Israel-Iran tensions complicate coming election in the US

Amos Harel
Haaretz
Sept 4, 2012

There is a growing American assessment that Israel will not attack Iranian nuclear facilities before the U.S. presidential elections on November 6.

U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, who visited Israel last week, told a breakfast panel at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday that he believes the Israeli government is likely to wait until after the elections.

Rogers said that after his trip, during which he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he’d been left with “no doubt in my mind” that the U.S. election cycle was part of Israel’s calculations. Asked why he thought Israel would wait, Rogers said, “Because I think they believe that maybe after the election they can talk the United States into cooperating.”

Rogers’ remarks were published on the website of the Washington newspaper The Hill, which reports primarily on the U.S. Congress.

During Rogers’ meeting with Netanyahu, the prime minister criticized U.S. President Barak Obama’s attitude toward Iran, according to a report in the daily Yedioth Ahronoth. This led to a sharply worded exchange between Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, who was present at the meeting, the paper said. Shapiro subsequently denied the report.

On Monday, former CIA director Michael Hayden told Haaretz that a decision on attacking Iran need not be made right now, as current assessments point to Iran achieving nuclear-weapons capabilities no earlier than 2013 or 2014.

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