Israel lobbyist hints that ‘Pearl Harbor’ may be needed to get US into war with Iran. At the same time Israel demands we respect Jewish holy day

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Israel lobbyist hints that ‘Pearl Harbor’ may be needed to get US into war with Iran

Last Friday, during question time at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy policy forum luncheon on “How to Build US-Israeli Coordination on Preventing an Iranian Nuclear Breakout,” the director of research at the pro-Israel think tank hinted that a Pearl Harbor-type attack might be necessary to get the United States to go to war against the Islamic Republic.

“I frankly think that crisis initiation is really tough,” said Patrick Clawson, who also heads the Washington Institute’s Iran Security Initiative, in response to a question about what would happen if negotiations with Tehran fail. “And it’s very hard for me to see how the United States … uh … President can get us to war with Iran.”

As a consequence, Clawson said he was led to conclude that “the traditional way [that] America gets to war is what would be best for US interests.”

Intriguingly, he went on to recount a series of controversial incidents in American history — the attack on Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the Lusitania, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and the blowing up of the USS Maine — that US presidents “had to wait for” before taking America to war.

“So, if in fact the Iranians aren’t going to compromise,” the Israel lobbyist concluded with a smirk on his face, “it would be best if somebody else started the war.”  MORE

thank you Brad

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel ground almost to a halt Tuesday afternoon in preparation for Yom Kippur,Judaism’s holiest day of the year.

The country has completely closed its airspace to airplanes, shut down its buses and trains, and locked its border crossings in preparation the holy day, which begins Tuesday evening and ends Wednesday after sundown. Restaurants, businesses and schools closed, government ministries shuttered, and Israeli television and radio stations went silent. Highways and roads emptied of cars — a convention honored even by most secular and non-Jewish Israelis.

Yom Kippur is Judaism’s day of atonement, when devout Jews ask God to forgive them for their transgressions. They refrain from eating and drinking and attend intense prayer services in synagogues. The day caps a traditional ten day period of soul-searching that began with the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the start of the Jewish new year.

This year, the day of introspection comes amid heightened speculation that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities could be near. When Yom Kippur comes to a close Wednesday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make his way to New York to address the United Nations with one main message: Iran’s nuclear program is an existential threat to Israel, and it must be stopped.

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