By Jonathan Hayward, Breitbart
An explosive report in a Kuwaiti newspaper claims that President Obama thwarted an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s nuclear weapons program in 2014 by threatening to order American military forces to shoot down the Israeli jets.
To be completely clear, this is essentially a third-hand report from a Bethlehem-based news agency, Ma’an, which transcribed the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida’s report, which in turn was based upon anonymous but “well-placed” sources in the Israeli government.
According to Ma’an’s transcription of the Kuwaiti report, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the decision to launch airstrikes against the Iranian nuclear program after “Israel revealed that the United States and Iran had been involved in secret talks over Iran’s nuclear program and were about to sign an agreement in that regard behind Israel’s back.”
Believing such an agreement would be a threat to Israel’s national security, Netanyahu, defense minister Moshe Yaalon, foreign minster Avigdor Liberman, and top Israeli military commanders spent four nights discussing their options, after which Israeli Army chief of staff Beni Gants was instructed to draw up plans for an airstrike. The report says that Israeli pilots trained for weeks to prepare, and even ran some test flights through Iranian airspace.
The Kuwaiti report then makes the remarkable claim that an Israeli minister with “good ties” to the Obama Administration revealed plans for the impending airstrike to Secretary of State John Kerry, who told President Obama, who responded with a threat to shoot down the Israeli jets before they could strike their Iranian targets. Netanyahu is said to have backed down in the face of this threat and canceled the operation, which Ma’an suggests was a major contributing factor to the souring of relations between Israel and the United States ever since.
Israel National News adds a bit of context to support the Ma’an report, recalling a2009 Daily Beast interview with Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinksi – who was “a top candidate to become an official advisor to President Obama, but he was downgraded after Republican and pro-Israel Democratic charges during the campaign that Brzezinski’s anti-Israel attitude would damage Obama at the polls” – in which the idea of heading off an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program was floated.
Brzezinksi recommended exactly the course of action Al-Jarida is claiming Obama took, saying that Israeli planes “have to fly over our airspace in Iraq” on such a mission and asking, “Are we just going to sit there and watch?” He ominously suggested confronting Israeli planes on such a strike mission and giving “the choice of turning back or not,” leaving little doubt as to what he thought the alternative should be.
Rick Moran at PJ Media also recalls that Samantha Power, one of Obama’s closest advisers and currently U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, suggested invading Israel with American ground forces to impose Palestinian statehood back in 2002.
As of this writing, there has not been an official White House response to the Al-Jarida report, or evidently an official response from the Israeli government. Prime Minister Netanyahu is due to address Congress on Tuesday, so there are a variety of reasons why a wide range of actors might want to stir up trouble with a sensational report about Obama threatening to attack Israeli forces in mid-flight. It’s also possible that a tense conversation between Obama and Netanyahu that didn’t quite reach the level of “we’ll shoot you down” threats has been misinterpreted by either Al-Jarida or their sources. At the moment, the news would appear to hang somewhere north of “astonishing,” but south of “unbelievable.”
If this was about any other president, I would dismiss this story as completely absurd. Other presidents may have opposed Israeli military operations in the past, for example Reagan opposed the Israeli air strike on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, but never did he consider shooting down an Israeli plane.Given the sordid history of Obama’s treatment of Israel, I can definitely believe the validity of this story. After all, that viscious Israel-hating scoundrel, Zbignew Brezizinski came up with that idea as an Obama advisor during the first campaign. How sick and twisted that the president of the United States would even consider militarily defending our enemy Iran, against our Israeli ally, who would be acting to preserve its very existence. Iran has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons on Israel. That an American president would enable them is beyond unconscionable.
@ bernard ross:
Don’t hold your breath. I think Iran has a tight lock on any and all dissidents a caveat**** if it follows the Syrian model it could be on a remote border area that can be supplied and supported from over a common border with Iran.
yamit82 Said:
I am talking about organized internal destabilization. If something were coming I would expect it to be preceded by organized activation of specific groups. that would be my sign.
Obviously they have been misleading congress and the people
bernard ross Said:
II don’t see it unless the economy begins to reallyhurt the folks. Obama just insured that won’t happen not in the foreseeable future.
While I never believed in sanctions they did slow the thing down a bit but they can never be put back and the Russians, Chinese and EU will never agree to reimpose them so sanctions are a red herring.
