PM Netanyahu’s Speech at Holocaust Remembrance Day

Yesterday morning, I visited an old-age home for Holocaust survivors.  There, I met Idit Yapo, an amazing woman of 104, clear and lucid.  Idit fled Germany shortly after Hitler gained power, in 1934.

I met 89-year-old Esther Nadiv, one of Mendele’s twins.  She was reading a book, Golda Meir’s biography, and she told me, with a glint in her eye, she said:  “I am so proud, so very proud to be a part of the State of Israel which is in constant development.”

I met Hanoch Mandelbaum, an 89-year-old survivor of Bergen-Belsen.  Shortly after he came to Israel, as a young carpenter, he helped construct the desk upon which Ben Gurion signed the Declaration of Independence.  That is MiSho’a liTkuma – from holocaust to resurrection.

And I met Elisheva Lehman, an 88 year-old Holocaust survivor from Holland, who was a music teacher.  

I asked Elisheva if she would play something for us and she did.  She enthusiastically played “Am Yisrael Chai” and we all sung together.  It was quite emotional.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
 Am Yisrael Chai [The nation of Israel lives]

Our enemies tried to bury the Jewish future, but it was reborn in the land of our forefathers.  Here, we built a foundation for a new beginning of freedom, hope, and creation.  Year after year, decade after decade, we built the foundations of our country, and we will continue to yearly strengthen the pillars of our national life.

On this day, when our entire nation gathers together to remember the horrors of the Holocaust and the six million Jews who were murdered, we must fulfill our most sacred obligation.

This obligation is not merely an obligation to remember the past.  It is an obligation to learn its lessons, and, most importantly, to apply them to the present in order to secure the future of our people.  We must remember the past and secure the future by applying the lessons of the past.

This is especially true for this generation – a generation that once again is faced with calls to annihilate the Jewish State.

One day, I hope that the State of Israel will enjoy peace with all the countries and all the peoples in our region.  One day, I hope that we will read about these calls to destroy the Jews only in history books and not in daily newspapers.

But that day has not yet come.

Today, the regime in Iran openly calls and determinedly works for our destruction.  And it is feverishly working to develop atomic weapons to achieve that goal.

I know that there are those who do not like when I speak such uncomfortable truths.  They prefer that we not speak of a nuclear Iran as an existential threat.  They say that such language, even if true, only sows fear and panic.

I ask, have these people lost all faith in the people of Israel?

Do they think that this nation, which has overcome every danger, lacks the strength to confront this new threat?

Did the State of Israel not triumph over existential threats when it was far less powerful than it is today?  Did its leaders have any qualms about saying the truth?

David Ben Gurion told the people of Israel the truth about the existential dangers they faced in 1948 when five Arab armies tried to snuff Israel out in its cradle.

Levi Eshkol told the people of Israel the truth in 1967 when a noose was being placed around Israel’s neck and we stood alone to face our fate.

And when they heard these truths, did the people of Israel panic or did they unite to thwart the dangers?  Were we paralyzed with fear or did we do what was necessary to protect ourselves.

I believe in the people of Israel – and this belief is based on our experiences.  I believe that the people of Israel can handle the truth.  And I believe that they we have the capability to defeat those who seek to harm us.

Those who dismiss Iran’s threats as exaggerated or as mere idle posturing have learned nothing from the Holocaust.  But we should not be surprised.

There have always been those among us who prefer to mock those who tell uncomfortable truths than squarely face the truth themselves.
 
That is how Zev Jabotinsky was received when he warned the Jews of Poland of the looming Holocaust.

This is what he said in 1938, in Warsaw:

“It is already THREE years that I am calling upon you, Polish Jewry, who are the crown of World Jewry.  I continue to warn you incessantly that a catastrophe is coming closer.  I became grey and old in these years, my heart bleeds, that you, dear brother and sisters, do not see the volcano which will soon begin to spit its all-consuming lava…  I see that you are not seeing this because you are immersed and sunk in your daily worries…  Listen to me in this twelfth hour:  In the name of G-d!  Let anyone of you save himself, as long as there is still time, and time there is very little.”

But the leading Jewish intellectuals of the day ridiculed Jabotinsky, and rather than heed his warning, they attacked him.

