Michel Chossudovsky: Isreal's War Plans to Attack Iran

Israel's Channel 10 suggests, in no uncertain terms, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is determined to attack Iran before the US elections and that the time for action is getting closer. Israel is now closer than ever to a strike designed to thwart Iran's nuclear drive. This timely report suggests that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak firmly believe that President Obama would have no choice but to give backing for an Israeli attack, were it to be waged before the November presidential elections. The TV stations military reporter Alon Ben David, who earlier this year was given extensive access to the Israel Air Force as it trained for a possible attack, reported that, since upgraded sanctions against Iran have failed to force a suspension of the Iranian nuclear program in the past two months. From the prime minister's point of view, the time for action is getting ever closer. Asked by the news anchor in the Hebrew language TV report how close Israel now was to a decision and perhaps an attack, Ben David said: "It appears that we are closer than ever." He said it seemed that Netanyahu was not waiting for a much discussed possible meeting with US President Barack Obama, after the UN General Assembly gathering in New York late next month indeed. Its not clear that there will be a meeting. In any case, said Ben David, I doubt Obama could say anything that would convince Netanyahu to delay a possible attack.  There is a considerable opposition to an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, the report noted with President Shimon Peres, the army's chief of the General Staff and top generals, the intelligence community, opposition leader Shaul Mofaz, and of course the Americans all lined up against Israeli action at this stage. But, noted Ben David, it is the Israeli government that would have to take the decision, and there Netanyahu is almost guaranteed a majority. Other Hebrew media reports on Tuesday also said Netanyahu is almost guaranteed a majority. Other Hebrew reports on Tuesday also said Natanyahu had dispatched a senior official, National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror, to update the elderly spiritual leader of the Shas ultra Orthodox coalition party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, on the status of the Iranian nuclear program, in order to win Shas government ministers support for an attack.