Israel Cabinet strongly opposes Iran nuclear deal - http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-spokesman-says-emerging-iran-nuclear-deal-dangerous-091849847.html
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his Cabinet are united in "strongly opposing" an emerging framework agreement on curbing Iran's nuclear program and demanded that any final deal contain Iranian recognition of Israel's right to exist.
Iran and six world powers announced a series of understandings Thursday, with a final agreement to be reached by June 30. A final deal is meant to cut significantly into Iran's bomb-capable technology while giving Tehran quick access to assets and markets blocked by international sanctions.
Netanyahu has harshly criticized the negotiations, demanding instead that the Iranian program be dismantled. He claims Iran cannot be trusted, and that leaving certain facilities intact would allow the Iranians to eventually build a bomb. Iran denies it has nuclear weapons ambitions and says its program is intended for peaceful purposes.
However, it appears unlikely Israel will be able to prevent the final deal amid broad international support for such an agreement.
On Friday, the eve of the Jewish Passover holiday, Netanyahu convened his Cabinet for a special session to discuss the emerging framework, reached after a week of grueling negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Netanyahu said after the session that "Israel will not accept an agreement which allows a country that vows to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons, period."
However, he also acknowledged the possibility of a final agreement being reached, saying that such a deal must "include a clear and unambiguous Iranian recognition of Israel's right to exist."
Netanyahu said his Cabinet "is united strongly opposing the proposed deal," which he said would threaten Israel's survival.
"Such a deal does not block Iran's path to the bomb," he said. "Such a deal paves Iran's path to the bomb. And it might very well spark a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East and it would greatly increase the risks of terrible war."
The commitments announced Thursday, if implemented, would substantially pare back some Iranian nuclear assets for a decade and restrict others for an additional five years. According to a U.S. document listing those commitments, Tehran is ready to reduce its number of centrifuges, the machines that can spin uranium gas to levels used in nuclear warheads.
Of the nearly 20,000 centrifuges Iran now has installed or running at its main enrichment site, the country would be allowed to operate just over 5,000. Much of its enriched stockpiles would be neutralized. A planned reactor would be reconstructed so it can't produce weapons-grade plutonium. Monitoring and inspections by the U.N. nuclear agency would be enhanced.
However, Netanyahu argued that the emerging deal would leave much of Iran's nuclear infrastructure intact.
"They would not shut down a single nuclear facility in Iran, would not destroy a single centrifuge in Iran and will not stop research and development on Iran's advanced centrifuges," he said. "On the contrary. The deal would legitimize Iran's illegal nuclear program. It would leave Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure. A vast nuclear infrastructure remains in place."
He called on the world powers to stand firm and increase pressure in Iran until what he termed a good deal is achieved.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his Cabinet are united in "strongly opposing" an emerging framework agreement on curbing Iran's nuclear program and demanded that any final deal contain Iranian recognition of Israel's right to exist.
Iran and six world powers announced a series of understandings Thursday, with a final agreement to be reached by June 30. A final deal is meant to cut significantly into Iran's bomb-capable technology while giving Tehran quick access to assets and markets blocked by international sanctions.
Netanyahu has harshly criticized the negotiations, demanding instead that the Iranian program be dismantled. He claims Iran cannot be trusted, and that leaving certain facilities intact would allow the Iranians to eventually build a bomb. Iran denies it has nuclear weapons ambitions and says its program is intended for peaceful purposes.
However, it appears unlikely Israel will be able to prevent the final deal amid broad international support for such an agreement.
On Friday, the eve of the Jewish Passover holiday, Netanyahu convened his Cabinet for a special session to discuss the emerging framework, reached after a week of grueling negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Netanyahu said after the session that "Israel will not accept an agreement which allows a country that vows to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons, period."
However, he also acknowledged the possibility of a final agreement being reached, saying that such a deal must "include a clear and unambiguous Iranian recognition of Israel's right to exist."
Netanyahu said his Cabinet "is united strongly opposing the proposed deal," which he said would threaten Israel's survival.
