Obama Rebuffs Israeli Hawk - Robert Dreyfuss

There are very worrying signs about Israel and Iran, amid new threats from Israeli officials that they won't long tolerate Iran's nuclear program before they strike militarily. But, at the same time, there are reports that President Obama's national security team isn't buying the Israeli line that time is running out.

For instance, a top Israeli military official, in Washington, was not exactly given the red carpet treatment by Obama's top officials -- yet even so, he met Jim Jones, Obama's national security adviser, Hillary Clinton, and Dennis Ross.

The Israeli armed forces chief of staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, met yesterday with top US officials in Washington, including General James Jones, the national security adviser, and Dennis Ross, the State Department's special adviser on "the Gulf and Southwest Asia," and he warned that Israel is preparing for a military strike on Iran. According to Haaretz, the Israeli daily:

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi on Monday said that while
Israel was interested in exhausting diplomatic options against Iran's nuclear
program, the army must nevertheless prepare itself for a military attack. ...

***

The slap at Ross, in the above report, that he is "not regarded as being in a policy-making role." and the report that Clinton "was largely silent" while Israeli officials harangued her about Iran, is a good sign.
If this latter report is true, it means that, so far, Obama and his team are standing strong against Israel's attempts to elevate the Iran problem to the level of a crisis. The real crisis, of course, is not Iran but Israel's refusal to talk seriously about a deal with the Palestinians.
[thanks RZ]