AUDIONETDAILY

Israel 'willing to risk' relationship with U.S.

Middle East expert: 'The message was pretty clear from the American side'

Posted: May 18, 2009
10:47 pm Eastern
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday held their first face-to-face meeting to discuss, among other things, Iran's nuclear program.

"I think their ability to work together will be quite good ... but it's the focus of the meeting that's the real difference between them," said Joshua Goodman, director of research at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Netanyahu's focus was on a time limit for negotiations with Iran, with the threat of military action if no agreement is reached, while Obama defended his diplomatic approach and again refused to commit to an "artificial deadline" for negotiations.

"I don't think [Netanyahu] got exactly what he was looking for," continued Goodman.

Goodman, an expert on Iranian and Persian Gulf affairs, said "the message was pretty clear from the American side."

He spoke with Greg Corombos of Radio America/WND. The audio of the exchange is embedded here: http://www.cwfa.org/main.asp

"Being antagonistic is never really the best approach for a strong diplomatic effort," he added.

Goodman expects Israel to "become more aggressive in its rhetoric" due to a growing sense it "will have to go it alone."

"They're willing to risk the relationship between Israel and the U.S," he continued.

"If there's only a ten percent chance [an attack] will succeed, then I think at that point there's another strategic calculation. But if they do think they do have a chance of actually hurting Iran's nuclear infrastructure through an attack, then I don't see any reason why they wouldn't go even if the U.S. opposes it."

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