ISRAEL FACES SHOWDOWN

By

Paul L. Williams, Ph.D.

Get ready for World War III.

In preparation for a military offensive against Israel, Turkey has deployment troops, F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, Hercules C-130 cargo planes with paratroop units, war ships, frigates and destroyers to its naval bases in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the international airport of Ercan, which is located south of Nicosia.

The deployment has occurred even though Israel acceded to Turkey’s demands for the release of hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists who were taken into custody after the Israeli commando launched a raid on a Turkish vessel, which was leading a fleet of ships through the Gaza blockade on May 31.

The Turkish government under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told President Barack Obama shortly before midnight on June 1 that if the United States did not punish Israel for the raid, Turkey would exact justice in order to defend its national honor.

“Israel cannot wash its hands of its perpetrated crimes in the Mediterranean,” the Turkish Prime Minister informed Mr. Obama.

At the same time of the conversational between the Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Obama, Israeli warplanes and spy drones were circling over Northern Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean transmitting data on the Turkish forces piling up there, while at sea, Israeli warships formed into two arcs, one facing the Turkish concentrations on and around Northern Cyprus and the other sealing off the Gaza Strip in order to shield the big Israeli ports of Haifa and Ashdod.

The relationship between Turkey and Israel has worsened with the ascendancy of Prime Minister Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma, AKP) in 2002.

The AKP was established by Fethullah Gulen, who seeks to bring about the restoration of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of a universal caliphate.

Gulen, who has amassed a fortune in excess of $25 billion, fled Turkey in 1999 and is presently holed up within a mountain fortress in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Erdogan is a Gulen disciple along with Abdullah Gul,Turkey’s first Islamic president, and Yusuf Ziya Ozcan, the head of Turkey’s Council of Higher Education.

Under the AKP, Turkey has transformed from a secular state into an Islamic country with 85,000 active mosques – - one for every 350- citizens – - the highest number per capita in the world, 90,000 imams, more imams than teachers and physicians – - and thousands of state-run Islamic schools.

Despite the rhetoric of European Union accession, Turkey has transferred its alliance from Europe and the United States to Russia and Iran. It has moved toward friendship with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria and created a pervasive anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, and anti-America animus throughout the populace. A string of Christian killings has erupted throughout Turkey in recent years, including the murder this week of a Roman Catholic bishop.

The reclusive Gulen from his fortress in Pennsylvania condemned the Israeli raid on the Turkish vessel yesterday.

“What I saw,” he said, “was not pretty. It was ugly.”

Inside Turkey, Prime Minister Erdogan mustered all the machinery of his Islamic Justice and Development Party to create furious street demonstrations across the country demanding revenge against Israel.

“From now on, it is no longer possible to turn a blind eye on the lawless behavior of the current Israeli government,” Mr. Erdogan said, adding he did not advise anyone to test Turkey’s patience.

Israel’s military chiefs have warned that a military engagement with Turkey might rapidly spin out of control and draw Syria, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza into the conflict.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, said that Turkey’s military movements left Israel no option but to stand ready for a showdown.

“If Erdogan stops massing his army against Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu told Mr. Obama, ‘Israel will stand down too.”

Israel is in the process of airlifting diplomats’ families from the embassy in Ankara and the consulate in Istanbul, along with the staffs of its defense missions and trading firms.

The members of the Israeli embassy and consulate have been ordered to shred and burn classified materials and remove or destroy the hard disks from their computers.

GULEN MOVEMENT GENERATES WINDS OF WORLD WAR

By

Paul L. Williams, Ph.D.

Proof that Fethullah Gulen, who resides within a mountain fortress in Pennsylvania, is the “most dangerous Islamist” on planet earth became crystallized by the worsening crisis between Turkey and Israel.

The crisis was precipitated the Israeli Navy’s seizure of the Marmora, a Turkish vessel, which was leading a fleet of ships through the Gaza blockade yesterday.

Israeli army spokesman, Colonel Avi Beneyahu, called the incident “an act of terror on the high seas.”

The flotilla reportedly represented an effort by the Turkish government to break through the Israeli blockade on Gaza in order to permit the flow of arms and supplies to Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups. The Turks deny these charges, stating that the Marmora and the other ships in the fleet contained humanitarian aid for the Palestinian Muslims.

