Israel raises profile in Iran fray

Amid the soaring rhetoric over Western efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program, Israel has been moving into a more proactive position in the campaign to contain Tehran.

This week, Israel launched a satellite to spy on Iran, and its leaders have called on the international community to stop that country from acquiring nuclear weapons. It also accused Tehran of backing Palestinian terrorists.

And as concern here grows over Iran's defiant nuclear drive, one of Israel's leading newspapers reported Thursday that Iran has purchased ground-to-ground missiles from North Korea, extending its range for delivering warheads.

"The Israelis are making a statement that Israel has its own ways and means of defending itself," says Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-born Middle East analyst based in Tel Aviv.

Given the charged atmosphere in the region, many have questioned whether Israel, which maintains its own unofficial nuclear program, would make some kind of "preemptive strike" on Iran.

In 1981, Israel struck the nuclear reactor Iraq was developing, known as Osirak. Though criticized at the time, Israeli officials say they were later thanked for neutralizing Iraq's nuclear capabilities.

Today, however, the Middle East is quite different, say analysts and officials here, and Iran's pursuit to enrich uranium, which it says is for peaceful purposes, is seen as an international issue, not a local one.

Somewhat akin to years of crisis over Iraq's weapons program, Israel has been encouraged to take a backseat in the standoff with Iran. In 1991, Israel complied with US requests not to respond to Iraqi missile attacks. Through quieter channels, however, Israel has long been making the case against an armed Iran.

But, analysts say, recent changes in the region have led to a more vocal Israel, from US frustration with Iran's meddling in Iraq to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's inflammatory statements - he calls for Israel to be destroyed and denies the Holocaust occurred.

"The Israeli government before the elections was taking a more moderate line. It was an uncertain period: Ariel Sharon was sick, elections were looming," says Mr. Javedanfar, the director of Meepas, a political analysis company. "[Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert feels more secure now and feels that the international community is standing by Israel. This wasn't so much the case during the intifada, but it's changing, particularly since Iran was given a 30-day period to stop uranium enrichment and they say they won't."

Those 30 days end Friday, the deadline for the International Atomic Energy Agency to submit its report on Iran to the UN Security Council. The report is expected to be highly critical of Iran for refusing the council's request to freeze uranium enrichment.

While Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev says Israel has no interest in a one-on-one confrontation with Iran, he says, "We do have clear concerns. We are supporting united, international efforts on this issue."

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