Israelis fear for survival in case of conflict with Iran – poll

PanARMENIAN.Net - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will set out a "clear red line" for Iran's disputed nuclear drive in his UN speech on Thursday, Sept 27 an Israeli official said, adding that the plan could be pursued together with the United States, according to Reuters.

"The Prime Minister will set a clear red line in his speech that will not contradict Obama's remarks. Obama said Iran won't have nuclear weapons. The prime minister will clarify the way in which Iran won't have nuclear arms," a senior Israeli official said en route to New York.

Though he has not previously detailed when Israel might be willing to go to war, Netanyahu has said Iran could have enough low-enriched uranium by early 2013 to refine to a high level of fissile purity for a first nuclear device. Israel worries that this final step, if taken, could happen too quickly or quietly to be prevented.

Iran has said it has no plans to enrich uranium beyond the 20 percent purity required to run a reactor producing medical isotopes. That level, however, brings raw uranium exponentially closer to the 90 percent enrichment required for bomb fuel.

Netanyahu's public calls for a U.S. ultimatum have deepened acrimony with Obama, a Democrat accused by his Republican rivals of being soft on the Jewish state's security. That has stirred American accusations of Israeli meddling in the November presidential elections - something denied by Netanyahu.

"The Prime Minister will say (in his speech) that Israel and the United States can work together to achieve their common goal," said the Israeli official on condition of anonymity.

Netanyahu, who heads a broad-based, conservative coalition government, departed for New York on Wednesday saying he would take the U.N. podium for an Israel "united in the goal of preventing Iran from achieving nuclear weaponry".

But surveys show that most Israelis - apparently swayed by the open dissent of several senior national-security figures - would oppose launching unilateral strikes on Iran, given the risk of alienating Washington and of sparking knock-on clashes with Tehran's Islamist militant allies in Lebanon and Gaza.

A poll published by the liberal Haaretz newspaper on Thursday found that 50 percent of Israelis feared for the survival of their country, should there be a conflict.