Prime Minister Yair Lapid was given some surprising news about US President Joe Biden when his staff tried to arrange a phone call between the two to discuss the Iran nuclear deal.
Two senior Israeli officials told Israel’s Channel 13 News that Lapid was informed that “Biden is on vacation” when he tried reaching Israel’s “strongest ally.”
דיווחנו הערב –
בישראל עובדים בימים האחרונים על שיחת טלפון בין לפיד לביידן בעניין הסכם הגרעין. לפי 2 בכירים ישראלים התשובה האמריקנית הייתה שביידן בחופשה (שהסתיימה היום). בישראל מעריכים שהשיחה תערך בקרוב.
מלשכת רה״מ לא נמסר תגובה— Moriah Asraf Wolberg (@MoriahAsraf) August 24, 2022
The vacation allegedly ended Wednesday, according to the report, and it is believed the two will speak “soon.”
The Prime Minister’s Office declined to respond to the report.
But Biden somehow found enough time to announce Wednesday from the White House that he was enacting a three-part plan to cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for low- to middle-income borrowers.
Click here to see the president in action on his “vacation.”
A few hours earlier, Lapid told foreign correspondents at a briefing in Jerusalem that the current nuclear deal on the table with Iran is a “bad deal” that would give the Islamic Republic $100 billion a year.
His statement was similar to that made repeatedly by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during and after the negotiations for the first such “deal,” the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement that Iran signed with world powers.
“This money will not build schools or hospitals,” Lapid pointed out. “This is a hundred billion dollars a year that will be used to undermine stability in the Middle East and spread terror around the globe.
“This money will fund the Revolutionary Guards. It will fund the Basij who oppress the Iranian people. It will fund more attacks on American bases in the Middle East.”
Where Was Biden?
The nuclear deal being negotiated “will be used to strengthen Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad,” Lapid stressed. “This money . . . will be used to strengthen Iran’s nuclear program.”
Despite Biden’s obvious effort to evade any discussion with Israel on the matter, Lapid said his government has “an open dialogue with the American administration on all matters of disagreement,” and said he “appreciates their willingness to listen and work together.”
So where was Biden — and his telephone — when Lapid was trying to reach him on a deal that could threaten Israel’s extinction?
Chanting the familiar mantra that the US “is and will remain our closest ally,” Lapid said, “President Biden is one of the best friends Israel has ever known.”
Nevertheless, Lapid warned, “We have made it clear to everyone: if a deal is signed, it does not obligate Israel. We will act to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state.
“We are not prepared to live with a nuclear threat above our heads from an extremist, violent Islamist regime.”
Plans Already in Progress
It appears that Israel is already preparing for such an eventuality – and in fact, so is the United States.
Report: Israeli F-35 Stealth Fighter Jets Entered Iranian Airspace Several Times in Recent Months
The London-based Elaph news outlet said Tuesday in an unconfirmed report that Israeli fighter jets have recently penetrated Iranian airspace multiple times.
A “special source” quoted by the Saudi-owned news outlet said Israeli F-35 stealth fighter jets flew in Iranian airspace “more than once” in the past two months, successfully “evading Russian and Iranian radar.”
Moreover, Israel and the US have been carrying out joint maneuvers both secretly and publicly, aimed at preparing for a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities “when they are forced to do so,” the source said.
The United States has also provided Israel with “detection technologies for precision-guided Russian Yakhont surface-to-sea missiles, and other missiles owned by Iran’s Lebanese proxy, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, according to the report.
