different president not to be strong on israel or not is not going to back israel to the same extent that his predecessor both the republican president bush the democratic president bill clinton supported israel and the israeli public and the israeli government grew to distrust the current american president right. the last word in the. thirty seconds. i don't think this is a question of american lack of support or waning support for israel the fact is the obama administration has done as much if not more than any other and has pulled back and not enforce any type of settlement freeze has pulled back and not had any kind of stick and carrot and stick scenario the problem is the status quo is untenable and the republican candidates pushing an idea that it is is not helpful for israel and it's not helpful for the united states and it's not helpful for the for global peace it's not something that we should look towards as a model. of what we should do going forward the relationship between israel and germany a very interesting conversation folks here many thanks to my guests today washi

a strong support from israel israel was tempted to move forward with the peace process as happened with the first i'm sorry with the second rubin government in the early ninety's this is exactly what happened with the. government in the late ninety's when american support for israel was strong and was unquestionable israel war much more willing to take risks for peace or for change as a real sharon did with the strong support he got from president bush that made him withdraw really settlements and troops from the gaza strip so this. would see this humiliation be that he was. sorry you want to jump in there but i mean sure i mean i agree with you but how is barak obama gun something different i mean the problem was there was i don't see that. explaining to you when when barack obama started his. united states president his first action was to try and pressure israel into freezing settlements this signal to israel what's wrong with that when he when wrong with. the. legal under international law what's wrong with the president stopping raining international law doesn't make any sense look

signal to israel which was. wrong with. the. legal under international law what's wrong with the president stopping raining international law doesn't make any sense look i understand that you do not you do not you do not agree with the policies of the current israeli government and i appreciate that but do these really public these signals lack of sufficient support on the part of the american president signaled. different president not to be strong. or not is not going to back to the same extent that his predecessor both the republican president bush the democratic president bill clinton supported israel and the israeli public really government grew to distrust the current american president right now the last word in the. second. i don't think this is a question of american lack of support or waning support for israel the fact is the obama administration has done as much if not more than any other and has pulled back and not enforce any type of settlement freeze has pulled back and not had any kind of stick an

military hardware troops going into israel to be satiated israel also going to kuwait. you know naval. naval forces in the in the in the ocean go all of those i will i would describe as why this whole wall the issue of nuclear weapons. of iran's nuclear weapons is a red herring but it is a red herring which could lead to well as we said are you one america's threatening behavior towards iran may not just be about terence nuclear ambitions this rhetoric has intensified noticeably over the course of the presidential race and i thought is more important explains some politicians of putting political points on the support of the jewish community ahead of the u.s. national interest. america almost never misses an opportunity to praise its ally an ironclad commitment and i mean ironclad to israel's security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history point a proverbial punch at its greatest adversary but there be no doubt. america is determined to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon and i will take no options off the table. however f

after the end of the world after the end of the cold war israel felt it's no longer useful to america and the america right wing media so they occupy it in fact the university is the media hollywood and think tanks to present iran and islam as a threat to the west and all this is just baseless and the people there are happy to go around with this mindset the media and the things i and there are a lot of them of the most part are affiliated with the nuclear industrial military industrial complex so it does benefit them to have wars and israel of course keeps getting by pointing to iran as a threat israel's constantly getting a from the united states while the people in this country are sleep without a home on the streets and they're without jobs i mean sanctions are expensive they're taking jobs away from american people ok mark you i know you want to jump sorry let's go to mark and let me. get our jurors are going to mark first there's something very certain you agree with there was just said that there is a. way that islam has been. characterized. you know cartoonish often in the uni

a prisoner israel mark if i can go to you it looks like to me that the political elite israel wants to make sure obama is a one term president because i want a republican in office because they are disappointed with mr obama for reasons i can't figure out but he's not their man ok and this is one of the go back to the republican campaign right now in the united states mean that's one of the reasons why it's so tough so high on the agenda because they want to trip him up on this issue here and that's coming from a pac that's coming from israel. peter israel also has a very complicated political environment you had the defense minister a who had barack praising obama's diplomacy you had another israeli cabinet member criticizing him certainly it's no secret that netanyahu and obama don't get along but to talk about the israeli elite as though it's one. you know unit dimensional anti israel behemoths because they don't like having another power in the region you know this is about iran's nuclear program that is threatening the state of israel when iran talks about the recent israel from t

