The president of the United States and the prime minister of Israel each gave major speeches on the Iranian nuclear threat and then they met for a two-hour meeting [on March 5], with attendant statements – and yet my column today is on a book that appeared in 1962.
Usually, I use my column to address major news of the moment, but obviously not in this case. Here’s why:
I presume that (1) the Iranian regime, not we the public, is the chief intended audience of the president and prime minister’s public remarks and (2) neither leader is being fully candid with the other. Therefore, I am cautious about believing what I hear or drawing conclusions from it.
The perception may be, in the words of a Washington Post headline, “Obama assures Netanyahu on efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear program” but I am not convinced that is the real story. For example, it might in fact be the possible Israeli use of nuclear weapons to attack the Iranian infrastructure.
In this spirit, I shall observe rather than comment.
By Daniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and the author of several books, including Militant Islam Reaches America and In the Path of God: Islam and Political Power (Transaction Publishers), from which this column derives.
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