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Report: Israel Will Have to Tackle Iran Alone
(Times of Israel) Michal Shmulovich - A day after White House spokesman Jay Carney claimed the U.S. would know if Tehran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, Israel's Channel 2 news quoted "sources in Jerusalem" saying the Americans "didn't see 9/11 coming." Channel 2 News' diplomatic correspondent Udi Segal said Israel does not believe the U.S. will take military action as Iran closes in on the bomb. The U.S. has not provided Israel with details of an attack plan. President Obama has not promised to attack Iran if all else fails. Conditions cited by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for an American attack do not calm Israeli concerns. And Obama has a record of seeking UN and Arab League approval before action. All these factors underline the growing conviction that Israel will have to tackle Iran alone, the TV report said. Netanyahu "is convinced that thwarting Iran amounts to thwarting a plan to destroy the Jewish people," Segal said. The prime minister considers Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to be acting rationally in order to achieve "fanatical" goals. The TV report made much of Netanyahu's words at the scene of last Sunday's terror attack thwarted by Israel at the Gaza-Egypt-Israel border: "It becomes clear time after time that when it comes to the safety of Israeli citizens, Israel must and can rely only on itself. No one can fulfill this role except the IDF and different security forces of Israel, and we will continue to conduct ourselves in this way."