This is what Sholem Asch, one of our nation’s greatest writers, said about him:
“What Jabotinsky is now doing in Poland is going too far.  His statement is detrimental to Zionism and to the vital interests of our people… It is disgraceful that these are leaders of a nation.”

I know there are also those who believe that the unique evil of the Holocaust should never be invoked in discussing other threats facing the Jewish people.

To do so, they argue, is to belittle the Holocaust and to offend its victims.

I totally disagree.  On the contrary.  To cower from speaking the uncomfortable truth – that today like then, there are those who want to destroy millions of Jewish people – that is to belittle the Holocaust, that is to offend its victims and that is to ignore the lessons.

Not only does the Prime Minister of Israel have the right, when speaking of these existential dangers, to invoke the memory of a third of our nation which was annihilated.  It is his duty.

There is a memorable scene in Claude Lanzmann’s documentary Shoah that explains this obligation more than anything.

In the harsh existence in the Warsaw Ghetto, Leon Feiner of the Bund and Menachem Kirschenbaum of the General Zionists met with Jan Karski from the Polish World War II Resistance Movement.

Jan Karski was a decent, sensitive man, and they begged him to appeal to the conscience of the world against the Nazi crimes.  They described what was happening, they showed him, but to no avail.

They said: “Help us.  We have no country of our own, we have no government, and we even have no voice among the nations”

They were right.

Seventy years ago the Jewish people did not have the national capacity to summon the nations, nor the military might to defend itself.

But today things are different.

Today we have an army.

We have the ability, the duty and the determination to defend ourselves.

As Prime Minister of Israel, I will never shy from speaking the truth before the world, no matter how uncomfortable it may seem to some.

I speak the truth at the United Nations; I speak the truth in Washington DC, the capital of our great friend, the United States, and in other important capitals; And I speak the truth here in Jerusalem, on the grounds of Yad VaShem which are saturated with remembrance.

I will continue to speak the truth to the world, but first and foremost I must speak it to my own people. I know that my people is strong enough to hear the truth.

The truth is that a nuclear-armed Iran is an existential threat of the State of Israel.

The truth is that a nuclear-armed Iran is an political threat to other countries throughout the region and a grave threat to the world peace.

The truth is that Iran must be stopped from obtaining nuclear weapons.

It is the duty of the whole world, but above and beyond, it is OUR duty.

The memory of the Holocaust goes beyond holding memorial services; it is not merely a historical recollection.

The memory of the Holocaust obligates us to apply the lessons of the past to ensure the basis of our future.

We will never bury our heads in the sand.

Am Yisrael Chai, veNetzach Yisrael Lo Yeshaker
[The Nation of Israel Lives, and the Eternal one of Israel does not Lie]

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Video: PM Netanyahu comments on the P5+1 talks with Iran about its nuclear program

PM Netanyahu made the following remarks about the talks on the Iranian nuclear issue, on Sunday, 15.4.12, at the start of his meeting with US Senator (ID-CT) Joe Lieberman. Video: Roee Avraham, Sound: Itama Bitton

Obama Administration Leaks More Israeli Defense Secrets

 The leaks continue from the Obama administration with regard to Israeli defense secrets. On Sunday, the New Yorker printed a report stating that US had worked with the Iranian opposition group Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK). The US was apparently receiving intelligence from the group, including intercepted cell phone calls and text messages. But sources also confirmed that Mossad was helping to funnel resources and train members of the MEK. As Seymour Hersh writes:

[E]arly last month NBC News quoted two senior Obama Administration officials as confirming that the attacks were carried out by M.E.K. units that were financed and trained by Mossad, the Israeli secret service. NBC further quoted the Administration officials as denying any American involvement in the M.E.K. activities. The former senior intelligence official I spoke with seconded the NBC report that the Israelis were working with the M.E.K., adding that the operations benefitted from American intelligence. He said that the targets were not “Einsteins”; “The goal is to affect Iranian psychology and morale,” he said, and to “demoralize the whole system—nuclear delivery vehicles, nuclear enrichment facilities, power plants.” Attacks have also been carried out on pipelines. He added that the operations are “primarily being done by M.E.K. through liaison with the Israelis, but the United States is now providing the intelligence.”

