PM: Jerusalem is not a settlement

Speaking at AIPAC conference Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "Jerusalem is not a settlement," but Israel's capital.

"The connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel cannot be denied. The connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem cannot be denied.

The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 year ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today. Jerusalem is not a settlement. It is our capital."

He went on to say "As the world faces monumental challenges, I know that Israel and America will face them together"

The conference, a major show of pro-Israel power was attended by almost half of the members of Senate. At one point, two women from and anti-war group called Code Pink disrupted the prime minister's speech, causing him to stop for a few seconds. The demonstrators were quickly removed from the hall.

In his address, Mr. Netanyahu said that, although Israel cherishes its homeland, it also recognizes that Palestinians live there, as well.

"We don't want to govern them. We don't want to rule them. We want them as our neighbors, living freely in security, dignity and peace," he said.

Addressing the conference, Ms. Clinton implied Israel faced rising isolation on the world stage if it did not make concessions the United States says are necessary for the Palestinians to eventually get a state of their own.

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Rocket from Gaza kills man in Israel

rocket into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Thursday killed a Thai agricultural worker, while the European Union's foreign affairs chief was visiting Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Baroness Catherine Ashton, the EU's top diplomat, had just crossed into the Gaza Strip from Israel about an hour before the attack.

"A Color Red alert was sounded," one of the community's residents related to a YNet reporter. "We ran to find cover. There were about 20 seconds until we heard a very loud explosion."

Paramedics, who transported the injured man to a medical facility on Moshav Nativ Ha'asara in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, were unable to save him.

An unknown Gaza group, Ansar al-Sunna, claimed responsibility for the attack, launched a day before the international Quartet of Middle East peace mediators was to meet in Moscow to discuss ways to revive Israeli-Palestinian talks.

The attack marks the third time rockets have been fired into Israeli territory in the last 24 hours.

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Report: U.S. Mobilizing for Strike on Iran

Hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran according to Scottish Newspaper report.

The Sunday Herald said they can reveal the US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 “Blu” bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures.

Experts say that they are being put in place for an assault on Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities. There has long been speculation that the US military is preparing for such an attack, should diplomacy fail to persuade Iran not to make nuclear weapons.

Although the story was not confirmed at the time, the new evidence suggests that it was accurate.

Dan Plesch, director of the Center for International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of London and co-author of a recent study on US preparations for an attack on Iran was quoted by the Scottish newspaper as saying, “They are gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran. US bombers are ready today to destroy 10,000 targets in Iran in a few hours."

The preparations were being made by the US military, but it would be up to President Obama to make the final decision. He may decide that it would be better for the US to act instead of Israel, Plesch argued.

Diego Garcia is used by the US as a military base under an agreement made in 1971 with the British.

Neither the United States nor Israel have ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the long-running row over Iran's disputed nuclear ambitions.

According to The Herald, a shipping company based in Florida, Superior Maritime Services, will be paid $699,500 to carry many thousands of military items from Concord, California, to Diego Garcia.

Crucially, the cargo includes 195 smart, guided, Blu-110 bombs and 192 massive 2000lb Blu-117 bombs.

“The US is not publicising the scale of these preparations to deter Iran, tending to make confrontation more likely,” he added. “The US ... is using its forces as part of an overall strategy of shaping Iran’s actions.”

According to Ian Davis, director of the new independent thinktank, Nato Watch, the shipment to Diego Garcia is a major concern. “We would urge the US to clarify its intentions for these weapons, and the Foreign Office to clarify its attitude to the use of Diego Garcia for an attack on Iran,” he said.

The British Ministry of Defence has said in the past that the US government would need permission to use Diego Garcia for offensive action. It has already been used for strikes against Iraq during the 1991 and 2003 Gulf wars.

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U.S Secretary of State Clinton Slams Israel

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in an almost unprecedented rebuke in decades of strong ties with Israel telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to personally scorn his decision to build new housing units for Jews in Jerusalem.

Clinton said the announcement to construct these new homes sent a "deeply negative signal" about Israel's ties to its top ally.

The Middle East Quartet made up of the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations also slammed Israel in a statement saying it “condemns Israel's decision to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem." The statement also said "The Quartet has agreed to closely monitor developments in Jerusalem and to keep under consideration additional steps that may be required to address the situation on the ground"

US frustration with Israel’s announcement of the housing project as Vice President Joe Biden was on a visit to Israel was delivered by State Department spokesman Philip Crowley who told reporters that Israel’s move ran "counter to the spirit of the vice president's trip" saying also that it had harmed “the bilateral relationship.”

