• Netanyahu: "Those Who Refuse to Put Red Lines before Iran Don't Have a Moral Right to Place a Red Light before Israel"
  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that if world powers refused to set a red line for Tehran's nuclear program, they could not demand that Israel hold its fire. "The world tells Israel 'wait, there's still time.' And I say, 'Wait for what? Wait until when?' Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel," he said. "Now if Iran knows that there is no red line, if Iran knows that there is no deadline, what will it do? Exactly what it's doing. It's continuing, without any interference, towards obtaining nuclear weapons capability and from there, nuclear bombs."  (Reuters)
• U.S.: Not Useful to Set Deadlines or Redlines for Iran
  State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said Monday: "The President has said, again and again, unequivocally, that we will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. There shouldn't be any doubt about that. With regard to our conversations with the Israelis and our unwavering commitment to their security...we're continuing to talk to them constantly, including about Iran."
      "We are absolutely firm about the President's commitment here, but it is not useful to be parsing it, to be setting deadlines one way or the other, redlines. It is most important that we stay intensely focused on the pressure on Iran, the opportunity for Iran to fix this situation through the diplomacy that we've offered, and intensive consultations with Israel and all the other regional states."  (State Department)
      See also U.S. Rejects Israeli Calls for Tougher Iran Moves - Jay Solomon (Wall Street Journal)
• U.S. Seeks to Head Off New Palestinian UN Status Bid
  The U.S. is trying to dissuade Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from seeking non-member status at the UN later this month. "We continue to make clear that we believe that the only realistic path for the Palestinians to achieve statehood is through direct negotiations," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. (AFP)
• Jihadists Join Aleppo Fight, Eye Islamic State in Syria - John Irish
  Foreign Islamists intent on turning Syria into an autocratic theocracy have swollen the ranks of rebels fighting to topple President Assad and think they are waging a "holy war," a French surgeon who treated fighters in Aleppo has said. Jacques Beres, co-founder of medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, returned from Syria on Friday after two weeks working clandestinely in a hospital in the besieged city.
      In an interview in Paris on Saturday, he said that contrary to his previous visits to Homs and Idlib earlier this year, about 60% of those he treated this time were rebel fighters and that at least half of them had been non-Syrian. "They are directly saying that they aren't interested in Bashar al-Assad's fall, but are thinking about how to take power afterwards and set up an Islamic state with sharia law to become part of the world Caliphate," he said. The foreign jihadists included young Frenchmen who said they were inspired by Mohammed Merah, an Islamist militant from Toulouse who killed seven people in March, including a rabbi and three Jewish children, in the name of al-Qaeda. (Reuters)

• Palestinians in West Bank Economic Protests, 50 Injured - Khaled Abu Toameh
  At least 50 people were injured when protests against the high cost of living in the West Bank turned violent as demonstrators clashed with Palestinian Authority security personnel. Protesters blocked roads, burned tires and threw stones at PA policemen and institutions in the worst violence since the establishment of the PA in 1994.
      Hebron governor Kamel Hmeid said security forces were forced to intervene after some of the attackers had threatened to kill municipal workers and set the municipality on fire. Later, hundreds of protesters attacked a police station in the center of Hebron. Protests also took place in Ramallah, Jenin, Tulkarm, Bethlehem, Jericho and Nablus. (Jerusalem Post)
• Israeli Security Official Killed Trying to Stop Illegal Palestinians - Efrat Forsher
  Lior Farhi, 40, the security coordinator for the community of Sha'arei Tikva, was killed Sunday as he tried to stop a car carrying illegal Palestinians into Israeli territory through a breach in the security barrier. A friend of Farhi's who documented the incident on film said the driver sped up and hit Farhi on purpose. (Israel Hayom)
• Israel Seeks Justice for Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries - Yori Yalon
  Israel is determined to seek justice for Jewish refugees from Arab countries, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the international Justice for Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries conference in Jerusalem on Sunday. The conference is being hosted by the World Jewish Congress, Israel's Foreign Ministry and the Ministry for Senior Citizens.
      "The Arab world has neglected Palestinian refugees and has used them as a tool to defame Israel, while Israel, which was then a small country, was able to absorb Jewish refugees from Arab countries and turn them into productive citizens," Netanyahu said. (Israel Hayom)
      See also The Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands: Toward Redressing Injustices on All Sides - Aharon Mor and Orly R. Rahimiyan
  There were nearly twice as many Jewish refugees as Palestinian refugees, and the value of the Jewish property confiscated by Arab governments during their expulsion is estimated to be at least 50% higher than the assets lost by Palestinian refugees.
      The rights of these Jewish refugees (and their descendants) should be recognized and addressed by appropriate measures such as an international fund, as part of any comprehensive negotiations to resolve the overall issue of refugees. Such a solution would create a connection between the Jewish and Palestinian refugee problems.  Aharon Mor is Senior Director for Restitution of Rights and Jewish Property, Israel Ministry for Senior Citizens, where Orly Rahimiyan is Counselor. (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

