Bush’s Visit
Israel welcomes US President George Bush on his first presidential
visit, one that will have a bearing on several fundamental issues for
Israel and the entire region. First and foremost, the president will
engage in substantive discussions with Israel’s leaders on the looming
nuclear threat posed by Iran. Secondly, he will seek to advance the new momentum for peace between Israel and the Palestinians that was renewed recently at the Annapolis
Conference.
The findings of the US National Intelligence Estimate that Iran had
paused in its nuclear enrichment program several years ago have not
reduced the Iranian threat today. Iran still poses a strategic threat,
not only to Israel, but to all of Europe, with long-range ballistic
missiles that have placed the entire continent within range. That is why
Iran has twice been sanctioned unanimously by the UN Security Council.
As the NIE report says clearly that Iran is continuing its enrichment
program, the international community must not lower the intensity of its
efforts to block that threat. Israel’s leaders look forward to
discussing with President Bush how best to deal with the Iranian nuclear
menace.
Israel cannot afford to risk the safety of its population on an estimate
that the Iranian nuclear threat has ceased – especially when the
Iranians make a point of announcing almost weekly the development of a
longer-range Shihab ballistic missile, capable of delivering a nuclear
warhead. President Bush’s visit is an opportunity for closer, effective
coordination between the leader of the free world and the only democracy
in the Middle East in facing the dangers posed by a nuclear Iran’s
extremist Islamic ideology.
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