The aid allegedly was provided by the Humanitarian Aid Foundation and Kimse Tok Mir, a “charity” established by the Gulen movement.

An estimated 19 activists were killed battling with Israeli troops, and dozens more were injured. Ten Israeli soldiers were wounded, two critically.

In response to the attack on the Marmona, Turkey has promised “unprecedented and incalculable reprisals” and announced its intentions to pound the Israeli blockade with more flotillas. And there’s a caveat. These flotillas will be escorted by Turkish warships and fighter jets.

The Turkish government remains controlled by Gulen who has amassed more than $25 billion in financial assets.

Since 2002, Turkey has been governed by the Justice and Democratic Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma, AKP), a party which Gulen established and financed not from Istanbul or Ankara but from Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.

Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s first Islamist President, is a Gulen disciple along with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Yusuf Ziya Ozcan, the head of Turkey’s Council of Higher Education.

Under the AKP, Turkey has transformed from a secular state into an Islamic country with 85,000 active mosques – - one for every 350- citizens – - the highest number per capita in the world, 90,000 imams, more imams than teachers and physicians – - and thousands of state-run Islamic schools.

Despite the rhetoric of European Union accession, Turkey has transferred its alliance from Europe and the United States to Russia and Iran. It has moved toward friendship with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria and created a pervasive anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, and anti-America animus throughout the populace.

And the person who has created this radical change in world affairs is the reclusive Gulen.

Gulen’s grandiose vision is the restoration of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of a universal caliphate.

In his public statements, Gulen espouses a liberal version of Sunni/Hanafi Islam and promotes the Muslim notion of hizmet – - altruistic service to the common good.

In private, Gulen has stated that “in order to reach the ideal Muslim society ‘every method and path is acceptable, [including] lying to people.’”

With assets in excess of $30 billion, Gulen has wielded political allegiances in Washington that have resulted in the placement of Turkish Muslims in the CIA, NSA, FBI, and other national security organizations.

He has created well-heeled lobbies to promote the cause of Islam and to develop Islamic candidates for political office.

He has formed close friendships with Bill and Hillary Clinton, former Secretaries of State James Baker and Madeleine Albright, and George W. Bush.

Gulen has also established over thousands of schools throughout the world, where students are indoctrinated in the tenets of political Islam.

85 of these schools are located in the United States.

They are funded by American taxpayers.

Turkish Protesters Wished for Martyrdom

Report from “Freedom Flotilla” Before Its Departure for Gaza: Activists on Board Chant Intifada Songs and Praise Martyrdom

A NUCLEAR MISSILE FOR MECCA?

ISRAELI THINK TANK PROPOSES MEASURES TO MUSLIM ATTACK

by

Paul L. Williams, Ph.D.,

A leading Israeli think tank now recommends that a response by Israel to a non-conventional attack from Arab countries must include attacks on “major Muslim sites,” including Mecca and Medina, Islam’s two holiest cities.

This recommendation is included in a confidential paper from the Begin-Sadat Center for Mideast Security and Policy (BESA).

BESA, a non-partisan and independent institute, is affiliated with the Barlian University in Israel. It purportedly seeks to contribute “to the advancement of Middle East peace” with strategic suggestions.

The report insists that a non-conventional attack from an Arab country must include an attack on sites of “major symbolic importance for the Muslim world.”

“If the source of a terrorist nuclear attack against Israel is unknown, or if it is known to originate with al-Qaeda or Iran, Israel should make it clear that its response will be unlimited and include not just major population centers, but all sites of value, including those of major symbolic importance for the Muslim world,” the paper states.

BESA informs Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Rav Aluf Gabi Ashkenazi, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Force, that this recommendation must be kept in secret: “A declaratory policy such as this might be highly inflammatory and further exacerbate the religious dimension of the US and Israeli confrontations with the Muslim world. This policy should therefore not be announced officially, as part of Israel’s declared retaliatory posture.”

However, the report also suggests that this strategy must be “made ‘known’ much as the international community ‘knows’ that Israel has nuclear weapons.” It holds that the policy of retaliation on the Muslim holy places can be “leaked” to the media by “a variety of means.”