After speaking with Netanyahu Hillary Clinton heaped further scorn on the Jewish state in a CNN interview saying "The announcement of the settlements, the very day that the vice president was there, was insulting," adding "It was just really a very unfortunate and difficult moment for everyone, the U.S., our vice president who had gone to reassert America's strong support for Israeli security, and I regret deeply that that occurred and made that view known."

Since Obama came to office relations with Israel have been strained, and Biden’s trip was intended as a fence-mending mission. Now it has led to the biggest crisis between the two countries in two decades.

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Ahmadinejad: Hated Israel will be annihilated

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacked Israel on Thursday, asserting that it is the most hated state in the world. He said Israel "was established on lies" is losing the support of the West and would soon disappear.

Speaking in the southern Iranian Province of Hormozagan Ahmadinejad said that Israel was a Western prodigy that had now "reached the end of its road."

Continuing with his hate speech he told a crowd of supporters "See what has become of Israel. They [the West] gathered the most criminal people in the world and stationed them in our region with lies and fabricated scenarios. They waged wars, committed massive aggression… and made millions of people homeless"

"Today, it is clear that Israel is the most hated regime in the world… It is not useful for its masters [the West] anymore. They are in doubt now. They wonder whether to continue spending money on this regime or not," said Ahmadinejad.

"But whether they want it or not, with god's grace, this regime will be annihilated and Palestinians and other regional nations will be rid of its bad omen," he added.

Ahmadinejad claimed "even a new military conflict" could save the Israel.

"They think in their underdeveloped minds that if they launch another war against Lebanon or Syria it might help them survive a little longer. I am telling them that you are in a situation now that more aggressions or wars will not save you."

Ahmadinejad also threatened the US and its allies troops in the Middle East saying they should stop "making mischief."

"What are you doing in our region? Why are you deploying military forces here," he ranted.

"If you think military deployment will help you seize the oil in Iraq and in the Persian Gulf, I must tell you that the young generation of the Middle East will cut your hands off from the oil reserves of the Persian Gulf," he added.

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PM Netanyahu’s Address to the Christians United For Israel Jerusalem Summit

PM Netanyahu’s Address to the Christians United For Israel Jerusalem Summit

Welcome to Jerusalem, the undivided, eternal capital of the Jewish state and the Jewish people.

Your presence here today represents a profound transformation in the relationship between Christians and Jews. This transformation has its roots in the 19th century when the early Christian Zionists came to the Land Israel and when they began exploring the land of the Bible, when they began to yearn for the Jewish restoration in this land, the restoration of our numbers, the restoration of our sovereignty.

In fact, Christian Zionism preceded modern Jewish Zionism, and I think enabled it. But it received a tremendous impetus several decades ago when leading American clergymen, among them most notably, Pastor John Hagee, a dynamic pastor and leader from Texas, began to say to their congregations and to anyone who listened, it’s time to take a stand with Israel. It was time to take a stand with the sole democracy in the Middle East. It was time to take a stand against the lies and the slander and the vilifications. It was time to defend the Jewish state’s right to defend itself.

Today, Christians by the thousands, by the tens of thousands, by the hundreds of thousands, by the millions, by the tens of millions – today they have heard this call, and they stand with Israel. I salute you, the people of Israel salute you, the Jewish people salute you.

Time after time, through thick and thin, you have stood shoulder to shoulder with our state, and I have come here tonight to thank you for your unwavering friendship. And today that friendship is more important than ever because Israel faces unprecedented challenges to its security and its legitimacy.

No security challenge is more important to our common future than preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. I have said before and I’ll say again, that the greatest threat facing mankind is the specter of a militant Islamic regime acquiring nuclear weapons, or the specter of nuclear weapons acquiring a militant Islamic regime. The first is dangerously close to happening in Iran, and the second may or may not happen in Pakistan. I believe that with the right policies both can be averted.

If Iran develops atomic weapons, the world would never be the same. We would witness a cascade of terrorism across the globe as terrorists would operate under an Iranian nuclear umbrella. Look at how much havoc, how much terror they sow now, when there is no such umbrella, and understand what can happen if Iran, their patron, sponsor, supplier and supporter, if that Iran had nuclear weapons. Equally, the region’s vital oil supplies could be severely threatened and efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East would collapse as one regime after another would rush to acquire nuclear weapons of their own. Worst of all, if nuclear weapons would be given to terrorists, or to terrorist states, a 65 year-old era of nuclear peace would be endangered for the first time.

