In public shift, Israel calls for Assad's fall

Reuters ^ | 17 Sep 13 | Dan Williams

[elhombrelibre]

Israel wants to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad toppled, its ambassador to the United States said on Tuesday, in a shift from its non-committal public stance on its neighbor's civil war.

Even Assad's defeat by al Qaeda-aligned rebels would be preferable to Damascus's current alliance with Israel's arch-foe Iran, Ambassador Michael Oren said in an interview with the Jerusalem Post.

His comments marked a move in Israel's public position on Syria's two-and-1/2-year-old war.

[elhombrelibre]

Assad's connection to Iran is the biggest reason why Israel's leaders have gone from neutral to anti-Assad.

[montag813]

Really stupid of Bibi to go down this road.

[Candor7]

Israel casts its lot with the Sunni extremists.

Obama has pushed Bibi to side with the Muslim Brotherhood.

[Rennes Templar]

Al Qaeda or Iran. Quite a choice.

[Zhang Fei]

This is gonna turn out about as well for Israel as its sponsorship of Hamas as a foil to the PLO.

[elhombrelibre]

One has terrorism and assymetrical warfare. The other will have a nuclear weapon soon, proxy allies already on Israel’s border, and terrorism. Maybe the nuclear weapon trumps the Sunni extremists threat.

[elhombrelibre]

Obama couldn’t push Bibi to do squat. Obama is so ineffective and powerless we might as well think of him as a lame and vacillating duck.

[justa-hairyape]

Well, they have to nuke Damascus eventually.

[penelopesire]

Then screw Syria and attack Iran. This is first I can recall of ever disagreeing with BIBi....always a first I suppose.

[Pan_Yan]

I’m sure part of this calculation is the fact that Hezbollah is so reliant of Assad that they have been fighting alongside his troops in Syria for over a year now.

[Truth2012]

They are picking the wrong prophet. It isn’t like they don’t know better. :sigh:

[Candor7]

Glad you think so. I wish it true.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html

[Zhang Fei]

The other will have a nuclear weapon soon, proxy allies already on Israel’s border, and terrorism.

The solution to Iran's nuclear program is the destruction of its nuclear program. This is like treating cancer by giving yourself a hernia.

[elhombrelibre]

But really, whoever hears of the PLO anymore? And between Israel and the Egyptian military, Hamas and the Moslem Brotherhood are getting shutdown. The tunnels into the Sinai are being closed now with a vengeance by the Egyptian Army.

Assad is falling regardless of what Obama does. He's lost so many tanks that it's amazing. He's still not retaken the neighborhood his brother gassed. He will fall, I suspect, relatively soon. What would be best is that someone in his government remove him. That they seek peace with the non-al Qaeda insurgents. And that they keep the promise to secure the chemical weapons Assad said he didn't have until he promised to give them up. The choice isn't going to be between al Qaeda and Assad. The choice is between al Qaeda and all the elements that wanted to get of Assad before al Qaeda turned on their former sponsor.

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

I'll take stability over chaos, any day. Assad represents a stable Syria, just like Mubarak a stable Egypt and Ghadafi a stable Libya. That goes for Saddam as well, and a stable Iraq.

A cesspool of rogue terrorists (like Libya) can be just as dangerous as a nuke in the hands of a tyrant. When Muslims aren't CONTROLLED BY A HEAVY-HANDED DICTATOR, they resort to chaos and out-of-control barbarism!

It's sad that Bibi has joined 0bama is his War on Christianity. Putin is starting to look like the only good kid on the block.

[Zhang Fei]

I’m sure part of this calculation is the fact that Hezbollah is so reliant of Assad that they have been fighting alongside his troops in Syria for over a year now.

I think it's more the fact that Syria has 4x Lebanon's population, and a victory for the Sunni Arabs there means that Sunnis will also dominate Lebanon, where they are already close to numerical parity with the Shiites. Numerically-speaking there are 5x as many Sunni Arabs in Syria as there are Shiites in all of Lebanon. For Shiites in Lebanon, this is also an existential war, given Syria's traditional claim to all of Lebanon.

[stars & stripes forever]

Bibi, do you not care about the plight of Syrian Christians who are being slaughtered by Syrian rebels?

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

Simply unbelievable, isn't it.. Which of these countries is fighting terrorism?
A) United States, or B) Egypt.

Answer: B) Egypt

Who woulda thunk? God intervened in Egypt and turned the tide against evil and the Muslim Brotherhood. I hope God does same in U.S. soon. Waiting..

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

Simply unbelievable, isn't it.. Which of these countries is fighting terrorism?
A) United States, or B) Egypt.

Answer: B) Egypt

Who woulda thunk? God intervened in Egypt and turned the tide against evil and the Muslim Brotherhood. I hope God does same in U.S. soon. Waiting..

[Zhang Fei]

Assad is falling regardless of what Obama does. He's lost so many tanks that it's amazing. He's still not retaken the neighborhood his brother gassed.

In the past month or so, he's mainly been holding back to avoid provoking a US attack. I think Netanyahu's statement is either unwise or a back-door attempt to prop Assad up. Because his statement of support for the rebels can only undermine their support in the Arab and Muslim world. That's the thing about Middle Eastern diplomacy. Nothing is as it seems.