@ yamit82:
I agree, it looks like the issue is important enough that saudi may come out of the closet a bit with this trial balloon
There has been talk for a couple of years of a joint Jordan Israel plan to seize a buffer zone across the border. The introduction of Iran, hezbullah and heavy weapons could give the push. It is going to be hard for Israel and Jordan to ignore what Iran and Hezbullah are doing but perhaps Iran wants to heat it up to get the jihadis to fight Israel instead of them, or perhaps they want to first hand organized any blowback as deterrence against attacks against Iran. If we start to see internal trouble in Iran it could be a sign of the whole thing heating up.
MEMRI March 2, 2015 Special Dispatch No.5980
Former Jordanian Minister: We Must Not Allow Iranian Presence On Our Borders, Even At The Price Of War
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8458.htm
This is Revealing
imra@imra.org.il
I believe that Netanyahu’s conduct will serve our interests, the people of the Gulf, much more than the foolish behavior of one of the worst Americanpresidents
MEMRI Special Dispatch | 5981 | March 2, 2015
Saudi Columnist: Netanyahu Is Right To Insist On Addressing Congress About
Iran Deal
In a March 2, 2015 article in the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah, columnist Dr.Ahmad Al-Faraj supported Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’sdecision to speak at the U.S. Congress against the upcoming deal with Iran. Al-Faraj said that Obama, “one of the worst American presidents,” is working to sign a deal with Iran at the expense of America’s longtime allies in the
Gulf, and therefore Netanyahu’s campaign against the deal is justified and serves the interests of the Gulf states.
The following are the main points of the article:
Ahmad Al-Faraj (image: Al-Jazirah, Saudi Arabia)
“In a move unprecedented in U.S. political history, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu received an invitation from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Republican John Boehner, to address both houses of Congress… Netanyahu will devote his speech to expressing his firm objection to the signing of an agreement between the Obama administration
and Iran on the nuclear issue. He hopes to convince the Congress members that he is right, which could delay the agreement.
“President Obama and his administration are clearly furious. Not because Netanyahu is intervening in an important matter that Obama hopes will bring him personal glory, but because House Speaker [John Boehner] did not consult with Obama before inviting Netanyahu, and Obama considers this a breach of established protocol.
“This unprecedented tension between the Obama administration and Netanyahu is another in a long series of tense and unfriendly episodes between Obama and Netanyahu. But the tension has never before reached this level, as reflected in statements by National Security Advisor Susan Rice, who said that Netanyahu’s conduct was unacceptable and even destructive…
“The Obama administration does not suffice with condemning Netanyahu’s visit. Obama has announced that he will not meet with Netanyahu on th grounds that he does not meet with state leaders a short while before elections take place in their countries, [though] elections in Israel will take place weeks after the visit!! Likewise, American Vice President Joseph Biden, whose presence at Netanyahu’s speech in Congress is expected by virtue of his constitutional role as Senate president, announced that he would be on a trip abroad [on the day of] Netanyahu’s speech!! U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also said he would be in Switzerland meeting with the Iranians on the nuclear dossier and therefore would not be able to attend Netanyahu’s speech!! What angers the Obama administration even more that Netanyahu refused an official request by several Democratic Congressmen to meet with him during [his] visit!!…
“I will conclude by saying the following: Since Obama is the godfather of the prefabricated revolutions in the Arab world, and since he is the ally of political Islam, [which is] the caring mother of [all] the terrorist organizations, and since he is working to sign an agreement with Iran that will come at the expense of the U.S.’s longtime allies in the Gulf, I am very glad of Netanyahu’s firm stance and [his decision] to speak against the nuclear agreement at the American Congress despite the Obama administration’s anger and fury. I believe that Netanyahu’s conduct will serve our interests, the people of the Gulf, much more than the foolish
behavior of one of the worst American presidents. Do you agree with me?
There is no weingberger without Bush. Weinberger and Bush intentionally lied about Pollard, and for what purpose. These were the same years that Bush was entangled with Noriega, cia gunrunning for drugs, iran contra, southern air, etc. the Bush corruption goes back to Presott Bush. This could not have happened without the Bush directive and in my view subsequent presidents complicity speaks to me of their blackmail and extortion… Clinton and Obama have skeletons in the closet and would have jumped on board to keep Pollard in Jail in return for their scandals remaining quiet. The same will be true of Hillary if she becomes pres.