"Such a deal does not block Iran's path to the bomb," he said. "Such a deal paves Iran's path to the bomb. And it might very well spark a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East and it would greatly increase the risks of terrible war."
The commitments announced Thursday, if implemented, would substantially pare back some Iranian nuclear assets for a decade and restrict others for an additional five years. According to a U.S. document listing those commitments, Tehran is ready to reduce its number of centrifuges, the machines that can spin uranium gas to levels used in nuclear warheads.
Of the nearly 20,000 centrifuges Iran now has installed or running at its main enrichment site, the country would be allowed to operate just over 5,000. Much of its enriched stockpiles would be neutralized. A planned reactor would be reconstructed so it can't produce weapons-grade plutonium. Monitoring and inspections by the U.N. nuclear agency would be enhanced.
However, Netanyahu argued that the emerging deal would leave much of Iran's nuclear infrastructure intact.
"They would not shut down a single nuclear facility in Iran, would not destroy a single centrifuge in Iran and will not stop research and development on Iran's advanced centrifuges," he said. "On the contrary. The deal would legitimize Iran's illegal nuclear program. It would leave Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure. A vast nuclear infrastructure remains in place."
He called on the world powers to stand firm and increase pressure in Iran until what he termed a good deal is achieved.
Netanyahu: Deal will leave Iran 'less than a year' from bomb - http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-deal-will-leave-iran-less-than-a-year-from-bomb/
Toasting new MKs, PM sets ensuring Israel's security and mending internal rifts as key missions; drops vague hint about unity government
Iran would be less than a year away from obtaining a nuclear weapon if its emerging deal with world powers is signed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday, as talks between Iran and the US-led group of countries went down to the wire in Switzerland.
The prime minister, speaking at a toast after the swearing-in of members of the 20th Knesset, said the new parliament's "primary mission" is "to ensure the security of Israel."
Netanyahu won a landslide victory in the March 17 elections, taking 30 of the Knesset's 120 seats and beating out the rival Zionist Union by six seats. He was tapped last week by President Reuven Rivlin to assemble a coalition, a process that will likely yield a right-wing government.
Netanyahu said that while "I greatly appreciate the brave covenant" between Israel and the US, the two countries disagree over how to thwart Iran. "When it comes to an existential threat, Israel must stand up for itself," he said.
"The land all around us is trembling," he said, alluding to the growing unrest in the Middle East. "The greatest threat to our future and our security is and will remain Iran's attempt to arm itself with nuclear weapons."
The time Iran will need to break out to a nuclear weapon, if it signs a deal with world powers in Lausanne, "will be reduced to less than a year, and possibly a lot less than that," the prime minister warned. Such a deal, whose emerging terms have been the subject of many reports, would "pave the way" to a nuclear weapon.
The Obama administration says any deal will stretch the time Iran needs to make a nuclear weapon from the present two to three months to at least a year. But critics object that it would keep Tehran's nuclear technology intact.
Under the agreement currently being negotiated between world powers and Iran, the Islamic republic would retain its underground facilities, its heavy water facility and thousands of centrifuges - elements that, "just a few months ago we were told, rightly so, were unnecessary for a peaceful program," Netanyahu said, apparently referring to past comments by US President Barack Obama.
At the Saban Forum in December 2013, Obama specified that, "Now, in terms of specifics, we know that they don't need to have an underground, fortified facility like Fordo in order to have a peaceful nuclear program. They certainly don't need a heavy-water reactor at Arak in order to have a peaceful nuclear program. They don't need some of the advanced centrifuges that they currently possess in order to have a limited, peaceful nuclear program."
The deal taking shape also fails to cover missile development, research on more sophisticated centrifuges, and Iran's "campaign of conquest and terror" carried out "in full view... from the Golan to Yemen, from Iraq to Gaza and in so many other places," Netanyahu protested.
In a possible expression of interest in a broad unity government with the Zionist Union, Netanyahu said that "my door is open to representatives of all factions. This is an invitation." He did not elaborate.
Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog has repeatedly dismissed the possibility of joining forces with Netanyahu and forming a unity government, saying his party would lead the opposition. Netanyahu has also publicly rejected the notion of bringing the Zionist Union into his government.
Netanyahu pledged to build a government that will represent all Israelis, and stressed the obligation to heal the rifts between different sectors of society.
"Our first mission is to mend the rifts" in society, he said.
"I am committed to dealing with the issue of the cost of housing," he said, adding with a hint of jest, "I say this even though the election is behind us."
Wrapping up six days of marathon nuclear talks with mixed results, Iran and six world powers prepared Tuesday to issue a general statement agreeing to continue negotiations in a new phase aimed at reaching a comprehensive accord by the end of June, officials told The Associated Press.
The joint statement is to be accompanied by additional documents that outline more detailed understandings, allowing the sides to claim enough progress has been made thus far to merit a new round and effectively extending a March 31 deadline, the officials said.
Uranium enrichment has been the chief concern in over more than a decade of international attempts to cap Iran's nuclear programs. But Western officials say the main obstacles to a deal are no longer enrichment-related but instead the type and length of restrictions on Tehran's research and development of advanced centrifuges and the pace of sanctions-lifting.
Over the past weeks, Iran has moved from demanding that it be allowed to keep nearly 10,000 centrifuges enriching uranium, to agreeing to 6,000. The officials said Tehran now may be ready to accept even fewer.
In future war, Hezbollah will fire 1,000 rockets a day, IDF predicts - By Stuart Winer - http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-future-war-hezbollah-will-fire-1000-rockets-a-day-idf-predicts/
Home Front Command says Israel should brace for hundreds of civilian casualties in event of a conflict
Outgoing Home Front Command chief Maj. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg said that a future war between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah group will include hundreds or even thousands of rockets raining down on the country every day.
Eisenberg spoke during an event Tuesday marking his stepping down from the post and handing it over to Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick.
The citizens of Israel, he said, should be prepared for significant challenges. According to estimates by the Home Front Command conducted during Eisenberg's tenure, Israel must be prepared for a "blitz of attacks," including 1,000-1,500 rockets falling on Israel's home front every day.
But despite the grim scenario, Eisenberg remained upbeat as to Israel's ability to weather a possible assault from Hezbollah. "Will it be hard? Can we stand up to them? Definitely; we have no choice," he said.
The outgoing commander's warning echoed information in leaflets distributed recently by the IDF's Home Front Command to local authorities in which the army warned of the serious threat that Hezbollah poses to the country's civilian population, and predicted that hundreds could be killed in a future conflict with Lebanon.
The army said that correct defensive procedures by civilians, such as retreating into stairwells during an attack, can significantly improve protection. The IDF has also been looking at plans that would see the evacuation of border communities and provide temporary housing for thousands of people at army bases and other sites.
The estimates of what the Shiite-aligned Hezbollah can do with its arsenal of rockets, which could number as many as 100,000, were not new; however, in light of regional tensions and recent clashes on the northern border there is concern of an increased possibility of war. Hezbollah's arsenal of rockets is said to cover the entirety of Israel.
Security pundits cited in Hebrew-language media suggested that a key aspect of the awareness campaign by the IDF is to keep civilian expectations of Israel's anti-missile capabilities realistic. During the 2014 summer conflict between the IDF and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians fired over 4,000 rockets at Israeli towns and cities. The Iron Dome anti-rocket system knocked out of the sky many of the projectiles, preventing them from hitting population centers, but Hezbollah's far greater ability to rain down massive barrages of larger, more accurate rockets, could overwhelm it.
Earlier this month the UN Security Council warned that recent violence along Lebanon's border with Israel and the presence of unauthorized weapons in a UN buffer zone pose a risk of a new conflict.
In January, two IDF soldiers were killed when an Israeli army patrol came under anti-tank fire from Hezbollah operatives in the northern Mount Dov region near the border with Lebanon.