Keep Reading…

Netanyahu: Heed the 'jarring gong of danger' from Iran

Israeli prime minister warns that Iran's nuclear weapons threat must be taken seriously by the world before it's too late

‘Israel to Give Obama 12 Hours Notice on Attacking Iran’

Israeli officials told visiting USS Chief Joint of Staffs Martin Dempsey that it would give President Barack Obama no more than 12 hours notice if and when it attacks Iran, The London Times reported Sunday.

The Netanyahu government also will not coordinate with the United States an attack on the Islamic Republic, according to the report, the latest in a number of suposed scenarios concerning cooperation or lack of it between Jerusalem and Washington.

It is left to speculation whether the rumors are based on facts or are leaked by officials to mask the possibility of secret military coordination.

The London Times said its sources explained that that Israel fears that President Obama would try to torpedo an Israel attack if more notice were given because he is concerned that Iran will respond by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, sparking a rise in the price of oil that could cripple Western economies. If the attack were to occur in the next 10 months, it would put President Obama in a tight spot on the eve of his bid for re-election.

President Shimon Peres told Dempsey, "I am sure that in this fight [against Iran] we will emerge victorious. It is a fight that does not belong exclusively to the United States or Israel, but a global struggle to create a safe world for all peoples.”

Dempsey, on his first official visit to Israel, was wined and dined by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gants, who went so far as to arrange an IDF orchestra rendition of song made famous by Frank Sinatra, one of Dempsey’s favorite singers.

Dempsey tried to play down the postponement of what was billed as the largest-ever joint military drill between the Israeli and American armies, involving thousands of U.S. Army soldiers.

Published reasons for the delay have ranged from budgetary constraints, logistical problems to a signal from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that he distrusts President Obama’s commitment to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Dempsey maintained that the delay, which was announced by Israel, will give both countries more time to prepare and “achieve a better outcome.”

The top American general left Israel on Friday, before the Sabbath began.

Newt Gingrich - I'll Help Israel Attack Iran !!!

POWERFUL !!! Newt gets it !!!

Obama Regime panic over Israeli strike on Iran, sends Army general to “calm down Israel”

HAH! "Calm down Israel?" Not. Obama is sending the head of the Joint Chiefs to strong arm Israel into not taking steps to preemptively defend itself from the regularly threatened nuclear attack by Iran.

INN The Obama regime is sending the head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey to Israel this Thursday to try to change what it sees as Israel’s increasing readiness to attack Iran.


Both Israel and the United States have stated they would not rule out a military strike on Tehran to prevent the Islamic Republic from reaching the capability of attacking Israel, or elsewhere, with a nuclear weapon. (Yeah, but only Israel would actually do it) However, American officials are worried that Israel is closer to concluding that the “point of no return” is at hand, after which it may be too late to stop Iran.

With 15,000 soldiers, diplomats and contractors in Iraq, Iran’s neighbor, Washington is worried that an Israeli strike would place them in danger, The Wall Street Journal reported. Israel is concerned that Iranian nuclear capability would give it leverage to achieve its dream of dominating the Muslim world and “wiping Israel off the map” in the words of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (I thought all the soldiers were out of Iraq now?)



Dempsey will meet his counterpart in Israel, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, as well as Defense Minister Ehud Barak and possibly Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. President Barack Obama telephoned the Prime Minister last Thursday and expressed his “unshakeable” commitment to Israel’s security, but the White House declined to describe the content of the conversation.(I guess Netanyahu finally told Obama to stick it where the sun don't shine)



The head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, on his first official visit to Israel, will try to convince Israel that new sanctions on Iran and the deployment of thousands of U.S. soldiers in Kuwait demonstrate its intention to deter Iran. (How many times have we heard THAT before?) The United States also has sent a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf and underscored its vow to prevent Iran from holding the Western world hostage by closing the passage of oil tankers.


The nervousness in Washington is aggravated by its officials not really knowing what are the intentions of Israel. "It's hard to know what's bluster and what's not with the Israelis," a former U.S. official to the Journal.(You can thank Obama's pissing on Israel for that)



The Obama administration now is in a position of slapping harsher sanctions on Iran as a response to Israeli threats. The war of words between Israel and Iran escalated last week following the assassination of a top nuclear scientist in Iran, which accused “the Zionist regime” of carrying out the operation with approval of the United States.


