupid enough to let them do it.
      Gobbles said it all. The key is people are hoodwinked with propaganda. ….but he didn't count on the internet!

  11. pitty _u writes
    “90% of the well meaning Israelis supported the Gaza invasion of 2008”. I assume that the writer wishes to minimize the number of well meaning Israelis.
    But, over a million Arabs have Israeli citizenship – a definitely second class one, but nonetheless they are Israelis. i doubt that this particular group of Israelis are in favor of the racist, land stealing tactics of the Zionists, but they must bear the penalty of being part of corrupt country.
    Likewise in America, a knowledgeable minority suffer the consequences of membership with a mass of ignorance and (as Einstein noted) the ignorant are always in charge. A friend of mine belongs to a Christian womens’ bible study group. She said that one of the women made the comment regarding Muslim women, “They would rather lose a child than a goat, as a goat is worth money”. My friend said that all she could do was stare at the woman, but the woman was unbothered. .

  12. The point is these clowns are making Israel a target & getting people of all colours killed for land they don't even need. There is plenty of land …food is cheap. They are causing global radicalisation AGAINST Israelis…Brainwashing children & ridiculously conscripting people for no good reason?
    The incoming criminals cover for the outgoing ones! They are a total disaster for any decent human being & must be stopped before they nuke people..they are this mad….Israel is the real biggest danger in my view….& they wont stop till they get control but it can not work because others are not stupid enough to let them do it.
    Gobbles said it all. The key is people are hoodwinked with propaganda. ….but he didn't count on the internet!

  13. He does not need to come.

    " Dr. Lani Kass, who is the senior Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force General Norton A. Schwartz, was born, raised, and educated in Israel and then served in that country’s military where she reached the rank of major. She has a PhD in Russian studies but advises Air Force Generals on Cyberwarfare, terrorism, and the Middle East. And Kass appears to have close and continuing ties to her country of birth, frequently spicing her public statements with comments about life in Israel while parroting simplistic views of the nature of the Islamic threat that might have been scripted in Tel Aviv’s Foreign Ministry. "
    http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2010/04/14/dr

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