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Israelis Question Obama Response To 'Smoking Gun' in Syria

Senior Israelis wonder what it means for US policy toward Iran that US President Barack Obama did not act on a "smoking gun" in Syria.
An activist wearing a gas mask is seen in Zamalka area, where activists say chemical weapons have been used by forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad in the eastern suburbs of Damascus August 22, 2013. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX12TQ6
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A gloom-and-doom atmosphere has started to settle on Israel in light of what’s happening with the Syrian issue. ''The Russian initiative,'' a highly placed Israeli diplomatic source well involved with the goings-on told me yesterday [Sept. 10], “is, at the moment, in complete coordination with the Americans. [President] Obama has aligned himself with the Russian initiative, and [Secretary of State] John Kerry’s meeting with Sergey Lavrov is supposed to synchronize the entire event.”

Many people in Israel feel that the United States has declined the French proposal to take the case to the Security Council, in coordination with Moscow, under the assumption that a Russian veto would scuttle the idea from the beginning. Now, the Israelis reckon, the Americans hope to reach joint guidelines with the Russians regarding full neutralization of chemical weapons in Syria. “What the Americans don’t take into consideration,” they say in Israel, “is the fact that such an initiative can take long months, and the Syrians can knock it down any time. If they suddenly decide to overturn it in seven months, let’s say, will anyone even remember that Obama intended to execute a military operation in Syria?”

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