George Mitchell, whose efforts to advance the “peace process” between the Palestinian Authority and Israel were a total failure, has joined the American chorus of advising Israel that it would be unwise to attack Iran. (BLAH BLAH BLAH)

Meanwhile, Iran claimed last week that an underground nuclear facility now is producing 20 percent enriched uranium, a key ingredient for a nuclear weapon.



barenakedislam

Netanyahu deputy "disappointed" with Obama on Iran !!!

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A senior Israeli official voiced disappointment in the Obama administration on Sunday, saying "election-year considerations" lay behind its caution over tough Iran sanctions sought by U.S. legislators.
While Washington has been talking tougher about Iran's nuclear work and threat to block oil export routes out of the Gulf if hit with harsher sanctions, new U.S. measures adopted on December 31 gave President Barak Obama leeway on the scope of penalties on the Iranian central bank and oil exports.
Moshe Yaalon, Israel's vice prime minister, contrasted the administration's posture to that of France and Britain, which he said "are taking a very firm stand and understand sanctions must be imposed immediately."
"In the United States, the Senate passed a resolution, by a majority of 100-to-one, to impose these sanctions, and in the U.S. administration there is hesitation for fear of oil prices rising this year, out of election-year considerations," Yaalon told Israel Radio.
"In that regard, this is certainly a disappointment, for now."
The Democratic president says he is determined to deny Tehran -- which insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful needs only -- the means to develop an atom bomb. His aides cast their sanctions strategy as a bid to work collaboratively with foreign powers and win over states that import Iranian oil without triggering price-boosting shocks to energy markets.
MIXED MESSAGES
The remarks by Yaalon, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, appeared to jar with praise centrist Defence Minister Ehud Barak offered last month for what he described as Obama's resolve against Iran.
Running for re-election in the face of Republicans who hold sway over big pro-Israel constituencies, Obama has sought to burnish his credentials as a friend of the Jewish state despite having frosty relations with Netanyahu.
In a phone conversation with the prime minister on Thursday, Obama "reiterated his unshakable commitment to Israel's security," the White House said. Both sides said the leaders' discussion dealt with Iran and Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
Reputed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, Israel sees the makings of a mortal threat in Iran's uranium enrichment and missile projects, and has threatened to resort to force if it deems diplomatic isolation of its foe a dead end.
The prospect of Israel worsening regional instability with a unilateral strike has stirred worry in war-weary Washington.
Obama's top military adviser, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey, was due to make his first visit to Israel on Thursday.
Israeli media predicted Dempsey would seek to persuade his hosts not to "surprise" the United States on Iran. The U.S. embassy had no immediate information about the visit's agenda.
Yaalon, himself a former top armed forces commander, said Israel should not "leap forward" to attack Iran.
"But Israel has to be ready to defend itself," he said. "Let's hope we do not arrive at that moment."
Netanyahu sounded sanguine last week about the efficacy of big-power pressure on Iran, telling an Australian newspaper: "For the first time I see Iran wobble ... under the sanctions that have been adopted and especially under the threat of strong sanctions on their central bank."

Netanyahu Refuses to Write Op-Ed for New York Times Due to Paper's Anti-Israel Bias

The New York Times learned Thursday that its biases have consequences.


In a letter from his senior adviser Ron Dermer obtained by the Jerusalem Post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scornfully declined the Gray Lady's offer to write an op-ed due to the paper's long history of anti-Israel sentiments:


The opinions of some of your regular columnists regarding Israel are well known. They consistently distort the positions of our government and ignore the steps it has taken to advance peace. They cavalierly defame our country by suggesting that marginal phenomena condemned by Prime Minister Netanyahu and virtually every Israeli official somehow reflects government policy or Israeli society as a whole. Worse, one columnist even stooped to suggesting that the strong expressions of support for Prime Minister Netanyahu during his speech this year to Congress was "bought and paid for by the Israel lobby" rather than a reflection of the broad support for Israel among the American people.