sending senior military leaders to israel to consult about this to advise that no let's pursue all the more american if i could just jump in here if i could jump in we had tim geitner going around the world trying to get countries not to import a rainy and oil i mean from trans perspective that's basically an act of war you're going to choke off their economy why should be why should these people be punished . it's punish your relations between the economic sanctions and military action one is within the realm of the. peaceful measures the other is something that could spark a war. just could spark a war in itself. go back to you go ahead in fact many make the mistake of implying this sanctions are just peaceful means they're not they are coersion they kill the innocent and for the latest round of sanctions i mean you go back to iraq how familiar and children died the future of iraq was destroyed and madeline albright turned around the said it was worth it now you apply sanctions because you don't want to expend the military expenses you can also iran and hope to sit back and have no c

the jewish and establishment and the mainstream pro israel establishment in the united states that israel could be another wedge issue like abortion and gay marriage in a political campaign it's certainly often seems that they're trying to do that we should mention one of the major groups in favor of israel that wants to work with israel work with netanyahu is sort of the very evangelist the right wing christian christians in this country seem to have a very special partnership with them just real quick max. if it becomes clear in the polls as we get closer to november that president obama is likely to win a second term what does israel do. well netanyahu has signaled his intention to call early elections because he's so worried about a second obama term partly because he's being attacked by opposition the opposition leader in israel sippy livni for damaging the us israel special relationship and that could affect him in the polls because the special relationship is critical to israel's entire policy and so if netanyahu is seen as as damaging his relationship with obama if obama dares to

of saying they should israel is going to be wiped off the bat that's not criticizing israel don't allow any nation has denied the holocaust is that he supported terrorist group problems or as you know you are liable he was not in charge like that governor and gentlemen gentlemen i have no i don't i'm joking here trying to jump in now ok let me say let me if i can go to you in london one of the things that's interesting is the i.m.f. is estimated that if this oil gambit is played out what the european union wants to do and what iran will do in retaliation or even before is that we could see as a thirty percent oil increase the price of oil going up and i mean in these troubled times is it really worthwhile to do that when we have the eurozone that is tipping into recession obama's chances of pulling off a reelection if the price of gasoline goes up again i mean isn't this a really playing for playing with fire at a very bad time. no it was not a war of playing with fire i thought and it was a simple symbolic political decision to stop importing iranian oil it will have no effect on iran

military hardware troops going into israel also going to. you know naval forces in the persian gulf in the arabian sea. in other words i think what we're going to states wants. to be doing is out of the eyes is some kind of a green light which will give a human face the world will we. syrians troops backed by tanks have reportedly launched an offensive on the outskirts of damascus in order to regain control over the area activists suggest over sixty people have been killed in the latest fighting just over a day after the arab league mission was frozen artists are first reports from the syrian capital. the sense really from moscow that this decision to hold the mission was going to inflame an already very volatile situation and unfortunately as seems to be exactly what we've seen happening here now foreign minister sergei lavrov was speaking today on his tour of the age of pacific countries and he said that he didn't understand why such a useful tool had been treated in this way because we've seen the observer mission start and eventually gro

military hardware troops going into israel to be stationed in israel also going to wait. that you know naval. naval forces in the. ocean go all of those not all i would describe as by the actual wall for the issue of nuclear weapons it's rather stupid of weapons is a red herring but it is a red herring which could well be. later in the program here on our to you we explore why some u.s. politicians are banging the drums for war louder and louder how calls to attack iran become calls to attack the american president so all protect the interests of a different country. while the ongoing western attempts to corner iran and tehran's response to the topics for debate in cross talk today coming up in about one hour's time here a preview. mode even wants to bring the hidden even out of a well by doing something spectacular and destructive to enemies of islam and this is what motivates him right you guys not of the old soviet leadership who for all their misdeeds were at least atheist so they believe that a nuclear war and death was an end in failure and many years i think dying

there are many of them in israel. as numerous studies made of the principal motivation that has brought different types of sellers to different places, it was a unilateral decision. there was no consultation or agreement with the palestinians with respect to it. there was no overarching agreement which the government of israel could point to and say here is what we got out of this. we do have to endorse some pain but there are significant benefits. there is nothing comparable then. i am not certain that it is really the kind of apples and oranges comparison. i do not think -- certainly i said nothing. i do not think any responsible person would suggest that this would somehow be easy or anything other than extremely difficult with careful planning and and with a lot of assistance being provided by the united states and other supporters of israel. i don't think that the gaza or lebanon example are relevant. in both of those cases, their unilateral without consultation. there is not in a demonstrable benefit i can tell

so publicly that he will support israel in whatever military action they stay necessary more inclined as president of the zionist organization of america he says an unprecedented amount of american jews and israelis share his animosity a feeling arguably underscored by the israeli government according to published reports tell of eve would only give washington twelve hours notice if deciding to strike iran i believe his policies are among the most hostile israel's ever experienced of any president in my lifetime recently it was the life of president obama being threatened in a column written by the owner of the atlanta jewish times in an article titled what would you do andrew adler listed the assassination of obama as one way to ensure israel's security he wrote in part give the go ahead for u.s. based massada agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to israel in order for the current vice president to take his place and forcefully dictate that the united states' policy includes helping the jewish state obliterate its enemies i think that threat. or we are going to kill you e

