The US believes that right now it would take Iran “over a year or so” to develop
a nuclear bomb if it decided to do so, US President Barack Obama said in an
interview aired Thursday, six days before his much-anticipated trip to
Israel.
In the White House interview with Channel 2’s Yonit Levy –
Obama’s first shot at talking directly to the Israeli public, something widely
acknowledged as one of the main purposes of his visit – the president said the
US did not want to go down to the deadline with the Iranians.
“Obviously
we don’t want to cut it too close,” he said.
Obama deflected the notion
that part of his message to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will be to try and
rein in any possible Israeli military action, saying “my message will be the
same as before: If we can resolve this diplomatically, that is a more lasting
solution; and if not, I continue to keep all options on the table.”
“When
I say all options are on the table, all options are on the table, and the US
obviously has significant capabilities,” he said.
“Our goal is that Iran
does not possess a nuclear weapon that could threaten Israel or trigger an arms
race in the region that would be extremely dangerous.”
Regarding the
diplomatic process with the Palestinians, Obama said nothing of coming to the
region with any concrete plans on how to move the process forward, but rather
that his goal was to listen to both sides and hear their strategies and visions.
Obama said the only path forward was for the Israelis and
Palestinians to get back into negotiations, and that during his visit he would
explore “whether that can happen soon or whether there needs to be further work
on the ground.”
Obama said he would tell Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas that running around Israel to the UN will not be successful, and
that he would tell Netanyahu that he should have an interest in strengthening
the moderate leadership in the PA and “make sure issues like settlements are
viewed through the lens of ‘is this making it easier or harder for Palestinian
moderates to sit down at the table?’” While recognizing Israel was legitimately
concerned about the chaos in the region, Obama said the country “can’t count on
just a few autocrats holding things together in the neighborhood,” and that it
was in Israel’s interest to be able to talk to the Arab street.
Regarding
Jonathan Pollard, Obama quashed hope that he would free him during his visit. “I
have no plans for releasing Jonathan Pollard immediately, but what I am going to
be doing is make sure that he – like every other American who has been sentenced
– is accorded the same kinds of review and same examination of the equities that
any other individual would be provided.” With that, Obama articulated more
sympathy on the matter than any other US president. “I recognize the emotions
involved in this,” he said. “One of the strengths of the Israeli people is you
think about your people wherever they are. I recognize that and am
sympathetic.”
On the other hand, he said, people needed to understand
that his first obligation as president was to uphold the country’s laws and make
sure they are “applied consistently. There are a lot of individuals in
prison in the United States who have committed crimes who would love to be
released early as well, and I have to make sure that every individual is treated
fairly and equally.”
Obama, who was criticized sharply for not mentioning
the Jewish people’s historical tie to Israel in his Cairo speech in 2009, made
reference to that connection in the interview, saying he has always admired the
Jewish people’s “connection to the land.” He also addressed his relationship
with Netanyahu, calling what has widely been perceived as a strained
relationship a “terrific, business- like relationship.”
“I’ve met with
Bibi more than any other world leader one-on-one,” he said. “He is very blunt
with me about his views on issues, and I am very blunt with him about my views
on issues. And we get stuff done. We could not coordinate militarily or on the
intelligence side had it not been for our capacity to work together.”