Livni Issues First Polite Warning to Obama
by Hana Levi Julian(IsraelNN.com) Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has issued her first warning – albeit politely – to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, just two days after he made history by becoming the first black American to be elected to the White House.
Livni expressed her opposition to Obama's stated willingness to dialogue with Iran in an interview on Voice of Israel government radio Thursday morning.
"We live in a neighborhood in which sometimes dialogue – in a situation where you have brought sanctions, and you then shift to dialogue – is liable to be interpreted as weakness," she explained.
Livni maintained a cordial tone regarding the new administration and noted that "Obama's bottom line on the Iranian issue is very clear. America won't accept a nuclear Iran." However, she also made it clear that Israel's bottom line would not change. When the interviewer asked her if she supported any American dialogue with the Islamic Republic, Livni replied flatly, "The answer is no."
The Foreign Minister said she did not expect any "dramatic" difference between the outgoing Bush administration and that of Obama, noting that "The outgoing administration also had people who supported dialogue."
She noted that the difference between the two had to do with style: "There is a slightly different attitude between the president-elect and the outgoing president, with regards to how the world relates to extremism in the area. There are those who think that [America] has to be aggressive, and there are those who think that there has to be dialogue. Obama falls into the second group."
She added that "Israel is working for sanctions against Iran, and not transmitting a message of weakness."
Israel is convinced that the Islamic Republic is working to complete an atomic weapon of mass destruction. Iran has defied all attempts by the international community to halt its uranium enrichment program, despite several rounds of increasingly severe sanctions imposed on the country.
Although Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has denied his country will use the nuclear technology for anything other than peaceful, domestic purposes, the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been blocked from attempts to ascertain exactly what kind of activities are taking place in some of the Iranian atomic energy sites. Various intelligence reports have indicated that Iranian scientists have been working on nuclear weapons development.
In a related story the list of terrorists wanting Obama to show weakness has grown as Hamas says it is willing to meet with the President:
Hamas Changes its Tune, Ready to Meet with Obama
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu(IsraelNN.com) The Hamas terrorist organization has changed its tune and has expressed a desire to talk with President-elect Barack Obama. "We are ready to hold a serious dialogue with the new United States president," de facto Gaza prime minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Thursday.
Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the rival Fatah party and head of the Palestinian Authority, did not object to the idea and told reporters it is up Hamas to decide.
Despite Obama's comments during the recent campaign that he would not meet with the outlawed terrorist organization, Israel's largest Hebrew daily, Yediot Acharonot, wrote this week, "One can assume that the ban on American representatives from holding contacts with Hamas leaders will be rescinded."
Hamas's readiness to talk with the next American government follows by several days an invitation to its political leaders to visit the European Union assembly in Brussels this spring, a move that Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called a "good sign
So which is it Mr Obama, are you going to appease some terrorists, all terrorists or no terrorists?
My children's future depends on the right answer.
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