Israeli sources said the administration would reject
Israel intelligence on such threats as Iran and Syria while advancing the Obama agenda to reconcile with the two states, both listed as state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. State Dept.
On April 20, Israeli military intelligence commander Maj. Gen. Amos
Yadlin warned the Cabinet that
Obama was prepared to allow Iran to retain its capability to assemble
nuclear weapons and support Hamas and Hizbullah.
"Obama wants to advance the peace process in the direction of realistic
discussions with extremist elements," Yadlin said.
The Israeli intelligence assessment envisioned that Obama would maintain
his reconciliation policy with Iran and Syria through at least 2010. The
sources said the assessment determined that Obama was convinced that such
a policy would enable a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Obama will want to show Iran, Syria and radical Muslims that the
United States could pressure Israel on a strategic level," the source said.
"The pressure has already begun and will intensify throughout the next year
or two."
The military intelligence chief said Obama was also courting the regime
of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Yadlin said both Damascus and Teheran have
not significantly reduced their support for insurgency groups throughout the
region.
"President Bashar Assad hopes to turn over a new leaf with U.S.
President Barack Obama," Yadlin said. "However, while Western powers are
being hosted at the palace in Damascus, Syria is continuing to be used as
the back yard of the axis of evil. Assad is letting Hizbullah and Iranian
forces freely conduct their affairs in Syria and use its territory for
Hizbullah deployment."
Yadlin said Obama's policies have generated dismay among Arab allies of
the United States. He said Arab countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia
were concerned that U.S. reconciliation efforts would merely encourage
Teheran and its proxies to intensify destabilization efforts. In April 2009,
Egypt reported a Hizbullah network that operated in Cairo and the Sinai
Peninsula.
"The Arab world is starting to understand that Iranian proxies are a
threat to the region," Yadlin said. "The Hizbullah activity in Egypt is not
an isolated incident. Iran has infrastructures across the world seeking to
perpetrate terror attacks against Israel."
At the same time, the Obama administration was expected to restrict U.S.
arms exports to Israel in an effort to deny systems that could be used in
any attack against Iran or Syria. The intelligence sources said this policy
was implemented during the last year of the Bush administration and would
intensify under Obama.
