News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Israel must stand on its own and cannot rely on the United States to act on its behalf to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power, Zev Chafetz, former director of the government press office under Prime Minister Menachem Begin, wrote in the New York Times. "The failure of diplomacy to stop Iran’s nuclear program became obvious this week, when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed the installation of 6,000 new centrifuges at the country’s main uranium enrichment complex," Chafetz stated. He added that "the abashed silence of an American president" revealed his "bluff…in front of the entire world."

Chafetz recalled that Israel resisted international criticism when former Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered the destruction of Iraq's nuclear reactor n 1981. He emphasized that American President George W. Bush is the best friend Israel has enjoyed but that "even friendship has practical limits."

He wrote that Israel can act on its own to "degrade and retard the Iranian nuclear program as it did in Iraq (and, more recently, Syria)… No country can rely on the kindness of others."