Remember that for the tyrants in Tehran, Israel is only the little Satan. In their eyes, America is the Great Satan. America is their ultimate target. Yet for Israel, the threat from Iran could not be clearer. Iran’s leaders openly call for Israel’s destruction. They brazenly deny the Holocaust and they hope, and they say so just about every other day, they hope to wipe Israel off the map of the Middle East.

We must not allow such a regime to threaten the peace of the world, the peace and security of all humanity. All responsible members of the international community must do everything in their power to stop Iran from developing atomic weapons.

As we speak the United States is leading an international effort to impose sanctions on Iran. We believe those sanctions must have teeth. And to have teeth, they must bite deep into Iran's energy sector. Simply put, they should prevent Iran from importing gasoline and from exporting oil. I believe that such measures might convince the regime to choose between continuing the weapons program and between assuring the regime’s future. But there must be tough, biting sanctions.

I said that we face great challenges to our security, but we also face unprecedented challenges to our legitimacy. Now this assault on our legitimacy comes in many forms – it comes from the so-called human rights bodies in the UN which would deny Israel its legitimate right of self-defense, it comes by falsely charging Israel’s political and military leaders with imaginary war crimes, and it comes by the outrageous waging campaigns to boycott, divest and sanction Israel. You are all familiar with that.

But I think that there is an even greater assault on our legitimacy. I think it is the attempt to perpetrate one of the greatest lies of history -- to deny the connection between the people of Israel and the land of Israel; to cast the Jewish people as foreigners in the land of our forefathers. Make no mistake about it. The attempt to deny our history in this land is an attempt to deny our future in this land. That is why to defend our past is to defend our future.

I ask you all to join us in this battle to defend the truth. Remind them of Abraham and Isaac, remind them of Joshua and Samuel, remind them of David and Solomon. Remind the world that the land of the Bible is not in the heavens but right here on earth. And that the people of the Bible, are on the land of the Bible.

Let me tell you how I remind foreign officials of this connection of the Jewish people to our history and to this land. You see, they visit my office. And I say, Would you come and look at this little signet ring that I was given on loan from the Department of Antiquities? It was found next to the Wall of the Second Temple, but it dates back to the First Temple. It goes back some 2800 years ago, to the period of the Kings. It is a signet seal of a Jewish official, and it has a name written in ancient Hebrew, which I can read. The name is: Netanyahu. Netanyahu Ben-Yoash. I say, that’s my last name. My first name, Benjamin, dates back 1000 years earlier, to Benjamin the son of Jacob, who also walked these hills. That is our connection. And nobody can deny the connection of the Jewish people to the Jewish land.

Israel faces great challenges. We must prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. We must repel the assault on our legitimacy. We must find a way to achieve peace with our neighbors. We must all pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

After centuries in exile, I have come here to assure you, the people of Israel have come home and no force on earth will ever make us leave our home again.

Government Press Office

Facing Iran: Lessons Learned Since Iraq's 1991 Missile Attack on Israel

Facing Iran: Lessons Learned Since Iraq's 1991 Missile Attack on Israel

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

by Moshe Arens

Vol. 9, No. 21 8 March 2010

The Iranians learned a great deal from the destruction of Iraq's Osirak reactor by the Israel Air Force in 1981. The Osirak reactor was the key element in the Iraqi nuclear program: a single target which, when it was destroyed, set that program back very substantially. The Iranians saw this and they dispersed their nuclear program. Much of it is deep underground. There is no single target which, if destroyed, would substantially set back the Iranian nuclear program.

When I came to Washington as Israel's ambassador in 1982, the atmosphere was one of hostility and there was talk of imposing sanctions against Israel as a reaction to its unilateral action against the Osirak reactor. Yet after a few years the view in Washington changed completely. It is difficult to envision the Americans undertaking Operation Desert Storm in the Gulf in 1991 if the Iraqi nuclear program had continued beyond 1981 and had not been so seriously set back by the Israeli action.

Some say that while the missiles Israel faces are relatively cheap weapons, we are launching a very expensive missile interceptor system against it, which does not seem very wise at first sight. However, the damage that might be caused by the incoming missile may far exceed the cost of the anti-missile system.

Israel's missile interceptor system poses a dilemma to anybody who decides to launch missiles against Israel, especially a missile that has a nuclear warhead. The dilemma is that the missile may very well be intercepted and thus expose the launching of a nuclear missile, even if it didn't reach its target, which could bring about the response that could be expected for committing this deed.