As NewsBusters reported Thursday, that columnist would be Thomas Friedman. Dermer continued:


Yet instead of trying to balance these views with a different opinion, it would seem as if the surest way to get an op-ed published in the New York Times these days, no matter how obscure the writer or the viewpoint, is to attack Israel. Even so, the recent piece on “Pinkwashing,” in which Israel is vilified for having the temerity to champion its record on gay-rights, set a new bar that will be hard for you to lower in the future.


Not to be accused of cherry-picking to prove a point, I discovered that during the last three months (September through November) you published 20 op-eds about Israel in the New York Times and International Herald Tribune. After dividing the op-eds into two categories, “positive” and “negative,” with “negative” meaning an attack against the State of Israel or the policies of its democratically elected government, I found that 19 out of 20 columns were “negative.”



Dermer concluded:


Your refusal to publish “positive” pieces about Israel apparently does not stem from a shortage of supply. It was brought to my attention that the Majority Leader and Minority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives jointly submitted an op-ed to your paper in September opposing the Palestinian action at the United Nations and supporting the call of both Israel and the Obama administration for direct negotiations without preconditions. In an age of intense partisanship, one would have thought that strong bipartisan support for Israel on such a timely issue would have made your cut.


So with all due respect to your prestigious paper, you will forgive us for declining your offer. We wouldn't want to be seen as "Bibiwashing" the op-ed page of the New York Times.


Maybe someone should remind the folks at the Times that Israel is America's strongest ally in the Middle East.


Or mightn't that matter?



Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/12/16/netanyahu-refuses-write-op-ed-new-york-times-due-papers-anti-israel-b#ixzz1gpiPkIGt

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu calls for ban on ear-shattering, amplified Muslim Calls to Prayer from mosques.

To Hell with the neighbors, especially the Jewish ones and the dogs, many mosques blast over-amplified Calls to Prayer up to five times a day, starting as early as 5AM, and audible from even miles away. ‘There’s no need to be more liberal than Europe,’ Netanyahu says of proposed ban on call-to prayer noise pollution.

HAARETZ  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday voiced support for a law that would ban mosques from using loudspeaker systems to call people to prayer. The so-called Muezzin Law, propsed by MK Anastassia Michaeli (Yisrael Beiteinu ) applies to all houses of worship but the practice is prevalent only in mosques. Michaeli has said hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens routinely suffer from the noise caused by the muezzin’s calls to prayer.

“The bill comes from a worldview whereby freedom of religion should not be a factor in undermining quality of life,” she said. Netanyahu made similar comments to the Likud ministers.

“I have received numerous requests from people who are bothered by the noise from the mosques,” he said. “The same problem exists in all European countries, and they know how to deal with it. It’s legitimate in Belgium; it’s legitimate in France. Why isn’t it legitimate here? We don’t need to be more liberal than Europe.”

Michael Eitan, minister for the improvement of government services, agreed with Meridor, adding that this law was just a pretext for those wishing to legislate against Muslims. “If the desire was to combat sound, then a law against sound in all areas should be introduced,” said Eitan. “But the MK proposing the bill wants to combat religion. I met with her and she tried selling it to me as an environmental law. I said to her, ‘Look me in the eyes. You are not interested in the environment, but in Islam.”

Listen to the Muslim ‘Call to Prayer’ which Barack Hussin Obama says, is “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth.” And he can recite it in perfect Arabic.

Being subjected to this 5 times a day is worse than Chinese water torture.

PM Netanyahu's Christmas Greetings to Israel's Christian citizens and to Christians throughout the world.

Stay updated with the PM's Social Media channels:
twitter- http://twitter.com/IsraeliPM
facebook- http://www.facebook.com/IsraeliPM
flickr- http://www.flickr.com/photos/israelipm

Huh ? Is Barack Hussein Obama the best friend Israel ever had ???

Apparently, New York Magazine thinks so. And so does Obama, who recently said, “I’ve done more for Israel’s security than any other administration,” and vowed “no ally is more important to the U.S. than the Jewish state.” Predictably, the stupid die-hard left wing Jews with money actually buy this crap from the Liar-in-Chief.