• Sen. Lieberman: Obama Should Define How to Stop Iran - Hilary Leila Krieger
  U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) encouraged President Obama on Monday to clearly define America's red lines on Iran's nuclear program. Lieberman told the Jerusalem Post that "the more the president can define what it means to support a policy of preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons, the more he will raise the confidence level of the government of Israel that it doesn't have to be forced to take action unilaterally."
      He said a unilateral Israeli military strike is "not the best way" to deal with the Iranian threat. "It ought to be led by the United States of America, which has the most significant military capabilities to carry this off and can do it in a way that will not have adverse political consequences for anybody, particularly Israel, in the Middle East."  (Jerusalem Post)
• The Oil Price Reaction to an Iranian Strike - Javier Blas
  Conventional wisdom says that an Israeli - or American - attack on Iran's nuclear facilities will trigger an extraordinary oil price rally. But what if oil prices fail to rally or actually plunge? Colin Fenton, who heads commodities research at JPMorgan, has just released a note to clients warning: "If an attack occurred, we would not be surprised if the initial impulse were a smaller-than-expected and briefer-than-expected oil price spike followed by a stronger-than-expected oil price decline."
      He explained that first, Western countries could order a massive release of their strategic oil reserves even if there is no supply disruption; and second, the attack could damage global confidence, weakening economic growth and, thus, oil demand. The biggest one-day drop in oil prices occurred on January 17, 1991, as U.S. bombers started dropping ordnance over Saddam Hussein's troops in Iraq and Kuwait, and the International Energy Agency ordered the release of the strategic reserves that day. Immediately after the 9/11 attack, oil prices surged nearly 5%, but three months later oil prices were 25% lower. (Financial Times-UK)

Analyzing the Impact of Preventive Strikes Against Iran's Nuclear Facilities - Anthony H. Cordesman and Abdullah Toukan (Center for Strategic and International Studies)

• This report addresses how the U.S. could take the lead in carrying out a preventive military strike against Iran If all peaceful options have been exhausted and Iran has left no other means to convince it to stop or change its course in pursuing nuclear weapons.
• It also examines how the U.S. could provide a defense umbrella against any Iranian air and missile retaliation that would be aimed at U.S. military targets and allies in the region, in particular the GCC states.
• The study shows that the initial strike should be against key Iranian nuclear enrichment and research facilities, ballistic missile bases located around the country, numerous mobile ballistic missile launchers dispersed around Iran and main ballistic missile production facilities.
• At the same time, it shows that the payloads required to hit underground enrichment facilities with a high level of damage, to carry out the scale of initial and follow-up attacks, and providing resources such as near real time intelligence required to detect and destroy other potentially lethal Iranian military weapons, for instance ballistic missiles that could be used in a retaliation, can only be carried out by the U.S.
• The U.S. would be the only country that has the air power, support capability, and mix of sea-air forces in the Gulf to continue a sustained campaign over a period of time and restrike if after an initial battle damage assessment it is found that further strike sorties are required.