At the start of the Gulf War, the Americans said they expected that within 48 hours the U.S. Air Force would eliminate the missile launch capability of the Iraqis. If they did not succeed, Israel would be free to take whatever action it considered appropriate. Although there was intensive aerial activity directed at hitting the Scud launchers, not a single Scud launcher was hit or immobilized during the Gulf War. Furthermore, the U.S.-made Patriot missiles in Israel did not succeed in intercepting a single Scud missile.

Today, in 2010, in the United States and the Western world there is a very real and acute awareness of the danger that Iranian nuclear activity - which is clearly designed to achieve a nuclear military capability - poses to the world, not just to Israel.

Some people like to think that Israel has nothing to worry about because of the sizable Muslim population in the area and that the Iranians would not dare to cause massive destruction in an area where many Muslims might get injured or killed. However, as Prof. Bernard Lewis has said on a number of occasions, this kind of immunity is imaginary because radical Muslims are convinced that God knows how to tell the difference between Jews and Muslims.


What Iran Learned from the Israeli Attack on the Iraqi Nuclear Reactor

The Iranians learned a great deal from the destruction of Iraq's Osirak reactor by the Israel Air Force in 1981, which set back Saddam Hussein's nuclear project very significantly. At the time of the Gulf War nine years later, Israel estimated that the Iraqis really did not have any nuclear capability, that the destruction of the Osirak reactor set them back so far that they did not have the capability to endanger Israel with nuclear weapons. The Osirak reactor was the key element in the Iraqi nuclear program: a single target which, when it was destroyed, set that program back very substantially.

The Iranians saw this and they dispersed their nuclear program. There is no single element or target which, if destroyed, would substantially set back the Iranian nuclear program. Much of it is deep underground. So the Iranians have done their best to obtain immunity from the possibility of an aerial attack of the kind that destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor, making any military move, regardless of who might consider taking it, substantially more difficult.


Changing U.S. Attitudes toward the Osirak Attack

I came to Washington as Israel's ambassador in 1982, a little over a year after the destruction of the Osirak reactor. The atmosphere in Washington at the time was one of hostility, anger, even antagonism - and this was the Reagan administration, an administration correctly considered as very friendly towards Israel. The administration thought Israel's action was ill-conceived, a mistake that could only cause problems rather than solve them. When I arrived in Washington there was talk of actually imposing sanctions against Israel as a reaction to this unilateral action by Israel against the Osirak reactor.

After a few years the view in Washington on that particular action had changed completely. It is difficult to envision the Americans undertaking Operation Desert Storm in the Gulf in 1991 if the Iraqi nuclear reactor had still existed, if the Iraqi nuclear program had continued beyond 1981, and if that program had not been so seriously set back by the Israeli action.

General David Ivri, who was the commander of the Israel Air Force at the time of the Osirak operation, had a photograph of the destroyed reactor in his office, given to him by Dick Cheney, the American secretary of defense during the Gulf War, with his compliments. This was an indication of the appreciation that today is felt by most, if not all, about the very important, positive aspects of that particular operation. People's views changed with time, and what started out with feelings of antagonism and even hostility changed to strong appreciation for what was done for the benefit of everybody, certainly for the benefit of the Western world and, of course, Israel.


Israel's Experience Under Long-Range Missile Attack

During the 1991 Gulf War, Israel experienced a major missile attack from a distant Muslim country, facing Soviet-made Scud missiles from Iraq. Since we did not believe that the Iraqis had a nuclear capability in 1991, we were not concerned about being hit by nuclear weapons. However, we knew they had conventional explosive warheads, and our estimate was that they also had chemical warheads.

The first question that arose was whether the Iraqis could be deterred from launching these missiles against Israel. I met with Egyptian President Mubarak shortly before the Gulf War, who was of the opinion that Iraq would not dare fire these missiles against Israel. It turned out that he was wrong, and so were many people who thought that Israel could deter Saddam Hussein from firing his missiles against Israel.

Saddam Hussein fired thirty-nine missiles against Israel during the Gulf War. Fortunately, only six landed in populated areas, one of them not far from my house. There was considerable property damage but only one civilian was killed. Most of Israel's population went around with gas masks and took shelter in sealed rooms or underground shelters during those five weeks, as every day or so we found ourselves under fire from these missiles.

The Iraqis did not use chemical warheads during the Gulf War, and we can only assume - since they had chemical warheads at the time - that they were deterred from doing so by what they thought might be the Israeli response or, more probably, by what the American response might be. Iraq knew there was very close coordination and collaboration between the United States and Israel, and there might be an American response that they might not welcome.