Regarding that attack, Hezbollah said in a statement that a squad from the "fallen martyrs of the Quneitra brigade" had attacked the Israeli convoy in retaliation for an alleged Israeli airstrike near Quneitra, just over the border in Syria, a week earlier that had killed at least seven, including an Iranian general and a senior commander in the organization. The statement said it was a "first announcement," alluding to the possibility of further attacks.
In October 2014, Hezbollah claimed a bomb attack against Israeli troops along the border that wounded two soldiers. Hours later, a second bomb went off along the border in the area, but did not result in any casualties. The clash came two days after a Lebanese soldier was lightly wounded by Israeli forces in the same area.
The last major conflict between Israel and Hebollah was in 2006 and began after the group killed five IDF soldiers and snatched the bodies of two - Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev - sparking a bloody, month-long war. The fighting resulted in the deaths of 43 Israeli civilians and 119 IDF soldiers, and over 1,700 dead on the Lebanese side, including 600 to 800 Hezbollah combatants, according to IDF figures.
During the 34 days of fighting, Hezbollah launched over 4,000 rockets at Israel, an average of over 100 a day.
The bodies of Regev and Goldwasser were returned to Israel in 2008 in exchange for Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, four Hezbollah members and the remains of some 200 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners.
Hezbollah: Arabs should unite to attack Israel, not Yemen - By Itamar Sharon - http://www.timesofisrael.com/nasrallah-arabs-should-unite-to-attack-israel-not-yemen/
Hezbollah leader slams Saudi campaign: 'You say the new situation threatens you... Do you not feel the threat posed by Israel?'
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday bemoaned the Saudi-led Arab coalition engaged in a campaign against rebels forces in Yemen, saying Arabs should unite against Israel rather than the Houthi militias who have taken over the capital Sanaa and much of the country over the past months.
The leader of Lebanon's Shiite terror group slammed Saudi Arabia's intervention in Yemen, dubbed Operation Decisive Storm, calling it "surprising and painful."
Hezbollah, like Yemen's Houthi rebels, is supported by Iran, which Saudi Arabia views as its main regional rival. Iran has openly armed and assisted Hezbollah since its creation, but both Iran and the Houthis deny Tehran has sent arms to the Yemeni rebels.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah would have been glad to be "partners" in a coalition against Israel, but lamented the fact that "for decades there has been no 'Decisive Storm,' not even a slight gust of resolve to fight Israel."
Nasrallah expressed wonder that Riyadh felt compelled to intervene in Yemen, when "everything that has happened in our region for years didn't necessitate Saudi intervention."
"You say the new situation in Yemen threatens your national security," he noted. "Do you not feel the threat posed by Israel, which has one of the strongest armies in the world?"
He continued: "This means that in the eyes of (the Saudis) Israel is not an enemy or a threat that requires such a 'storm.'"
Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of abandoning the Palestinian people, leaving the region to Israel "to murder and expel, and to the US to search for an illuionary diplomatic solution.
"You have money, so why do the Palestinain people live in poverty? This people has called on Iran to aid it, and Iran, despite the economic siege placed upon it thanks to you, has given everything it can to the Palestinian people, both by way of its diplomatic positions and through funding and weapons."
But Nasrallah denied that Yemen's rebels were being aided militarily be Iran.
"Where are the Iranian armies in Yemen and where are the Iranian bases there?" he asked.
The real reason for the campaign, Nasrallah asserted, "is that Saudi Arabia lost its control and dominance in Yemen and the aim of war is to restore control and hegemony over Yemen. Period."
The Hezbollah leader suggested Riyadh would suffer a "humiliating defeat" if it didn't resolve the conflict through negotiations.
"Throughout history, invaders were defeated and the invaders were humiliated," Nasrallah said. "The rulers in Saudi Arabia still have an opportunity in order not to face a humiliating defeat."
Nasrallah said the countries taking part in the military campaign should review their policies. "Should the region go to war because of Saudi money?" he asked.
In some of his harshest comments to date, Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of sending suicide attackers to Iraq and of creating the Islamic State group. Addressing Saudi Arabia, he said Iran had expanded its influence in the region because "you are lazy, losers, and you don't take responsibility."
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