And who could have done that blackmail and extortion: why none other than daddy bush who was CIA director before being veep and then pres. His ongoing connections to persons within a system of shadow govt, as revealed in the 1980’s, would have kept him and his handlers with their hand on the main button of control to this date. I would beware of any more of the Bush clan coming into gov but they do not have to be in gov to exert their continuing influence and control. Pollard would have been out long ago if corrupt puppeteers were not pulling strings.
@ yamit82:I AGREE WITH YOUON THIS AND ON POLLARD. MORE INFO:Feds lied for 30 years about Jonathan Pollard
Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman February 24, 2015
A recent breakthrough in the case of Jonathan Pollard has shed powerful new light on the injustice of his continued incarceration. Key portions of a critical classified document, on which the government has relied as its justification for keeping Mr. Pollard in prison for nearly 30 years, have now been declassified.
As a result, longstanding government assertions that this specific classified document contains the proof that Mr. Pollard caused unprecedented harm to U.S. national security when he delivered classified information to Israel, have now been exposed as utter falsehoods.
On Nov. 13, 2014, after years of litigation, the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel, or ISCAP, granted our appeal on behalf of our pro bono client, Jonathan Pollard, and ordered the declassification of significant portions of a declaration that had been submitted to the court in 1987 by then-Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger in connection with Mr. Pollard’s sentencing.
Mr. Pollard had imparted classified information to the state of Israel. He was arrested in 1985. In 1987, Mr. Pollard was sentenced to life in prison, largely on the basis of the Weinberger declaration.
Since then, the government has stridently invoked the Weinberger declaration as its basis to oppose executive clemency or parole for Mr. Pollard. The government has asserted that Mr. Pollard should not be released from prison because the Weinberger declaration establishes that Mr. Pollard caused greater harm to U.S. national security than had ever occurred previously. The government has been able to present this harsh characterization of the Weinberger declaration without fear of contradiction, as no one representing Mr. Pollard has been allowed to see the Weinberger declaration since the day Mr. Pollard was sentenced.
For all these years, virtually the entire Weinberger declaration has been kept under seal by the government under the rubric “classified information.” The government has fought fiercely to prevent the two of us – Mr. Pollard’s security-cleared counsel since 2000 – from seeing any of the classified portion of the Weinberger declaration, even under the strictest security conditions.
The recent disclosures ordered by ISCAP show that the government has been dishonestly hiding behind the mask of “classified information” to materially mischaracterize the nature and extent of the harm caused by Mr. Pollard. The newly disclosed material shows that any harm that may have been caused by Mr. Pollard was in the form of short-term disruption in foreign relations between the United States and certain Arab countries. That is not at all the same thing as harm to U.S. national security. And it was dishonest for the government to pretend that it is.
The government’s deception had its most blatant and prejudicial impact at Mr. Pollard’s parole hearing held in July 2014, during which the government invoked the Weinberger declaration and – without showing it to the parole commission – urged the commission to accept its representation that the document substantiated more harm to the national security of the United States than had ever occurred previously. In its decision denying parole, the commission took the government at its word and essentially parroted the government’s characterization of the Weinberger declaration when it wrote that Mr. Pollard had caused “the greatest compromise of U.S. security to that date.”
That is an outright falsehood, and the recent revelations prove it.
The newly disclosed portions reveal the substance of the Weinberger declaration, which is devoted to the possible effect of Mr. Pollard’s actions on U.S. relations with Arab countries.
Thus, it is now revealed that Mr. Pollard provided Israel with information concerning the “political-economic affairs of Middle Eastern nations,” various “Middle Eastern orders of battle,” and the “technology of Soviet weapons and radar systems” used by various Arab governments. The potential consequence to the United States of Mr. Pollard’s conduct is described by Mr. Weinberger as “a high probability of harm to the foreign relations of the U.S. with friendly Arab nations.”
While the phrase “damage to the national security” is used as a section heading, what appears below it is, once again, in the nature of potential impact on foreign relations. For example, Mr. Weinberger bemoans the fact that Mr. Pollard provided information that enabled Israel to conduct a “successful strike on PLO headquarters in Tunisia” while “avoiding contact with Libyan Air Forces.” In the same section, Mr. Weinberger decries the fact that Mr. Pollard “provided information on Soviet built air-to-air missile systems and Middle East air orders of battle,” even while acknowledging that “[s]ince Israel depends for its national security on control of Middle East air space, much of this information was considered vital, and, as Col. Sella [of the Israeli Air Force] remarked, was not previously possessed by Israel.”