but it's not only be raining for suspicious of israel or america taking action people here in israel since something is in the air you can see signs of wink and nod from israeli officials when talking about it israel is signaling to the world. if the world doesn't do anything if the war doesn't call for war pierce actions or more properly sanctions quoting the secretary of state clinton then israel would take the initiative and strike along some wonder if israel hasn't already declared an unofficial warranty ran but suspicions raise further after the assassination of another iranian nuclear scientist earlier this month and on his way to work with everything together it is clear that whoever it is but if someone or somebody or some agency is very successful in infiltrating understanding every last sabotaging during a nuclear for the attack is the latest in a series of mysterious accidents linked to iran's nuclear program two aircraft accidents in the space of three years scientists disappearing equipment damaged and computer viruses and leashed and the fingers pointing at israel. and

military hardware troops going into israel to be stationed in israel also going to put weight. you know naval. naval forces in the. ocean go all of those i what i would describe as by the actual war the issue of nuclear weapons. of iran's nuclear weapons is a red herring but it is a red herring which could well be that aria. and later in the program we explore why some u.s. politicians of banging those drums for war louder and louder. and how calls to attack iran become calls to attack the american president himself to protect the interests of a different country. the ongoing west attempts to corner iran and iran's response of the topics up for debate to peter lavelle's cross talk now that's coming up in the next here on r.t. but in the meantime here's a quick taste of what lies ahead in the program. wants to bring the hidden event out of a well by doing something spectacular and destructive to enemies of islam and this is what motivates him right you guys and all of the old soviet leadership who for all their misdeeds were at least atheist so they believe that a nuclear war an

and so therefore it's a very balancing act at this point and that's why the joint operation with israel was cancelled there are different reasons for that but certainly they want to bring the temperature down to the level of simmering ok no pain is good because it keeps the price so if i can go back to you i mean but isn't that kind of dangerous i mean that's setting a a tipping point i mean is it now you get to a small mistake and then the consequences are enormous go ahead. so they cannot pat themselves on the back because as you mentioned correctly it's very dangerous because one major minor mistake could turn into a huge problem and also as you know these wars can start easy but they cannot be stopped so it's a very dangerous position and people aren't usually the election purposes john when you want to jump in there. did you say iran is not working on nuclear weapons that's what he said yes there are no reports i.a.e.a. reports does not say that maybe you know something we don't know but anything that is publicly available not privately or by the intelligence community the things t

it's either israel did the killing murder and the united states certainly didn't condemn israel for doing it and gave its assets through a major financial supporter of israel i'm surprised that in fact these attacks have not invited bringing in retaliation against suspects it in syria and international crime violence in international law and see issue has not been raised that the u.n. security council which it should be retaliation could be directed against this really or american scientific personality. i think. just very anxious to get revenge but they're being cautious now because it seems not so far away in the gulf american forces massing and there are a growing threats war against. and here at r.t. we always like to know what you think of the stories we cover including this one on our website r.t. dot com we're asking what you think will come next in the standoff between iran and the west and this is how the opinions are lining up right now from our web site here at the stands almost a half of the votes say the u.s. will attempt to provoke iran into an all out war just under a third

>> in fact, the united states is far more vulnerable than israel, israel is relatively small. getting at israel is hard to do and it has formidable defenses for it. america has assets and vulnerablities around the world. here at home, we saw an plot to set up a bomb in washington. in the middle east, through 90,000 american soldiers in afghanistan, immediately next to iran. iran could heat up the war in afghanistan quickly and make obama's war there very, very difficult to succeed in if it chose to counter an american israel attack on iran by going after our softer, vulnerable places. >> that is the scary part indeed. thank you bruce. >> thank you. >> the florida general election fight with president obama's campaign manager. stay with us for the coverage of the florida primary. "prime time "kicks off tonight. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if you took the top down on a crossover? if there were buttons for this? wouldn't it be cool if your car could handle the kids... ♪ ...and the nurburgring? or what if you built a car i

i love israel, i've been there many, many times. i have many friends there, including mow knacken bagen, who was my close friend, and many of the other prime ministers. but the current policy by netanyahu departs from all his predecessor, including his most recent predecessor, olmert. i'm not sure that netanyahu will do that under any reasonable circumstances. >> you brought this amazing peace accord between egypt and israel. how much of this is down to individual personalities, leader who is just get it, and do we have the right people in charge of israel and palestine? are they the people that you could have done business with as president? >> ma knocken bagen, when he was the first elected, had a terrible reputation against peace, against any accommodation. absolutely rigid in his policies. in fact, he had been branded by the british government before that as the number one terrorist in the middle east. but he came around. because of persuasion by me and because of persuasion by sidot and because he knew what was best for his own