 ”I try not to pat myself too much on the back, (that’s ALL you do) but this administration has done more for the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration,” Obama said.Speaking to prominent Jewish supporters at a New York City fundraiser, Obama said there is “enormous tumult” in the Middle East because of the Arab Spring, but that the U.S. stands firmly “on the side of democracy” and on Israel’s side, ABC reported.

“Whether it’s making sure that our intelligence cooperation is effective, to making sure that we’re able to construct something like an iron dome so that we don’t have missiles raining down on Tel Aviv, we have been consistent in insisting that we don’t compromise when it comes to Israel’s security,” Obama said. “Obviously, no ally is more important than the state of Israel,” he said.

Obama faced heavy criticism earlier this year when he said negotiations for a Palestinian state should be based on the pre-1967 borders, and has had a sometimes strained relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including when he was caught disparaging him on a live microphone with French President Nicolas Sarkozy last month.

American Jewish Congress chairman Jack Rosen, who hosted the fundraiser at his home, acknowledged there are those who are doubtful of Obama’s commitment to Israel, Reutersreported. “It would be remiss for me not to say there are many in the Jewish community who are concerned” about the relationship between Israel and the United States, Rosen said. But he added, “America has never been as supportive of the state of Israel as President Obama and his administration.” (If this were 1939 in Nazi Germany, Jack Rosen would be called a Judenrat for saying the same thing about Hitler)

This video shows exactly what kind of a “friend” Barack Hussein Obama is to Israel:

HT~ barenakedislam

Netanyahu praises Beck for defending Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praises Glenn Beck for his role in defending Israel.

Binyamin Netanyahu: Int'l community must stop Iranian nuclear program !!!

Netanyahu calls for every responsible government in the world to draw "obvious conclusions from IAEA report," at cabinet briefing on UN watchdog's release of letters, satellite images detailing Iranian threat.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the "international community must stop Iran's race for nuclear weapons" as its success may put the whole world at risk.

Speaking at a cabinet briefing on the UN watchdog's report detailing Iran's efforts at atomic weapons development, the prime minister said that "Every responsiblegovernment in the world must draw the obvious conclusions from IAEA report."


Video with sub-titles here

Netanyahu called the document "comprehensive," explaining that it had confirmed claims made by many countries, including Israel, that the Islamic Republic is seeking to develop an atomic bomb.

On Friday, the UN watchdog released letters and satellite images as part of evidence pointing to military dimensions to Iran's atomic activities, diplomats said, but Tehran's envoy dismissed it as "lousy" intelligence work. Read More

Newt slams Obama and Sarkozy for targeting Netanyahu as liar

Newt didn’t pull any punches yesterday when commenting on the recent ‘trash talking‘ of Netanyahu by Obama and French President Sarkozy. Newt said that he thought it was disgraceful, flagrantly inappropriate, and disgusting:

HT~ The Right Scoop

—

The more we see and hear Newt, the more impressed we've become.  

Americans like Netanyahu better than Obama

US President Barack Obama accidentally  let it be known last week that he doesn't think much of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. But that's OK, because Obama's own countrymen actually prefer Netanyahu over their own president.

A poll conducted by the group Greenber Quinlan Rosner found that 52.3 percent of Americans rate Netanyahu positively, compared to 51.5 percent for Obama. Other polls have Obama's approval ratings even lower, while Netanyahu has been consistently winning praise.

The results of the poll were enthusiastically discussed on Israel's Channel 10 News on Thursday.

White House Silent on Conversation With French President Insulting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

The White House is declining to comment about an audio tape from last week's G20 summit that captured President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy venting about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Sarkozy calls a "liar."

The conversation overheard by reporters -- who evidently agreed not to report it because it was captured before the two leaders thought they were on-mic -- was picked up on English and French simultaneous translation headsets.

According to French website, Arret sur images, which analyzes media coverage of current affairs, Obama was heard asking Sarkozy to help persuade the Palestinians to stop their efforts to gain U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state.

Sarkozy told Obama, "Netanyahu, I can't stand him. He's a liar." 

Obama did not object to the characterization, and responded: "You are sick of him, but I have to work with him every day."

Asked about the conversation on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that he wouldn't confirm that it happened, but the president's "very firm position" has been that efforts to achieve U.N. membership by the Palestinians were "premature and counterproductive" to the goal of Mideast peace. 