At Mr. Pollard’s sentencing, the government submitted a Victim Impact Statement, or VIS, the instrument designed by law specifically to allow the victim of a crime – in this case the government itself – to describe to the sentencing judge the full harm suffered.
The VIS says nothing about harm to U.S. national security. The VIS focuses on relations with Middle Eastern countries, and on the lack of a quid pro quo for information the United States would have preferred to barter with Israel:
Mr. Pollard’s unauthorized disclosures have threatened the U.S. [sic] relations with numerous Middle East Arab allies, many of whom question the extent to which Mr. Pollard’s disclosures of classified information have skewed the balance of power in the Middle East. Moreover, because Mr. Pollard provided the Israelis virtually any classified document requested by Mr. Pollard’s coconspirators, the U.S. has been deprived of the quid pro quo routinely received during authorized and official intelligence exchanges with Israel, and Israel has received information classified at a level far in excess of that ever contemplated by the National Security Council. The obvious result of Mr. Pollard’s largesse is that U.S. bargaining leverage with the Israeli government in any further intelligence exchanges has been undermined. In short, Mr. Pollard’s activities have adversely affected U.S. relations with both its Middle East Arab allies and the government of Israel. (Emphasis added.)
The VIS thus reflects friction between the United States and “Middle East Arab allies,” and temporary reduction in bargaining leverage by the United States. It says nothing at all about harm to U.S. national security, and certainly does not allege, in words or in substance, that this was the greatest compromise of U.S. national security up to that time.
Those who have opposed relief for Mr. Pollard have asserted that the VIS merely describes what could be shared with the public, and that grave damage to U.S. national security is documented in the secret Weinberger declaration. This has now been proven false. The Weinberger declaration is merely a more detailed version of the VIS.
The new revelations also dovetail closely with the disclosures in another recently declassified document, a 1987 CIA study of the Pollard case. The CIA study concludes that Mr. Pollard supplied Israel with information regarding Arab and Pakistani nuclear intelligence, Arab military capability and weaponry (including biological and chemical weapons), Soviet advisers in Syria and Soviet training of Syrian personnel, the PLO’s Force 17, and a radio signal notation manual requested by Israel to help in the decryption of intercepted communications of Soviet military advisers in Damascus.
Tellingly, the CIA study specifically states that Israel never requested information from Mr. Pollard concerning “U.S. military activities, plans, capabilities, or equipment.” Thus, both recently disclosed government documents, as well as the VIS, point to the same conclusion: Mr. Pollard’s activities may have ruffled some feathers in the Middle East, but there was no material impact on U.S. national security.
The government’s unconscionable deception has deprived Mr. Pollard of his freedom for too many years. The document brandished by the government to implement its scheme, hidden from scrutiny until now, has finally been exposed for what it is: a description of a brief, long-forgotten blip in foreign relations, not a frightening exposition of unprecedented harm to U.S. national security.
After nearly three decades, in light of the government’s perfidy, the only conceivable way to provide a belated measure of justice is to end Mr. Pollard’s incarceration immediately. President Obama has the solemn duty to uphold the law of the land by finally putting a stop to this ongoing travesty. There are no more excuses. The president should exercise his constitutional power and grant clemency to Jonathan Pollard.
Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman, litigation partners at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, have been Jonathan Pollard’s pro bono attorneys since 2000. Lauer has 41 years of experience as a civil and criminal litigator. Semmelman has 31 years of experience, and was formerly a federal prosecutor in New York.?Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/feds-lied-for-30-years-about-jonathan-pollard/#UI3G5O4Ey5LsUffx.99
Judging from the Carter debacle to rescue the hostages I would guess that US attacks in air on Israeli Jets might end up with a lot of downed US aircraft, hardly a position that Obama could justify. The solution must lie in prior announcement/warning to the US of overflight so that they cannot pretend it was an error.