BECA further maintains that failure to adopt such a strategy will have catastrophic effects for Israel. The report says: ‘A one-time failure to act devastatingly to prevent or retaliate for nuclear terrorism would be an invitation for further attacks and guarantee Israel’s final destruction. At present, the state of the threat is such that the need for a change in Israel’s deterrent policy is not yet imminent, but it must be followed closely to determine the appropriate timing.’

The site of greatest symbolic significance to the Muslim world is the Kaaba, which is located in the heart of Mecca, the birthplace of the prophet Mohammad. The granite structure, according to Islamic lore, was built by the prophet Abraham to house a black stone (presumably a meteorite) that fell to earth “at the dawn of creation.”

All Muslims, no matter where they find themselves, are required to face the Kaaba during prayer. What’s more, they are required to make at least one pilgrimage to Mecca during their lifetimes in order to perform the “tawaf” – - the ritual of walking seven times around the Kaaba in a counter-clockwise direction.

DOME OF THE ROCK TO BE DEMOLISHED?

ARMAGEDDON NEXT YEAR?

thelastcrusade.org

A major campaign is underway for the construction of the Third Temple in Jerusalem.

Posters are plastered on buses and buildings with the catch phrase, “May the Bais Hamikdosh be rebuilt speedily and within our days.”

One major sponsor of the campaign is the Our Land of Israel group, which is led by Rabbi Shalom Dov Volpo and activist Baruch Marzel.

But there’s a problem.

The new temple must be built – - according to Jewish scripture – - on the site which presently contains the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, the oldest Islamic structures in the world.

The Our Land of Israel group and other Jewish organizations are now calling for the levelling of these structures.

The Muslims are responding by throwing eggs at the buses brandishing the call for the construction of the third temple as the vehicles travel through the predominatly Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.

Rabbi Volpo says that Israel and millions of Jews are waiting breathlessly for the coming of the messiah and the rebuilding of the temple.

“The Arabs and President Obama know that the Temple will be built on the Temple Mount,” he said. “Instead of the temporary buildings that are there today.”

His words, according to Israeli sources, have resulted in a group of Palestinians hurling rocks and stones at non-Muslim visitors to the Temple Mount.

Despite the threat of violence, the Our Land of Israel group says that the new Temple will rise within a year.

“When we reach the end of the Pessah Seder tomorrow night,” Mr. Marzel said, “We’ll say, ‘Next year in a rebuilt Jerusalem.’ What does ‘rebuilt’ mean? It means with the Third temple intact.”

Mr. Marzel brushed off the furor the ads have evoked from theMuslims, saying, “It upsets them that we’re alive, and that we’re living here. If such a basic point is going to piss them off, then we mine as well say what we truly believe and what we pray for three times a day. That is to rebuild the holy temple on top of the Temple Mount, and tomorrow – not to wait any longer.”

The Temple Mount is the most sacred site in Judaism. It is allegedly the place where God made Adam from the dust of the earth and where He chose to “dwell.” The Temples of Solomon was built on this site circa 1000 BC. It was razed by the Babylonians circa 580 BC. The second temple was completed by King Herod in 19 BC. It was destroyed by the Roman troops under Titus in 70 AD.

“NOT A VERY SMART MAN”

thelastcrusade.org

Obama Foreign Policy: One-Third of Its Term Done; Not A Hundreth of the Lesson Learned

By Barry Rubin

Thinking about the Obama administration’s foreign policy makes me keep coming back to the following joke:

Three men are on a small plane, the pilot, a very important person (various names are used when people tell this joke), and a young hiker. The plane’s motor goes out and it is going to crash. The pilot tells the two passengers: Sorry but we only have one extra parachute.

The celebrity sneers, “I should get it because I’m the smartest person in the world.” He grabs a pack and jumps out of the plane.

“Sorry, son,” says the pilot. “We don’t have any more parachutes.”

“Oh, yes we do,” answers the teenager, “the smartest man in the world just jumped out of the plane with my backpack.”

If I were a cartoonist illustrating the joke in this case, I’d show a smug Obama jumping out of the plane with the backpack labeled, “U.S. national interests.”

