Obama understands why Israel considers Iran an existential threat

September 30th, 2009 Israel: New Iranian reactor requires new sanctionsJERUSALEM — Israel's defense minister won't rule out a military strike on Iran after the discovery of a secret Iranian nuclear facility. Ehud Barak says severe sanctions must be imposed on Iran following the revelations of the clandestine uranium enrichment plant near the city of Qom.

September 26th, 2009 Israel: Iranian nuclear facility for weaponsJERUSALEM — The newly exposed Iranian nuclear facility proves "without a doubt" the Islamic republic is pursuing nuclear weapons, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Saturday. Iran kept the facility, located 100 miles southwest of Tehran, hidden from the U.N.

September 24th, 2009 Israel welcomes Russian stand on Iran sanctionsJERUSALEM — A senior Israeli official welcomes steps by Russia toward endorsing additional sanctions against Iran as a way of stopping its nuclear program. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev opened the door to a firm international stand against Iran.

September 22nd, 2009 Netanyahu: Iran suspectible to pressureNEW YORK — Israel reserves the right to defend itself against a nuclear threat from Iran, but the Islamic Republic's inner turmoil and weakened economy make it susceptible to pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday. Speculation has been rife that Israel might attack Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent archenemy Tehran from producing the atomic bombs it denies it is trying to build.

September 21st, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has asked the US to work towards halting North Korea's nuclear weapons program before Iran's, as the move would have a big influence on the Islamic republic. "North Korea is developing long-range missiles in the backyard of China and Russia and nothing happens to them," The Jerusalem Post quoted Barak, as saying.

September 17th, 2009 Israel says Mideast not ready for nuclear arms banJERUSALEM — Israel's defense minister said in remarks published Thursday that the Middle East is too unruly for a region-wide nuclear arms ban, arguing that the Muslim world must first "behave like Western Europe." Defense Minister Ehud Barak also said Iran's nuclear program is a threat to world peace. His comments come ahead of a U.S.-sponsored world meeting later this month to discourage nuclear proliferation.

September 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said Pakistan has realized that the Taliban and other extremists based in the western tribal area of the country pose the real existential threat to it rather than India. In an interview with a private television channel, Gates said Pakistan has acknowledged that the real threat to its existence come from the extremists based in the lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border and not from India.

August 6th, 2009 Republicans 'troubled' by US policy on IsraelJERUSALEM — The Obama administration's policy on Israel is misguided, puts too much emphasis on the issue of settlements and ignores the bigger threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, a U.S. delegation of Republican congressmen visiting Israel said Thursday.

July 26th, 2009 Clinton says Israel should be patient on IranWASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is implicitly urging Israel to give U.S. policy on Iran's nuclear ambitions a chance to work.

June 17th, 2009 JERUSALEM - The chief of Israel's intelligence agency has expressed fear over Iran's capability to make a nuclear bomb by 2014, which he claims, could have "an existential threat to Israel." "Iran wants to be like Egypt was in the 1960s and 1970s. There is a lot of cooperation between Iran, North Korea and Syria.

May 5th, 2009 Israeli president: US approach to Iran OK for nowWASHINGTON — Israeli President Shimon Peres offered a cautious endorsement of new U.S. overtures to Iran following a longer-than-expected White House meeting with President Barack Obama.

April 28th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak has described Iran as the country posing the most central threat not only to the Jewish state, but also to the entire world. "Iran was "a threat to the entire world, as it is interested in changing the entire international order and is a source of instability in the Middle East and throughout the world," the Jerusalem Post quoted Barak, as saying.

April 23rd, 2009 TEL AVIV - Israel considers Pakistan as its biggest strategic threat rather than Iran. Expressing concern over the increasing Taliban threat in Pakistan, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq were the three countries from which Israel faces an immediate threat.

April 22nd, 2009 Israel: Halt Iran to allow Mideast peace effortsJERUSALEM — Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Wednesday that Iran must be reined in if Israel and the Palestinians hope to move along the path to peace. Ayalon made it clear, however, that this was not an Israeli condition for going ahead with peacemaking, though Israel charges that Iran is the main backer of the violent Islamic Hamas rulers of Gaza as well as Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

February 3rd, 2009 HERZLIA - Diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear programme must be accompanied by a clear timeline, after which harsh sanctions could be imposed, accompanied by a willingness to act, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said. He told an international conference in Herzlia, north of Tel Aviv, Tuesday that all options regarding Iran were on the table.