the united states and israel. it's a new u.s. sanctions tone of the central bank and financial sector iran has been threatening to close the strait of hormuz wounds most in oil exports linking the persian gulf indian ocean well the e.u. is mulling an embargo on the purchase of iranian oil decision on its expected before the end of the month with side mohammad marandi from the university of tehran says a war with iran would engulf the whole region. it is really the americans that are being provocative they are trying to make ordinary iranians suffer at the same time you see senior american officials and politicians constantly calling for the assassination of iranian scientists of iranian military commanders of politicians and the constant threat of attacking and bombing the country so really the problem lies with the united states the maneuvers in the persian gulf are basically to show the united states that iran is strong and can protect themselves and it is basically the only way in which to force the united stat

and israel over. well i don't know if it's right to accuse them but certainly it is logical for them to to have to seek to blame israel and or of the united states and if you think back to the stuxnet worm that unleashed upon some of the industrial and nuclear facilities overran that was traced back to america and israeli work so you know we fly drones over iran heriot you know we do that really on a weekly basis i'm sure so. you know this this behavior that we have it makes it very. logical for the government of iran to expect that the united states and to some extent israel is behind some of these activities what they need and what they do not have is the smoking gun and they don't have that came from your past military experience you talk about the stoking the fires of conflict and perhaps a spark could ignite some sort of conflict if there was to be a military operation by the u.s. or israel what would be the primary targets and what sort of form would that military operation take. well certainly

of the people polled in israel, the first years of israel, they came from countries like poland, romaniar iraq or i gent, or -- egypt, or russia. we created a stable democracy that only now starts to crack down and to be very vulnerable and maybe we should talk about it. we created culture and agriculture and revitalized the hebrew language. it is mir rack -- miraclous, and yet look at us. the best air force in the world, and still we are parollized. we are victims. we are unable to reformulate ourselves, our enemies. we do not have the ability, and i think especially our prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, doesn't have the ability to distinguish between the real danger that we do face and the echoes of past tragedies and past tramas of us, and he thickens everything together, and he -- he in a way instead of suggesting vision to us, instead of using our creative and innovative energy as a people, as a society, which this was, you know, it was in our spirit, what he does is to feed us with fears and with threats, as by the way, most israeli leaders, this is a kind of -- the narrative of

wants debility for israel and i think israel's security is paramount and. they may have reached the conclusion that side is eventually going to go and they're trying to manage that but. so the other powers around there israel turkey the united states of course they're all interested in what's going to happen there but you know they can't really control events i don't think ok majeed if i go to you in los angeles are we looking at the last days or months weeks months of the assad regime and for some people that may be a good idea but you know the law of unintended consequences when we see what happens when a regime collapses and you give it a push either a hard one or a gentleman you may know may not know what you're going to get afterwards. if you don't mind i just go back to the point that your other guest made i respectfully disagree that turkey and united states had been through plucky and i think they actually had consistent policies and i think that. they took the difference there as dialogue first and diplomatic initiatives to to convince to stop the

military hardware troops going into israel to be stationed in israel also going to the weight. you know naval. naval forces in the. ocean goals there's no real i would describe as why then szell wall the issue of nuclear weapons. or rather is that their weapons is a red herring but it is a red herring which could lead to a well of use that are you. know later in the program here and we explore why exactly some u.s. politicians are banging the drums for war louder and louder. and how it calls to attack iran become calls to attack the american president himself all to protect the interests of a different country. iran for its part seems confident it can withstand the building international pressure the country's interior minister believe sanctions will end up hitting the countries who imposed them not tyrone he's the exclusive interview with r.t. coming up next hour another quick preview. i think. i believe they've made a big mistake as this action results in turbulence for the oil and energy markets this very fact it can result in oil price growth in these conditions the west st

veil on israel. or some other world news in brief for you now and first to south sudan where the u.n. has advised villages to for the from advancing fighters of a rival tribe the town of people was the center into ethnic clashes on saturday many were forced from their homes as a local hospital and several other buildings were set on fire the government says it's deploying police officers and troops to the town or to bring the conflict under control around the thousand people have died in clashes over the past few months sparked by cattle raids. riot police in bahrain have clashed with hundreds of demonstrators after the funeral of a fifteen year old protester killed a day earlier the opposition claims the teenager was hit by a tear gas canister once range over the authorities did they to raise questions about the circumstances of the death and said it investigate at least thirty five people were left dead in the bahraini unrest doing twenty eleven including police officers killed as protesters attack