<font color=red>Israel trying to scuttle giant Iranian-Japanese business deal<font color=black>
jpost.com
From the article: "Shalom's efforts in Japan came on a day of reports U.N. inspectors found traces of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium at the Natanz Iranian nuclear facility.
Shalom, in his meeting with the Japanese leaders, used both the nuclear threat Japan faces from North Korea, and Japan's history as the world's only country to suffer a nuclear attack, to bolster his argument that Japan needs to do all it can to ensure Iran does not get nuclear weapons.
Shalom told the Japanese that if the Iranians begin to enrich uranium it will be only a short time before they will possess nuclear weapons.
"I think there is a greater appreciation in the world today to the Iranian danger," Shalom told Israel Radio. He said that while in the past Europe and Russia looked on a nuclear Iran only as a threat to Israel, today they understand it is a threat to them as well.
In addition to discussing Iran, Shalom also pressed Japan to place Hamas on the country's list of terrorist organizations.
Shalom also called for greater Japanese involvement in the international effort to pressure the Palestinian Authority to dismantle the terror infrastructure and fulfill its road map commitments, saying the fact Japan has provided the Palestinian Authority with $680 million dollars more than any other country -- gives it leverage with the Palestinians.
"The time has come for Japan to stop solely being a source of money, but also to take advantage of the situation to influence the PA to dismantle the terror infrastructure," Shalom said.
Foreign Ministry officials said Kawaguchi responded to Shalom's appeals by saying she spoke this week with PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha'ath and said the PA must fight terror, and that the road map is "extremely important" and must not be allowed to fail.
Shalom also asked Japan to work to change automatic, anti-Israel voting patterns in international organizations.
"At a time when there is widespread agreement about the need to end Palestinian incitement against Israel, there is also a need to stop diplomatic incitement against us in international forums," Shalom said. Kawaguchi, according to Israeli foreign ministry officials, said Japan will help in this effort." |
