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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Israelis fear attack on Iran without backing from U.S.

By: Amy Teibel

Posted: 08/17/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

JERUSALEM -- Israel's tough talk of military action against Iran's nuclear program has unleashed a strong backlash at home, with a growing number of voices urging the government not to attack without the support of the United States.

Israeli leaders, who have long issued veiled threats against Iran, now appear to be preparing the country for war. New gas mask distribution centres have opened, a nationwide missile-alert system has been tested and an official this week warned of hundreds of casualties if Israel unilaterally strikes Iran.

The heightened rhetoric has fuelled jitters the zero hour is near. But there are also growing signs of discontent with the government's approach, with critics accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister, Ehud Barak, of recklessly plunging Israel into an unprecedented missile war.

"I'm very afraid. I want peace, not war. I absolutely don't want Israel to strike Iran," said Pnina Grinbaum, a 55-year-old government clerk in Jerusalem.

Opinion polls have shown Israelis agree a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a grave threat. But a new poll issued Thursday said 61 per cent of Israelis believe Iran should not be attacked without U.S. consent. The Dahaf Institute poll of 516 people had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points. Other surveys have shown similar reluctance to have Israel act alone.

Israel's figurehead president, Shimon Peres, appeared to take a swipe at Barak and Netanyahu on Thursday when he told a popular news program Israel must trust U.S. President Barak Obama's pledges to prevent Iran from getting a bomb.

"It is clear to us now that we cannot do this alone," Peres said. "It is clear to us that we need to work together with America."

Israel, like most of the West, is convinced Iran is lying when it says its nuclear program is designed to produce energy, not bombs.

It has broadly suggested it would be prepared to use military force -- as it did in 1981 and 2007, when it attacked unfinished nuclear reactors in Iraq and Syria -- to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

Israel says a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a mortal threat, given Iranian calls for Israel's destruction and its support for anti-Israel militant groups in Lebanon and Gaza.

Israeli leaders have also warned the time to act is growing short, perhaps no later than autumn. The failure of economic sanctions and a U.S.-led international dialogue to make headway with Iran has compounded fears Iran is moving ever closer to weapons capability.

The latest war fears escalated last weekend following a lengthy newspaper interview with an unidentified senior Israeli official who warned Israel has never before faced such a threat to its survival.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 17, 2012 A18

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