Jerusalem – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will try to persuade top U.S. administration officials not to drop the military option against Iran when he makes his visit to Washington today. Sources say the visit has “very great strategic significance.”

Mr. Barak, who arrived in the U.S. yesterday, will discuss the Iranian issue with Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates with the aim of reaching agreement, while maintaining the military option as a realistic option, should diplomatic efforts fail.

In recent months, the Bush administration has sent clear messages to Israel opposing military operations against Iran.

The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, which presented Mr. Gates and President Bush possible military options against Iran, says a strike against Iran lacks assurances of ending its nuclear program.

The American top brass’ assessment, along with the National Intelligence Estimate, has asserted that Iran has halted its military nuclear development. This has made Washington reluctant to bless an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear assets.

Israeli security sources say that an Israeli military operation against Iran without coordination with the Americans would be almost impossible. Israel needs real-time intelligence on the targets being attacked and aerial routes, which require the cooperation and aid from the U.S. security establishment.

The change in American attitude toward a military operation against Iran that has taken place toward the end of Mr. Bush’s term has also been changed U.S. policy on resolving the nuclear issue.

Top officials in the Bush administration have reached the conclusion that the end of Mr. Bush’s term should be characterized by a diplomatic achievement vis-a-vis Tehran, not a military entanglement.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008

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David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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