Visiting US Congressman: Israel must not place faith in Obama to thwart Iran’s nuclear drive

(Times of Israel) Israel must not trust President Barack Obama to thwart Iran’s nuclear weapons drive, a Republican US Congressman said on a visit to Israel Wednesday, savaging Obama’s handling of the Iranian crisis in a stark departure from the American political tradition of not attacking the governing administration while on trips abroad.

Speaking in Jerusalem at a meeting of Christian Zionists, Trent Franks, a Republican from Arizona’s 2nd district, said that if Israel does not stop Iran, Obama will not prevent the Islamic Republic from gaining nuclear weapons but would merely try to contain the threat. Obama has said repeatedly that he will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.

Franks predicted that Israel will “not trust other countries” in its bid to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and encouraged Jerusalem to preemptively attack the regime’s nuclear facilities if it felt the need to do so.

“I hope I say this the right way, but I’m convinced that Israel will not trust other countries to do what they have to do to protect their own security,” Franks said at a press conference. “The prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] has said, ‘Israel’s security must always remain in Israel’s hand’ and I’m completely for that. I understand very clearly that Israel will not be made to walk into the gas chambers silently again.”

“If Iran gains a nuclear weapon, we will need a new calendar in the world — it would change humanity that much,” Franks said. “Iran will give these weapons to terrorists the world over, and your children and mine will step into the shadow of nuclear terrorism.”

A month before US elections and on the day of the crucial first presidential debate, the congressman harshly attacked Obama — a highly unusual step for a visiting American politician. According to the tradition that “politics stop at the water’s edge,” US politicians generally refrain from partisan attacks while on foreign soil.

“As an American congressman,” Franks told The Times of Israel, “it breaks my heart to see the president of the United States reserve more criticism for Israel for building homes in their capital city than he does for [Iranian president] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for building nuclear weapons with which to threaten the peace and security of the entire free world. It is very difficult for me to understand how that could happen.”

“The president misunderstands the equation in that Israel’s timeline and their window to act against Iran is different than America’s,” Franks added. “America has some capabilities that Israel doesn’t have. And Israel cannot place their security in the hands of Barack Obama, they can’t do it… They have to act within their time frame before Iran goes into that zone of immunity that Israel talks about.”

Franks is a member of the International Israel Allies Caucus Foundation.

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