“We’re not bluffing,” President Barack Obama declared to Prime Minister Netanyahu during his recent visit to Jerusalem on March 20. “We’re not bluffing,” has become the American refrain during every dialogue with Israelis, no matter what the level. Trust us. It’s true. I went into greater detail about this in an earlier article I published in Al-Monitor, which covered the main points of American-Israeli discussion about this during the president’s visit to Jerusalem.
Those experienced old foxes from Israel’s defense establishment and diplomatic service, who keep close tabs on events, drew my attention to one interesting fact. It certainly is possible that Obama was telling the truth, when he assured Netanyahu that he’s “not bluffing,” even if he actually was bluffing, to himself and to us. It all has to do with the precise definition of how each of the parties defines their respective objectives when dealing with Iran.
