SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Israeli Official Says Military Action Against Iran 'Still on Table'
Last ditch effort to undermine talks slammed as 'desperate and reckless'
Apr 06, 2015
In a last ditch effort to undercut a framework agreement between world powers and Iran, a top aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Monday that, regardless of the diplomatic process, military action against Iran is "still on the table."
Yuval Steinitz, Likud Party minister for strategic affairs, told reporters that Israel is still unilaterally weighing the "military option."
"It was on the table. It's still on the table. It's going to remain on the table," said Steinitz. "Israel should be able to defend itself, by itself, against any threat. And it's our right and duty to decide how to defend ourselves, especially if our national security and even very existence is under threat."
"We are going to make an additional effort to convince the U.S. administration, Congress, Britain, France and Russia not to sign this bad deal, or at least to dramatically change and fix it," added Steinitz.
Netanyahu's administration, along with hardline allies in U.S. Congress, has vigorously opposed the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the five members of the United Nations Security Council (U.S., Russia, China, United Kingdom, and France) plus Germany.
Advocates of the nuclear talks--from the administration of President Barack Obama to grassroots civil society organizations--say that the push to undermine the diplomatic process, ultimately, amounts to a call for dangerous military escalation and potentially war.
Leading nuclear non-proliferation specialists, meanwhile, released a statement on Monday championing the framework agreement as a "vitally important step forward."
Jamal Abdi, policy director for the National Iranian American Council, told Common Dreams, "The notion that the military option is still on the table, first of all, ignores the fact that any military option makes an Iranian nuclear weapon far more likely, not less likely. Anybody talking about military action is being disingenuous or just desperate and reckless."
"Some of our own members of the U.S. Senate are goading Israelis to say things like this," Abdi added. "Hopefully these people don't do more and more crazy things to sabotage the more desperate they get."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
In a last ditch effort to undercut a framework agreement between world powers and Iran, a top aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Monday that, regardless of the diplomatic process, military action against Iran is "still on the table."
Yuval Steinitz, Likud Party minister for strategic affairs, told reporters that Israel is still unilaterally weighing the "military option."
"It was on the table. It's still on the table. It's going to remain on the table," said Steinitz. "Israel should be able to defend itself, by itself, against any threat. And it's our right and duty to decide how to defend ourselves, especially if our national security and even very existence is under threat."
"We are going to make an additional effort to convince the U.S. administration, Congress, Britain, France and Russia not to sign this bad deal, or at least to dramatically change and fix it," added Steinitz.
Netanyahu's administration, along with hardline allies in U.S. Congress, has vigorously opposed the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the five members of the United Nations Security Council (U.S., Russia, China, United Kingdom, and France) plus Germany.
Advocates of the nuclear talks--from the administration of President Barack Obama to grassroots civil society organizations--say that the push to undermine the diplomatic process, ultimately, amounts to a call for dangerous military escalation and potentially war.
Leading nuclear non-proliferation specialists, meanwhile, released a statement on Monday championing the framework agreement as a "vitally important step forward."
Jamal Abdi, policy director for the National Iranian American Council, told Common Dreams, "The notion that the military option is still on the table, first of all, ignores the fact that any military option makes an Iranian nuclear weapon far more likely, not less likely. Anybody talking about military action is being disingenuous or just desperate and reckless."
"Some of our own members of the U.S. Senate are goading Israelis to say things like this," Abdi added. "Hopefully these people don't do more and more crazy things to sabotage the more desperate they get."
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
In a last ditch effort to undercut a framework agreement between world powers and Iran, a top aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Monday that, regardless of the diplomatic process, military action against Iran is "still on the table."
Yuval Steinitz, Likud Party minister for strategic affairs, told reporters that Israel is still unilaterally weighing the "military option."
"It was on the table. It's still on the table. It's going to remain on the table," said Steinitz. "Israel should be able to defend itself, by itself, against any threat. And it's our right and duty to decide how to defend ourselves, especially if our national security and even very existence is under threat."
"We are going to make an additional effort to convince the U.S. administration, Congress, Britain, France and Russia not to sign this bad deal, or at least to dramatically change and fix it," added Steinitz.
Netanyahu's administration, along with hardline allies in U.S. Congress, has vigorously opposed the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the five members of the United Nations Security Council (U.S., Russia, China, United Kingdom, and France) plus Germany.
Advocates of the nuclear talks--from the administration of President Barack Obama to grassroots civil society organizations--say that the push to undermine the diplomatic process, ultimately, amounts to a call for dangerous military escalation and potentially war.
Leading nuclear non-proliferation specialists, meanwhile, released a statement on Monday championing the framework agreement as a "vitally important step forward."
Jamal Abdi, policy director for the National Iranian American Council, told Common Dreams, "The notion that the military option is still on the table, first of all, ignores the fact that any military option makes an Iranian nuclear weapon far more likely, not less likely. Anybody talking about military action is being disingenuous or just desperate and reckless."
"Some of our own members of the U.S. Senate are goading Israelis to say things like this," Abdi added. "Hopefully these people don't do more and more crazy things to sabotage the more desperate they get."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.