As the countdown began for the Gulf War, for the American invasion of Kuwait and Iraq, Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz said quite openly that the Iraqis were going to fire their Scud missiles against Israel. He told Secretary of State Jim Baker in Geneva shortly before the U.S. military operation: "If we are attacked, we will fire missiles against Israel."

The precautions Israel took - the preparation of sealed rooms, the distribution of gas masks - were very unpleasant. During the war little Israeli children were walking around with little brown boxes at their sides that contained the gas mask kit they were prepared to put on their faces the minute the alarm was sounded. Whenever an alarm was sounded - which happened almost every day during the war - people ran for shelters, ran for sealed rooms, and put on their gas masks.

Those Scud missiles were a somewhat upgraded version of the German V2 rockets from World War II. The Germans fired these rockets against Britain toward the end of the war and caused very considerable damage. There was no way of intercepting them. We did not know how to shoot down a ballistic missile that comes at us at supersonic speeds.


The Drive to Develop Missile Interceptors

During the Gulf War, Israel was already in the process of developing a missile designed to intercept Scud rockets. This had become possible because of technological advances, primarily in computer and radar technology. This development had started some years before the Gulf War, partially funded by the United States as part of what Reagan called the Star Wars Initiative, when the U.S. launched a very large program to develop anti-missile missiles. Today Israel has the Arrow system that can intercept missiles that come from Iran.

Some say that while the missile we intend to intercept is a relatively cheap weapon, we are launching a very expensive weapon against it, which does not seem very wise at first sight. However, the damage that might be caused by the missile may far exceed the cost of the anti-missile system.

Israel's missile interceptor system poses a dilemma to anybody who decides to launch missiles against Israel, especially a missile that has a nuclear warhead. The dilemma is posed by the knowledge that the missile may very well be intercepted and thus expose the launching of a nuclear missile, even if it didn't reach its target, which could bring about the response that could be expected for committing this deed. When this is taken into account, a decision might very well be made that this chance should not be taken and such a missile should not be launched.

There are many ways of trying to fool a missile interceptor, such as the use of decoys and the use of maneuvering reentry vehicles that will try to escape the interceptor. But for every measure there is a countermeasure, and the people who are developing the Arrow system are taking all that into consideration.

Israel is also very close to fielding the Iron Dome missile interceptor system against short-range missiles with a range of tens of kilometers. The shorter the range of the missile, the more difficult it is to intercept because you simply have less time available to react.


American-Israeli Relations During the Gulf War

During the Gulf War there was a very "noisy" communications channel with the United States. The physical contact was good. I spoke with Secretary of Defense Cheney at least every day, sometimes two or three times a day.

The Americans were very concerned that Israel might take preemptive action even before they began their military operation. They were very eager that Israel not get involved in any way because they had built a coalition with Arab countries - Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia (they were operating out of Saudi Arabia) - and they were afraid that coalition might fall apart if Israel openly got involved in the operation.

The Americans asked that we not undertake any preemptive action, that we let them handle the situation. They said they expected that within 48 hours the U.S. Air Force would eliminate the missile launch capability of the Iraqis. If it turned out that they were not going to be able to do it within forty-eight hours, Israel would be free to take whatever action it considered appropriate.

It was under these assumptions that Desert Storm began, and Israel did not take any preemptive action. When the first Scuds fell, we waited for the United States to take care of the problem. As it turned out, the problem of hitting mobile launchers was far more difficult than the U.S. had envisioned. Although there was intensive aerial activity directed at hitting the Scud launchers, not a single Scud launcher was hit or immobilized during the five weeks of the Gulf War. Hitting moving targets that appear only for a very short time and then disappear is very difficult, even to this day.

Even at that point, the United States was very eager that Israel not intervene in any way. So, despite the previous U.S. assurance that Israel would be free to take action if the missile threat could not be eliminated within forty-eight hours, after seventy-two hours President Bush called Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Jim Baker called me, insisting that we not take any action, that we not in any way "spoil" the operation that was underway.

Then the Americans sent over the Patriots. The Patriot was probably the most advanced anti-aircraft missile around at the time, and was advertised as also having anti-missile capability. When the Gulf War started, the United States insisted that the Patriot, which was operating in Saudi Arabia, was effective in destroying Scud missiles. The U.S. urged us to also accept Patriot missiles and was prepared to send them to Israel with American crews because Israeli crews had not yet been trained.

