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On the one hand we have Netanyahu doing the "Hold me back routine" in Washington recently, which given the nature of Israel must be taken seriously.
On the other hand we have the even more hawkish Avigdor Lieberman (Lover of mankind in German) who is the foreign secretary of Israel stating clearly in his visit to China that Israel prefers sanctions and negotiations (peaceful means) to settle the "Iran existential threat" problem.
Maybe he is saying what the Chinese want to hear, in order to curry favor with China. A country which otherwise is the biggest oil importer from Iran, once the annual March scheduled oil negotiations are settled between the two countries.
On the other hand it will look very poorly on Israel to the Chinese (not exactly an insignificant country in the global scene.......though not as "up-front" as the USA, yet) if Avigdor Libermann's Israel DOES resort to war and Israel reneges on what it officially said and stated in China.
Maybe Israel doesn't give a fuck what China thinks. Short term gains are more important and that the concerted Western pressure on China (Frumpy granny Merkel on her recent mission there for Israel)....amongst many others have been lining up to pressure China to drop its Iran oil imports is the primary objective.
Therefore given that the world does not exist for Israel, it would be useful if little Israel could clarify where its position was vis a vi civilian nuclear power Iran.......which has a peaceful program verified by the IAEA, after 9 years of on-going very intensive, on the spot zero notice, go any where see anything, question everybody inspections.
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Israel prefers talks over Iran's nuclear energy program: Lieberman
By Presstv.com
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says Tel Aviv expects the standoff over Iran’s nuclear energy program to be resolved through diplomatic means.
Speaking at a news conference in the Chinese capital of Beijing on Friday, Lieberman said Israel hopes that sanctions and negotiations will force the Iranian government to freeze its nuclear energy program, Reuters reported.
He added that Tel Aviv prefers talks between Iran and the P5+1 group -- comprising Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany -- and sanctions to settle the dispute over Iran's nuclear energy activities.
The United States, the Israeli regime, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program without offering any evidence verifying such allegations. Washington and Tel Aviv have at times threatened Tehran with the "option" of a military strike against its civilian nuclear facilities.
On Thursday, Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said despite Tel Aviv’s escalating war rhetoric against Iran, the Israeli regime is too small to survive even one week of real war.
“First of all we take every little threat serious even if it comes from the weakest country in the world,” he said in an interview with Danish television channel TV2.
Salehi added that Iran does not consider Israeli claims or threats as real threats.
The UN Security Council -- under pressure from Washington and Tel Aviv -- has imposed four rounds of sanctions against Tehran. The United States and the European Union have also adopted unilateral measures against the Islamic Republic in an effort to pressure Iran into abandoning its nuclear energy program.
Iran argues that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has every right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence indicating that Tehran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted towards nuclear weapons production.