Also, they could takeoff from Azerbaijan, or fly over saudi or perhaps send a decoy over iraq and the main force from saudi or azerbaijan. there are lots of scenarios but it is a good idea to deal with these threats now so that the choice of not issuing codes and the resultant scenario is clearly seen to be Obama’s fault, his vindiction like that polish nazi brezhinski
SHmuel HaLevi 2 Said:
Israel’s enemies would love to see that happen
@ mar55:
I was just one small gear in a huge system including great professionals. I tip my hat to one Robert H the Program Chief. He passed on years back.
About using weapon systems. You are precisely correct. The lack of a true leadership forced a backward jump that has made of great military systems into irrelevant items.
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
Thank G-d for people like you. The technology exist but the will to use it is something else.
@ mar55:
Indeed. I worked on the original drone aircraft called the QF-106. At that time we knew that we could go on into far more useful drones but the technology was then far away. Today it is terrific.
If the US leadership would want, ISIS would not be there and neither Hamas or Boko Haram, Hezbollah, etc.
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
Look at how we are using the drones.
NOTE: Graphic war footage. Viewer discretion advised.
An amazing video clip. The drone has changed the entire concept of war that most of us have not fully realized. This video shows US air strikes attacking ISIS at night.
There are a bunch of ISIS fighters that missed breakfast. Note how clear the bad guys are seen – great advantage in this type of war. And, the person remotely flying the drone with camera, missiles and guns is not even in the middle east! Only the Special Forces spotters are there.
What level of sophistication without collateral damage. Even the mules & donkeys are spared!
https://t.co/7y4mTryb7d
@ yamit82:
The gnashing of teeth and foaming at the mouth shows that the Republican leadership and Netanyahu hit a smash hit.
Naturally they find themselves wide open and exposed and that spells danger to all.
Will Netanyahu give the hybrid an opening to retreat or will he demolish him?
Hours ’til we know.
Eric R. Said:
When the whole thing blows up in his stupid arrogant face he will blame Israel that’s is main fallback position and excuse for failure.
Israel is being set up to take the fall either way it turns out.
?@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
Watch the second Brzezinski interview clip I posted and you can see that Obama has had Iran in sight as his main ME objective even before he took office in 2008, His whole foreign policy is spelled out and pretty much followed by Brzezinski in his interview judging from hindsight seems Obama is following the prescription laid out by Brzezinski.
Was always clear to me so why the shock and surprise now?
Looks like anti Obama interests leaked this to coincide with BB’s visit and speech.
SHmuel HaLevi 2 Said:
Documents shows false charge Pollard’s Lawyers: Declassified
Document shows false charges:
Pollard’s lawyers slam ‘government lies’ against him claiming he damaged US national security.
By Hillel Fendel – Arut7 News – February 24, 2015
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191778#.VOyQxSyo5ad
Key portions of a critical classified document on which the US government has cited as justification for keeping Jonathan Pollard in jail have been declassified – and his lawyers say the government has been “dishonest” in “hiding behind the mask of ‘classified information’ to materially mischaracterize the nature and extent of the harm caused by Mr. Pollard.”
Lawyers Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman, who have represented Pollard for 15 years pro-bono, say the newly disclosed material shows that any harm possibly caused by Pollard was only “in the form of short-term disruption in foreign relations between the United States and certain Arab countries.” “That is not at all the same thing as harm to U.S. national security,” they write in a World Net Daily op-ed, “and it was dishonest for the governmentto pretend that it is.”
Exposed: Secret memo reveals Pollard sentence a sham
By Aaron Klein – Worldnetdaily Exclusive – February 22, 2015
[May be reprinted with credit to author and courtesy of Worlnetdaily.com]
http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/exposed-secret-memo-reveals-pollard-sentence-a-sham/
@ yamit82:
Don Z B, to avoid spelling that awful mess of consonants in lieu of a name, a grotesque name matching an equally awful human being, will soon croak. With any luck the Pollack enemy being 86 or 87 is due to croak not long from now.
As to a potential and terrible case of US aircraft attacking ours. Conclusively not something anyone wants to see, except B Z, Carter, Hussein Obama, Rice and Kerry.
Yet if the deal is going through as is, Israel will be left with no choice and may the cards fall as they may.
I cannot guess the outcome but it will be terrible for us and final for the US as a world power.
China and Russia will not pass the opportunity either.
We better avoid that if we can.