This reflection is prompted today by a very predictable story—predicted by me repeatedly—that the administration is now further, and futilely, watering down projected sanctions on Iran in hope of getting Russian and Chinese support. Spring 2010 has arrived and after fifteen months higher sanctions, or indeed any credible U.S. deterrent, on Iran hasn’t. Even now it isn’t clear if the Obama administration can get the nine votes needed in the UN Security Council to do anything.

Note that this is probably the last material effort the West will make to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Even if it takes Tehran a couple of years to do so, it’s unlikely–given how long and hard it is to get even some symbollic sanctions adopted–that low administration will-power and international support will lead to anything else being done.

Incidentally, the administration was supposed to be ready for this step, according to its own statements in September and then December 2009. That it still hasn’t worked out a broadly based plan is a sign of its incompetence. And remember this was a presidency which supposedly enjoyed strong international support.

Some are saying that sanctions wouldn’t deter Iran any way, therefore implying it doesn’t matter if nothing much is done at this point. There is some truth in the first part of that statement but not in the second portion. By implementing strong sanctions, an effective president would be forging an international coalition to get tougher down the road, reduce the assets available to Iran in order to slow down their project, scare large elements of the Iranian elite so they would be more cautious even when they get nuclear arms, make the Gulf Arabs more likely to resist Iranian demands and influence, along with other benefits.

That the administration seems to understand none of these points is part of the problem. Here’s a statistic that might shock you: the Obama administration is almost precisely one-third of the way through its term. If it hasn’t learned how to understand the world by now, prospects aren’t good for the remainder of its term. The best hope of improvement–that the administration itself wakes up to the problem–is just about gone.

Let’s put it bluntly: The foreign policy of the Obama Administration, especially in the Middle East, is a disaster and a future of very dangerous problems is completely foreseeable. Indeed, all of this was pretty obvious before the last Election Day.

About the only point the administration and its supporters can claim–even the Guantanamo prison is still open!–is that this administration has made the United States more popular in the world. Actually, the polls don’t reflect that assertion to an impressive degree. Even when the numbers went up, they are Obama’s personal popularity, not that of the United States. And in key countries—Turkey and Pakistan come to mind but there are many others—the changes have not been big ones.

And even then, there is the point that popularity doesn’t get you anything material, as the lack of a consensus on Iran shows. In addition, the country which stands up for its interests is always going to be less popular in many places than the one which asks for nothing and gives away too much.

In the Middle East, U.S. policy is bad for Iranians who want to be free of their oppressive regime; for Turks who don’t want to live under an increasingly Islamist government; for Arabs who don’t want to face Islamist rule, growing internal instability because of a revolutionary challenge, or to bow down to Iranian power.

It is also bad for Israel, but that is scarcely an isolated case. Even if U.S.-Israel relations were perfect every other problem would still be there.

By systematically showing weakness, by favoring enemies over friends, the administration is destroying U.S. credibility in the region. By unintentionally encouraging enemies, the government is inspiring them to strike harder and faster. By unintentionally discouraging friends, the government is signalling them to shut up, back down, and even appease the radicals.

In Iran, the lack of White House support–despite formal statements about repression there–encourages the opposition to give up. In Turkey, the rivals of the regime believe that U.S. policy is on the side of their own government. In the Arabic-speaking world, the process of avoiding trouble with Tehran and its ally Damascus because the United States is not seen as a reliable protector is well under way.

Israel will make the small, relatively costless concessions necessary to maintain normal relations in the hope that this will satisfy an administration that just wants to look good. If the White House proves vindictive beyond rational considerations, Israel will ride that out. Of course, the more the U.S. government bashes Israel, the more it convinces the other side that it doesn’t need to make any concessions for peace. Indeed, it gives them an incentive to be more intransigent, since they know that U.S. frustration at the failure to make any progress in a peace process will be taken out on Israel.

If one were to continue this survey elsewhere in the world, the situation would be parallel if less dire. Central Europeans fear Russia; Latin Americans are annoyed at perceived U.S. favoritism toward Venezuela. China is angry about various U.S. actions and worried about holding so much of the American debt. Russia is almost openly contemptuous.

Yet the pretense continues in all too many places that things are going fine.

A hope that should not be ignored is that the action of radical forces themselves will force the administration to take notice and revise its behavior. No matter what the White House thinks, it doesn’t want to look like a failure having made a big mess, suffered losses, and been defeated.

