Obama-Netanyahu Meeting Thread (3/5)

Obama offers Netanyahu assurances over Iran


(Reuters) - President Barack Obama, aiming to head off any premature Israeli strike on Iran, sought to assure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday that the United States would always "have Israel's back" but said there was still time for diplomacy.

Netanyahu, in a show of unity with an American leader with whom he has had a rocky relationship, said at the White House that both Israel and the United States stood together on the need to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

"The bond between our two countries is unbreakable," Obama said. "The United States will always have Israel's back when it comes to Israel's security."

The two men, sitting side by side and smiling at each other in the Oval Office, sought to present a united front in the Iranian nuclear standoff after weeks of mounting concern that Israel would preemptively strike Iran on its own.

In one of the most consequential meetings of U.S. and Israeli leaders in years, they made no mention of any differences they may have over red lines that could trigger military action to curb an Iranian nuclear program that Israel sees as a threat to its existence.

"We believe there is still a window that allows for a diplomatic resolution," Obama said.

Netanyahu made clear that Israel would be the "master of its fate" in deciding how to deal with Iran, which has called for the destruction of the Jewish state.

"It must have the ability to defend itself, by itself, against any threat," Netanyahu said, echoing remarks Obama made a day earlier in a speech to the powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC.

Read more:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8230EM20120305

Netanyahu to Obama: Israel ‘reserves the right’ to strike

Netanyahu: 'MY SUPREME RESPONSIBILITY AS PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL IS TO ENSURE THAT ISRAEL REMAINS THE MASTER OF ITS FATE'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Obama that Israel would decide for itself whether to strike Iran.

“My supreme responsibility as prime minister of Israel is to ensure that Israel remains the master of its fate,” Netanyahu told Obama.

In a sit-down earlier today with the president in the Oval Office, Netanyahu pushed back against the administration’s repeated attempts to dissuade Israel from attacking Iran.

“Israel must reserve the right to defend itself and after all, that’s the very purpose of the Jewish state to, restore to the Jewish people control of our destiny,” said Netanyahu, who is meeting with the president in advance of his speech later today before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference.

Israel reserves the right to strike Iran if need be, Netanyahu said.

Read more:

http://freebeacon.com/netanyahu-to-o...ght-to-strike/

Netanyahu may have just outwitted BoBo the Clown.

If Israel does bomb Obama's got to get his back.

Obama Cites ‘Window’ for Diplomacy on Iran Bomb

WASHINGTON — With Israel warning that it may mount a military strike against Iran, President Obama welcomed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to the White House, but signaled that he would press for more time for a campaign of economic sanctions to work on Tehran.

Appearing with Mr. Netanyahu in the Oval Office before their meeting, Mr. Obama declared that “the United States will always have Israel’s back.” He reiterated that the United States would prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but he added, “We do believe there is still a window that allows for a diplomatic resolution to this issue.”

Mr. Netanyahu, sitting next to the president, declared that “Israel must have the ability to defend itself, by itself, against any threat.” He thanked Mr. Obama for affirming, in a speech to a pro-Israel lobbying group on Sunday, that, as Mr. Netanyahu put it, “Israel has the sovereign right to make its own decisions.” Israeli officials interpreted this to mean that the United States would not try to block a preemptive Israeli strike.

While the two leaders struck a tableau of shoulder-to-shoulder solidarity, the differences in their approach to Iran were on display. Mr. Netanyahu said nothing about diplomacy and the economic sanctions that Mr. Obama promoted. And while the president repeated his vow that “all options are on the table” to halt Iran’s pursuit of a weapon, he did not explicitly mention military force, as he did on Sunday.

Mr. Obama said once again that that the United States rejected a policy of containing a nuclear-armed Iran, saying that a nuclear arms race in the Middle East would follow, raising the specter of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists, and that an Iran with nuclear weapons would be able to behave with impunity in the region.

Mr. Netanyahu sought to eliminate any daylight between the United States and Israel on Iran, noting that Iran’s leaders vilify the United States as the “Great Satan” and Israel as the “Little Satan.”

“We are you, and you are us,” he said. “We are together.”

Israeli officials have been comforted in recent days by Mr. Obama’s explicit rejection of a containment policy, as well as his affirmation that Israel has the right to act on its own to defend its national security. But the president has not embraced another key Israeli demand: that military action be taken before Iran acquires the ability to manufacture a bomb, as opposed to before it actually builds one.

Still, officials said, Mr. Obama is likely to discuss in greater detail with Mr. Netanyahu the “red lines” that the United States has established on Iran, even as he tries to persuade Mr. Netanyahu to give diplomacy and pressure more time.

The mood in the Oval Office was somber and businesslike, as it usually is in meetings between Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu — two men who have had a sometimes fractious relationship over Middle East diplomacy.

Read more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/wo...iran-bomb.html