I believe the fear the Israeli Military has over attacking Iran is that were Israel to attack and were America to try to stop Israel Israel would have to decimate the American forces sent to stop her and wind up in a potential military confrontation with the USA.
Israel can jam and or cloak our overflights but if by chance something goes wrong it could be bad. Think of the Liberty compounded ten thousand fold…
USA and Iran: interview of Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Anyone paying attention years ago should not be surprised over Obama’s moves as they were outlined and explained years ago by his chief adviser and strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski before and during the first term of Obama. People have both short memories and short attention spans and seldom connect dots.
Extended Interview – Zbigniew Brzezinski
Foreign Policy Association
He accuses without naming Israel and Jews and even AIPAC as foreign lobbyists influencing and and even determining American foreign policy against American interests and thinks Americans in general are stupid idiots.
I wonder who he hates More Israel or Russia????
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTx3oK6-6tY
This is old news that I and others have reported and commented in the past on Israpundit:
USA and Iran: interview of Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Brzezinski interview “Shoot Down Israeli Planes if They Attack Iran”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6IhLGEpJXY
@ LtCol Howard:
I have my own credentials as a former Senior Fellow Engineer US Department of Defense Military Avionics Programs.
At this point the resounding fact is that we have had enough of US State Department at least duplicity when not blackmail and sabotage not to mention the US Executive participating on that.
The US must release Mr. Pollard not because he is innocent, that will ascertained by later review of the facts, but because we demand so from an humanitarian standpoint. Enough is enough on that gruesome sequel.
As to the reported threat, indirect or direct. The truth will be ferreted out and there will be consequences if true.
Should I have something to say, and I am an Invited Consultant to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, I would suggest to actually send a leading airborne patrol to test the case. Israel has the means to severely punishing attackers.
Bottom line is that the present administration, and some previous ones to a lesser degree, were allowed to run shotgun against Israel.
With a nuclear threat upon us, zero tolerance to foreign interference to our right to defend and preempt must be the guiding principles.
Each of us have our priorities and so be it.
We should recall that Vice President bush in 1981 urged Reagan to bomb Israel after they destroyed Saddam’s reactor at Osirak. Reagan declined but still punished Israel in other ways. When Bush senior was president he refused to allow Israel to defend against missiles by attacking Iraqi launch sites in the 1991 Gulf War.
While I don’t tend to believe this report (I actually think Obama would welcome an Israeli strike because it would make him look good to the Iranians), the sad fact is that with the Islamofascist we have in the White House, it sounds plausible.
The report is sufficiently clear and in line with the President of the US policies.
It is incumbent upon our specialized agencies and investigative reporters with credible history to back them up to ferret out the truth into the open.
Did or did he not issue such threat against us? Such threats are, if true equivalent to a declaration of war and we must know that in the open as it is a threat to all citizens.
Answers one way or another are mandatory. Now!
This story (ADMINISTRATION DENIES OBAMA THREATENED TO SHOOT DOWN ISRAELI WARPLANES) and the Obama administration”strong denial “has the potential for an explosive reaction from the media.
The administration “strong denial” is technically correct, but only on very narrow grounds.
The threat that was actually conveyed was that the US would not give Israel the IFF codes and therefore all intruding IDF aircraft would be considered possibly hostile and US warplanes would be scrambled to intercept them. And it would be exceedingly “unfortunate” if Israeli aircraft were downed under these circumstances.
The source of the threat was the defense department stating that the Defense Department was not authorized to share the IFF codes with the IDF. This was coupled with public remarks made by Brezinski in which he urged the US to actively intercept and shoot down Israeli planes should they attempt to stage such a raid. Brezinski’s then close relationship with the Obama administration was publicized.
Thus, as stated above, the administration’s “strong denial” is technically correct… But the actual transmission of information and of vailed threats to the IDF was very real. The role of Benny Gantz is now emerging in the public discourse. His role in discouraging (and possibly preventing) the IDF attack may contain additional information embarrassing to the White House. Also, the anonymous White House advisor who publicly called Prime Minister Netanyahu a coward for not conducting this attack has only added fuel to a very potentially inflammatory public confrontation
ADMINISTRATION DENIES OBAMA THREATENED TO SHOOT DOWN ISRAELI WARPLANES
Jeffrey Scott Shapiro – The Washington Times – Sunday, March 1, 2015