Israel having second thoughts about attacking Iran.

This is a somewhat remarkable change. Israel has even suggested that if Iran did get nuclear weapons it still would not destroy the Israeli state. This might seem like common sense since Israel has itself atomic weapons and far superior armed forces and delivery systems compared to Iran. Only those who really consider Iran's leadership crazy could think otherwise because it would be suicidal to attack Israel. In spite of the holocaust denial by Ahmadinejad there is little evidence of a desire or even any real threats to attack Israel on the part of Iran. Juan Cole has a good article on these matters. As this article itself notes as long as the US and Israel threaten to attack Iran it gives Iran reason to develop nuclear weapons in order to defend itself--as Israel has done surreptitiously. Israel has decided to speak softly and carry a big nuclear bomb! The real problem with Iran getting nuclear weapons is that it would increase Iran's power in the area. Many Arab Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia would be concerened with that not just Israel.

In spite of the lack of trust between Iran and western powers there does seem to have been some positive developments from the recent talks and for now what seemed to working up to some military action has now cooled down a few degrees.These excerpts are from a Reuters article.

""Israel rethinks anti-Iran warnings

It began with a bombshell Sept 18 newspaper interview in which Defense Minister Ehud BarakEhud Barak asserted that a nuclear-armed Iran could not destroy the Jewish state. Similar public remarks followed from the general in charge of all military operations.

Even hawkish Foreign Minister Avigdor LiebermanAvigdor Lieberman now sounds skittish about his government's long hinted-at willingness to go to war rather than see an enemy get the means to make a bomb.

"God forbid -- there's no need to attack anything," he told Israel's Channel Two television on Monday.

While Israeli officials insist that "all" options remain available for tackling their arch-foe, few dispute that Barak -- the top strategist, alongside Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuBenjamin Netanyahu -- has taken a new rhetorical tack as major world powers prepare to revive negotiations with Tehran on Thursday [nLU179342].

Short on the forces necessary to deliver permanent damage to Iranian nuclear sites, the Israelis hope the new talks will work, one official said -- or, failing that, eventually trigger U.S.-led military intervention.

"The last thing we need to do right now is to distract from the diplomacy with the kind of threats that Iran can point to as 'proof' that they, not us, are the endangered party," the Israeli official said. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.....

Israeli attack could draw reprisals on U.S. Gulf assets, further testing already strained ties between Netanyahu and President Barack ObamaBarack Obama. Should Iran cut off oil exports, Israel may find itself blamed for a new global crisis.......

"In his comments to the biggest-selling daily Yedioth Ahronoth [nLH395080], Barak said that Israel -- which is widely assumed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal -- could deter or fend off any future attack by a nuclear-armed Iran.

"I don't think we are on the brink of a new Holocaust," he said, clashing openly with Netanyahu's repeated likening of today's Iran to Nazi Germany on the eve of World War Two.

....Yet the alarm-dampening restraint professed by Barak, a retired top general and ex-premier who leads the center-left Labor party in a coalition under Netanyahu's right-wing Likud, cannot but find its way into closed-door discussions.

......"Barak's thinking on Iran definitely appears to have sway, for now," said an Israeli security official who is not aligned with the Defense Ministry. (Editing by Samia Nakhoul)""""