Several Middle Eastern news outlets on Sunday, reported that President Obama threatened to attack Israeli jets if they attempted to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities. Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reports that the alleged threat from the White House forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel the planned attack.
The White House spoke to the Washington Times, calling the report “totally false.” the Israeli plan was practiced for several weeks in the form of aerial war exercises, and that Israeli Air Force even test-flew their fighter jets over Iranian airspace to simulate the actual planned attack. Israel National News published an account of the report from Al-Jarida. It said the Netanyahu government decided to attack Iran sometime in 2014 soon after Israel had discovered the United States and Iran had been involved in secret talks over Iran’s nuclear program and were about to sign an agreement in that regard behind Israel’s back.
An unnamed Israeli minister who is closely tied with the Obama administration disclosed details of the attack plan to Secretary of State John Kerry and that Obama then threatened to shoot down the Israeli jets before they could reach their targets in Iran. This report comes only days before Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is scheduled to address the U.S. Congress about the continuing Iranian nuclear threat. Secretary Kerry refused to comment on the reports during his segment on “This Week.” Kerry downplayed reports of a US-Israel rift, claiming “the prime minister is welcome in the United States at any time. We have an unparalleled close security relationship with Israel, and we will continue to” have one.
Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski called for the President to shoot down Israeli jets, if they attack Iran. He spoke to the Daily Beast saying, “They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?” “We have to be serious about denying them that right,” he said. “If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a ‘Liberty’ in reverse.” Liberty was an American ship that was attacked by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967, the attack was ruled a friendly fire incident.