As it turned out, the Patriot missiles in Israel did not succeed in intercepting a single Scud missile. Today there is a more advanced version of the Patriot that is said to have limited capability for intercepting ballistic missiles.


Israeli Plans to Attack Iraqi Missile Sites

During this five-week period I even traveled to Washington to tell President Bush that we could not reconcile ourselves with the continuing situation of these missiles falling on Israel with no reaction and that we had to take action.

But what kind of action? The initial feeling in Israel was that we should get the Israel Air Force to respond, but this didn't make much sense when the United States and its British allies were employing an armada of aircraft that were flying out of Saudi Arabia and off aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, plastering Iraq day and night. The U.S. was not interested in Israel participating in any way in the fighting during the Gulf War. So it didn't seem to make sense to use our air force under these circumstances.

In order to neutralize the launching of the Scuds, it became clear very quickly that the only way this could be done would be by ground troops. Ground troops would have to search for the places where the launchers were being hidden and take action on the ground. That is no simple operation. It is 1,000 kilometers from Israel to Baghdad and it would involve landing ground troops in western Iraq.

Nevertheless, we prepared that kind of an operation. Gen. Nehemia Tamari was scheduled to lead it. We told the Americans that we had no choice, that we had to take that kind of action. The Americans didn't like it, though they finally accepted it. But before we were able to launch this operation, the Americans declared a cease-fire and the war was over.

I was for an Israeli response. I gave instructions to prepare a military operation in western Iraq, a very difficult and dangerous one, mainly because I thought it would be wrong for Israel to be hit without responding for the first time in its history. I thought this would send the wrong message to Israel's enemies.

In the meantime, we have taken actions against terrorists in military operations in the West Bank, Lebanon, and Gaza. So I don't think that the fact that we did not respond during the Gulf War in 1991 permanently damaged Israel's deterrent capability.

* * *

Prof. Moshe Arens was Israel's defense minister during the 1991 war with Iraq. He served as Israel's Minister of Defense in three different governments, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and was Israel's Ambassador to the United States. This Jerusalem Issue Brief is based on his presentation at the Institute for Contemporary Affairs on January 28, 2010.

Iran launches new missile production line - capable of destroying 3,000 ton warships

Iran has started mass production of the Nasr 1 (Victory) cruise missile according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.

Iranian Interior Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said at a ceremony to inaugurate Nasr 1 production line "Nasr 1 missile is a cruise missile capable of destroying warships that weigh up to 3,000 tons."

Vahidi, speaking at Iran’s defense ministry's Aerospace Industries Organization also said the “Nasr 1 is a short-range coast-to-sea and sea-to-sea missile which could be fired from coasts and all types of vessels.” adding it would strengthen Iran's naval power as “New features will be added to the missile in the near future, making it suitable for launch from helicopters and submarines.”

Ahmad Vahidi said last year while announcing Iran successfully tested upgraded versions of the medium-range Shahab-3 and Sajjil missiles with can fly up to 2,000 kilometers, putting Israel well within range, that in the event of an Israeli attack its "lifespan, which is today coming to an end, would be speeded up" and “If this [Israeli attack] happens, which of course we do not foresee, its ultimate result would be that it expedites the Zionist regime's last breath.”

This week IHS Jane’s reported, through the use of commercial satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe and GeoEye, that a new launch pad is being constructed with North Korean assistance at Iran’s Semnan space centre that could ultimately launch Tehran’s next-generation Simorgh rocket.

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Senator Kerry: Israel won't go alone on Iran - U.S is on same page

US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry visiting Jerusalem today said the United States and Israel were “on the same page” regarding Iran’s nuclear program and called on the international community to take a tough stance against Iran's nuclear program and impose effective sanctions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Senator Kerry met this morning to discuss the main issues on the agenda, including the Iranian nuclear threat and ways to resume the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Speaking to reporters concerning the various options on the table the Senator said "I think that the prime minister is fully aware through his conversations with the administration as well as through his own comments to not be rash or not jump the gun and to give the other opportunities a chance"

On whether or not Israel would make a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities Senator Kerry said he believed “Netanyahu understood what the U.S. was trying to achieve with diplomacy.”

The Senator also met with opposition leader Tzipi Livni who warned of the situation that has unfolded since the government added to a list of heritage sites the Cave of Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb saying “The diplomatic conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is about to turn into a religious one that will be impossible to solve,” adding "I call upon the Palestinian leadership to stop the deterioration in the situation before it is too late.”

Vice President Joe Biden is expected to make a trip to Israel shortly to continue with discussions on the Iranian situation.

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