While Obama is expending valuable time trying to entice Iran into a diplomatic dance, the Ayatollahs are plowing ahead with plans to build nuclear weapons
Barack Obama has only been president for a little more than two weeks, yet America's enemies can already sense a strong gust of weakness blowing out of Washington.

In a series of unprecedented gestures, beginning with his inauguration speech and culminating in an interview to an Arab television station last week, Obama has virtually pleaded with the likes of Iran and Syria to make nice, cuddle up and, aw shucks, why don’t we all just be friends.

"I do think that it is important for us to be willing to talk to Iran, to express very clearly where our differences are but where there are potential avenues for progress," the president told Al-Arabiya.

"If countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us," he pledged.

Needless to say, Obama's unwarranted magnanimity was met with a highly predictable response.

Simply put, Tehran declared victory.

On Saturday, the official Iranian government spokesman, Gholam Hussein Elham, singled out Obama's offer to talk as proof that America's policy towards his country had "failed".

"This request means Western ideology has become passive, that capitalist thought and the system of domination have failed," he said (AFP, January 31).

Is this really the message the West needs to be sending?

Not surprisingly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad quickly seized upon Washington's newfound lust for conciliation by laying out a new series of preposterous demands to the US President.

In an address broadcast last week on Iranian state television, he essentially demanded that Obama grovel and beg forgiveness.

"Those who speak of change must apologize to the Iranian people and try to repair their past bad acts and the crimes they committed against Iran," Ahmadinejad said, conveniently ignoring his own country's decades-long record of taking Western hostages and financing anti-American and anti-Israel terror.

In the same speech, Iran's thug-in-chief went on to insist that the US must put an end to its military presence around the world, and "stop supporting the Zionists, outlaws and criminals."

Sure sounds like peace is at hand, doesn't it?

But just in case the message did not get through clearly enough, the Iranians went ahead and took a series of steps in recent days to further underline just how much their fist remains, as it were, anything but "unclenched".

The Ayatollahs went out of their way to fete Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Palestinian arch-terrorist Samir Kuntar in Tehran, treating the two murderers of Jews as if they were national heroes.

And just yesterday, the Iranians demonstrated their increasingly effective ballistic missile technology by successfully launching their first locally-produced satellite into space (Ynet, February 3).

Needless to say, that technology would come in quite handy should Iran ever decide to fire intercontinental missiles at the very same "Zionists, outlaws and criminals" whom it regularly threatens to annihilate.

And then, of course, there is Tehran's ongoing nuclear program, which by all accounts is proceeding apace.

While Obama is expending valuable time trying to entice Iran into a diplomatic dance, the Ayatollahs are plowing ahead with plans to build nuclear weapons.

A report issued last week by the prestigious International Institute of Strategic Studies in London revealed that Iran will soon have enough low-enriched uranium to assemble an atomic bomb by next year (Daily Telegraph, January 28).

That means the clock is ticking, loudly and clearly, and the countdown to a nuclear Iran has begun.

Only instead of acting forcefully to stop it, Washington is trying to talk Iran into changing course. But this is a policy that has no chance of success.

After all, since the summer of 2006, the UN Security Council has passed at least three resolutions demanding that Iran halt its uranium enrichment program.

And despite the imposition of increasingly tighter sanctions, nothing has yet deterred the Iranians from pursuing their goal of a nuclear arsenal.

There is no reason now to think that a few soothing words from Washington will do the trick. Anything less than military force will not prevent Iran from joining the nuclear club.

Obama surely means well, and hopes to diffuse an increasingly dangerous situation through dialogue.

But dealing with radical jihadists and state sponsors of terror is not the same as negotiating a compromise on a budget bill in the US Senate.

Iran and its cohorts neither appreciate nor respect such measures, which only encourage them to harden their stances still further, confident in the knowledge that the US is desperate for some kind of deal.

Indeed, there is a price-tag for this policy, as radicals around the world will take solace in knowing that they have nothing to fear from an administration that can not, or will not, prevent Tehran from getting the bomb.

Rest assured, other foes of America will be quick to try and score points, in an effort to squeeze their own sets of concessions out of the new administration in Washington.