The president believes very firmly that both sides -- Israelis and Palestinians -- need to take steps that bring them together to direct negotiations and not ones that make it harder to happen, Carney added.

Several French-speaking journalists, including one from The Associated Press, overheard the comments but did not initially report them because staff members of Sarkozy's office asked the journalists not to turn on the headsets until the press conference began, and the comments were deemed private under French media traditions.

Sarkozy's office would not comment Tuesday on the remarks, or on France's relations with Israel. Netanyahu's spokesman also said he had no comment.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/08/white-house-silent-on-conversation-with-french-president-dissing-israeli-prime/#ixzz1d8hg3qAz

Obama-Sarkozy Caught on Tape: "We hate Benjamin "BiBi" Netanyahu, He's a liar."

Report: Sarkozy calls Netanyahu 'liar'

Microphones accidently left on after G20 meeting pick up private conversation between US, French presidents. Sarkozy admits he 'can't stand' Israeli premier. Obama: You're fed up with him? I have to deal with him every day!

French President Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly told US PresidentBarack Obama that he could not "stand" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that he thinks the Israeli premier "is a liar."

According to a Monday report in the French website "Arret sur Images," after facing reporters for a G20 press conference on Thursday, the two presidents retired to a private room, to further discuss the matters of the day.

The conversation apparently began with President Obama criticizing Sarkozy for not having warned him that France would be voting in favor of the Palestinian membership bid in UNESCOdespite Washington's strong objection to the move.




Arret sur Images (Screenshot) 

The conversation then drifted to Netanyahu, at which time Sarkozy declared: "I cannot stand him. He is a liar." According to the report, Obama replied: "You're fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!"


The remark was naturally meant to be said in confidence, but the two leaders' microphones were accidently left on, making the would-be private comment embarrassingly public.

The communication faux pas went unnoticed for several minutes, during which the conversation between the two heads of state – which quickly reverted to other matters – was all but open to members the press, who were still in possession of headsets provided by the Elysée for the sake of simultaneous translation during the G20 press conference.

"By the time the (media) services at the Elysée realize it, it was on for at least three minutes," one journalist told the website. Still, he said that reporters "did not have a chance to take advantage of this fluke."

The surprising lack of coverage may be explained by a report alleging that reporters present at the event were requested to sign an agreement to keep mum on the subject of the embarrassing comments.


A member of the media confirmed Monday that "there were discussions between journalists and they agreed not to publish the comments due to the sensitivity of the issue."

He added that while it was annoying to have to refrain from publishing the information, the journalists are subject to precise rules of conduct.

Obama Administration concerned that Israel will not warn them before taking military action against Iran's nuclear facilities !!!

HT~ Pat Dollard

Haaretz:

U.S. officials are concerned that Israel will not warn them before taking military action against Iran's nuclear facilities, a senior U.S. military official said Friday.

The official, who asked to remain anonymous, told the CNN network that although in the past, U.S. officials thought they would receive warning from Israel if it did take military action against Iran, "now that doesn't seem so ironclad."

U.S. is "absolutley" concerned that Israel is preparing an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, and this concern is increasing, CNN reported the official as saying.

The U.S. has increased its “watchfulness” of Iran and Israel over the past few weeks, U.S. Central and European Commands, which watch Iranian and Israeli developments respectively, are “increasingly vigilant” at this time, according to the official, and a second military official who also spoke with CNN.


The military official emphasized that the U.S is concerned about the risk a strike against Iran could pose for American troops in Iraq and in the Persian Gulf, according to the CNN report.


The official also said that the U.S. does not intend to follow a military action against Iran, CNN said.


This past week, reports have surfaced regarding Israeli military action against Iran. A senior Israeli official said Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are trying to muster a majority in the cabinet in favor of military action against Iran.


On Friday, President Shimon Peres said that he believes Israel and the world may soon take military action against Iran. His comments followed


As the drumbeat of reports about possible military action against Iran's nuclear facilities intensified, an International Atomic Energy Agency report, to be released next week is expected to reveal intelligence suggesting Iran made computer models of a nuclear warhead and other previously undisclosed details on alleged secret work by Tehran on nuclear arms, diplomats told The Associated Press on Friday.