The next best hope is that a wave of public criticism and congressional complaints—which many think will be intensified by the results of next November’s election—will force the administration to be more restrained. Obama has other items on his agenda, especially domestically, that he does not want to compromise by getting Congress angry with him. The most likely beneficiary of this process would be U.S.-Israel relations but it is unlikely to help a great deal on other issues.

The problem is that such factors can stop the White House from doing mistaken things but cannot force it to take productive steps. Perhaps the best one can hope for is the lack of any big and open crisis in the world, allowing the administration to muddle through and claim that it has kept the United States out of trouble. But some very big trouble is building up, have no doubt about that.

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). His new edited books include Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict and Crisis; Guide to Islamist Movements; Conflict and Insurgency in the Middle East; and The Muslim Brotherhood

UPDATE!!!

Rush Limbaugh suggests Israel should just change its name to Iran. It’s the key to be treated well by the U.S.: No pressure, no impolite diplomatic language, no pushing it to give up land.

Déjà vu

thelastcrusade.org

While Americans have been distracted by Obamacare and a crippling recession,  the Obama administration has been busy bolstering ties with the most radical of rogue states.

Obama allows internet technology exports to Iran, Cuba and Sudan.

With the drums of war beating loudly in the Middle-East, Obama and his fawning minions have refused to consider Saudi and UAE concerns about the Iranian threat, and instead have reiterated their single minded determination to impose a “final solution” on an obstinate State of Israel.

US ponders denying Israel arms needed for conflict with Iran

Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened his inner cabinet Saturday night, March 12, to discuss the spiraling crisis with Washington and his first response.

debkafile’s military and Washington sources report: The Obama administration is considering withholding from Israel military items urgently needed in case of a flare-up of hostilities with Iran. This would further ratchet up the mounting row over Israel’s decision to build another 1,600 homes in E. Jerusalem. The requests were filed by defense minister Ehud Barak as recently as Feb. 26, when he visited Washington and met defense secretary Robert Gates and secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

In an exceptionally harsh phone call to Netanyahu Friday, March, Clinton herself hinted at this possibility while administering a dressing-down on the East Jerusalem housing decision and its announcement during Vice president Joe Biden’s visit.

Reporting on that phone call, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley disclosed: “The secretary said she could not understand how this happened, particularly in light of the United States’ strong commitment to Israel’s security.”

Washington correspondents interpreted this as a threat to withhold items vital for Israel’s security unless the prime minister reversed that decision (which Palestinians now demand as the precondition for resuming peace talks).

Our military sources report that the Barak arms list is tailored to a potential four-front offensive against Israel launched by Iran and its allies. It includes systems needed by the Israeli Air Force, certain types of missiles and advanced electronic equipment. During his last visit, the defense minster complained the list had been pending in Washington for more than three months and the sands for a possible conflict were running out fast. He stressed that it was essential for these items to reach Israel before a flare-up occurred. The urgency was such that he suggested that if they could not be supplied to Israel at short notice, they should at least be held ready meanwhile in the emergency stores of the US bases in Israel’s Negev.

Gates promised Barak to study the list and let him have his answer in the coming days, but none has so far been received.

Some circles in the United States and many in Israel say the Obama administration is blowing the crisis up with deliberate intent. American-Jewish criticism was led Saturday night by the Anti-Defamation League’s Abraham Foxman, who issued this statement: “We are shocked and stunned at the Administration’s tone and public dressing down of Israel on the issue of future building in Jerusalem

Defense sources in Washington reported Saturday the view that the Obama administration, which has never cultivated warm relations with the Netanyahu government, has seized on the Jerusalem housing spat as a device for restraining Israel from attacking Iran’s nuclear sites, a step which the White House strenuously opposes.

And it gets worse:

Ambassador Oren reprimanded

Israel’s envoy to US summoned for meeting at State Department, reprimanded over Israel’s announcement of east Jerusalem construction; meanwhile, PM Netanyahu orders establishment of committee to prevent such mishaps in future

The Last Crusade reminds it’s readers:

The Bible is clear about the attitude Christians should
have towards the Jews.

Genesis 12:3 says we should “bless them.

” Isaiah 40:1 commands us to “comfort them.”