These are the wages of Obama's weakness, and if you listen carefully, you can almost hear the clink of champagne glasses and the sounds of muffled laughter in places such as Tehran and Damascus, as America's foes prepare to cash in.

In a recent interview with the BBC's Persian service, former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton sensibly suggested that Obama give Iran three months to negotiate an end to its nuclear program or face attack, in order to compel Tehran to end the crisis.

But Bolton also conceded that there is virtually no chance that such a policy will be adopted, saying that he believed the US had “lost the contest” with Iran.

“America," he concluded, "will not use military force against Iran and we are headed towards an Iran with nuclear weapons."

G-d help us all if he proves to be right.

One can only shake one's head in exasperation at Barak's tunnel vision.
Hamas terrorists continue to smuggle weapons into Gaza via underground tunnels from Egypt, but that hasn't stopped Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak from offering to build the Palestinians yet another tunnel of their own.

Speaking today at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, Barak proposed that a 48-kilometer long tunnel be constructed between Gaza and Judea and Samaria in order to give the Palestinians "freedom of movement" between the two areas. Barak added that while the tunnel would be under Israeli sovereignty, it would in practice be under Palestinian control.

One can only shake one's head in exasperation at Barak's tunnel vision.

Does he not understand the danger that such a tunnel would pose to Israel and its existence?

Think about it: Hamas would have an easy and straightforward way to smuggle just about anything it wants from Egypt into Gaza, and then from Gaza straight into Judea and Samaria.

Within a short period of time, Israel could potentially find itself facing the threat not only of rocket fire emanating from Gaza, but also from Judea and Samaria as well. Tel Aviv would quickly become the next Sderot, thanks in no small measure to the obtuseness of Israel's own Defense Minister.

The sooner this government leaves the scene, the safer Israel will be.

Time and again, you will recall, our leadership told us that the recent counter-terror operation against Hamas would restore Israel's deterrence... this has proven to be sheer fantasy
Barely a week has passed since the last Israeli solider left Gaza, and Hamas has already resumed its efforts to terrify the residents of Israel's south.

This morning, Palestinians in Gaza fired a Qassam rocket which landed near Sderot. It was the second such attack in two days, after they launched a projectile yesterday at the western Negev. And on Tuesday, terrorists set off a bomb which killed an Israeli soldier and left three others injured.

Time and again, you will recall, our leadership told us that the recent counter-terror operation against Hamas would restore Israel's deterrence by sending a message to the jihadists that the Jewish state would not tolerate attacks on its citizens.

But now it should be clear that this has proven to be sheer fantasy.

For if the terrorists had truly been deterred, would they dare to be launching increasingly brazen attacks? If Hamas had "learned a lesson", would they not have turned their efforts to rebuilding the Strip rather than their arsenal?

Out of weakness, Israel's leaders left the job in Gaza undone when they pulled out a week ago. It is a mistake that will almost certainly come back to haunt us.

So let's just hope and pray that the residents of the Negev will not have to pay a heavy price as a result.

After knocking the Hamas jihadists to the ground, Israel is now letting them get back up, dust themselves off, and prepare to attack us once again, at a time of their choosing.
With breathtaking speed, Israel is about to undo the limited military achievements of the past three weeks of fighting against Hamas.

Senior Israeli officials told the Jerusalem Post today that the IDF will be out of Gaza in time for Barack Obama's inauguration tomorrow as President of the United States - in what appears to be a clear-cut attempt to appease the incoming administration even before it officially gets off the ground.

What a cataclysmic error! What a colossal mistake!

By declaring a unilateral cease-fire and leaving Hamas in place, Israel is granting the terrorist movement an opportunity to recoup its losses, rebuild its infrastructure and rearm itself. After knocking the Hamas jihadists to the ground, Israel is now letting them get back up, dust themselves off, and prepare to attack us once again, at a time of their choosing.

What a disgrace!

Israel had them with their backs against the wall, and could have delivered a decisive blow. But instead, thanks to the weakness of our leaders, Hamas will now have a chance to live to see another day.

It may take a week, a month or a year, but you can rest assured that at some point soon, when Hamas feels ready, they will resume launching rockets at Israel's south. And when they do, our leadership will have no one to blame but themselves.