A US intelligence official has told the Associated Press that Israeli officials have told the Obama administration that Israel will not give any advance warning to the United States in the event that Israel decides to attack Iran. Israeli
officials said that if they eventually decide a strike is necessary,
they would keep the Americans in the dark to decrease the likelihood
that the US would be held responsible for failing to stop Israel's
potential attack. The US has been working with the Israelis for months
to persuade them that an attack would be only a temporary setback to
Iran's nuclear program.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Defense Minister Ehud Barak delivered the message to a series of
top-level US visitors to the country, including the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House national security adviser and the
director of national intelligence, and top US lawmakers, all trying to
close the trust gap between Israel and the US over how to deal with
Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Netanyahu delivered the same message to all the Americans who have traveled to Israel for talks, the US official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive strategic negotiations.

The
White House did not respond to requests for comment, and the Pentagon
and Office of Director of National Intelligence declined to comment, as
did the Israeli Embassy. To get an idea of how far apart
the US and Israel are, watch this interview with Representative Mike
Rogers (R-Mi), who is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
The first 2:45 deals with Iran, but there's another minute that deals
with Syria, and while it doesn't directly involve Israel, it's also
quite interesting.

Let's go to the videotape.

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