Psalm 122:6 says we should “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

Romans 11:31 tells us to “show them mercy.”

“I will bless those who bless you and I will
curse those who curse you.” Genesis 12:3 + 27:29

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday called the September 11 attacks on the United States a “big fabrication” that was used to justify the US war on terrorism, the official IRNA news agency reported.

OBAMA CONCENTRATES ON ISRAELI THREAT TO PEACEFUL IRAN

thelastcrusade.org

US-Israel tough sanctions strategy falls apart. Tehran is sitting pretty

DEBKAFILE

The US-led Western powers are scrapping tough measures incorporated in the original motion they drafted for a UN Security Council sanctions resolution against Iran, according to diplomats at the UN Center. To make the draft more acceptable to Russia and China, the blacklisting of Iran’s central bank has been replaced by a decision to “strengthen vigilance” over the bank’s transactions, leaving only new overseas Iranian banks to be targeted.

The text earlier dropped the restrictions proposed by France against Iran’s oil and gas industries, as well as the original US plan to halt supplies of gasoline and other refined oil products to Iran. As the haggling goes on, Moscow refuses to endorse a full arms embargo similar to the regime in place against North Korea.

debkafile reports: By the time it is tabled, the sanctions resolution will be toothless as an instrument for holding back Iran’s dash for a nuclear bomb and its weapons of delivery.
Tehran already senses the new penalties will leave it sitting pretty with its economy, military assets and commercial ties unimpaired.

China is holding out against any talk of sanctions, stalling Western efforts to convene an early conference of the Six-Power negotiating forum next month to approve the motion for tabling.

As debkafile has predicted for months – not much will be left of the impressive sanctions package put together by the Obama administration to deprive Iran of its regular supplies of essential goods and cash flow. With a third of its economy crippled, Tehran was expected to come to heel on its nuclear program.

The package consisted of five restrictive measures:

1. A boycott of Iran’s banking system, particularly its central bank, to restrict its overseas commercial activities. This measure dropped by the wayside Friday, March 5.

2. A crackdown on foreign investment in Iran by withholding US and European insurance and reinsurance coverage.

3. Suspension of projects for developing Iran’s gas and oil deposits, mainly by withholding replacement equipment and spare parts.

4. Sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards Corps, its business empire and its military, technical and financial arms within Iran and overseas. If the measure survives the ongoing bargaining process, this boycott would affect the IRGC’s fleet of 115 merchant vessels and its giant military-civilian building complex, also subjecting its individual generals and executives to travel bans and freezing their assets.
Even so, dropping the ban on refined oils exports has left the IRGC which controls this sector with a large slice of its revenue intact.

5. Canvassing the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to close their ports and banks to Iranian merchandise and financial transactions.

For months, the US and Israel have worked hard to enlist worldwide support for these sanctions.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the rounds of the Persian Gulf, Europe, China and latterly Brazil and Argentina. Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu held talks in various European capitals, ending in Moscow. Defense minister Ehud Barak visited Washington every few weeks to keep Israel aligned with the Obama administration’s efforts. Last week, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon and Governor of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer were in Beijing to argue the case against allowing Iran to become a nuclear power.

The reasons this carefully-crafted sanctions tool is losing its edge are, firstly, because Washington went for international endorsement without showing the way first. Had the Obama administration led the way by starting to clamp down stiff sanctions in stages itself from the end of 2009, as the US president promised Netanyahu, the enterprise might have attained enough momentum to gather in key European nations.

Instead, the effort is fading, as attested to by Clinton’s statement last week that instead of March, “several months” were needed to get the measures going. Key world powers, such as Moscow and Beijing, took this second postponement as an invitation to press harder for softer penalties.

Secondly, the North Korean example has demonstrated that sanctions don’t work if not backed by stern measures. Pyongyang has not only refused to dismantle its nuclear program, but no one is stopping its transfers of nuclear and ballistic missile technology to Iran and Syria.

Thirdly, whenever asked in world capitals what would happen if sanctions failed, US emissaries had no answer, while their Israeli partners could only hint at a military option as the only remaining recourse.

Most world powers therefore switched the main thrust of their Iran policies toward strengthening the Obama administration’s hand in opposing a Israeli military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, thus leaving the sanctions threat without a follow-up strategy.