by JTA

June 11, 2009

During a May visit to Israel, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) told The Jerusalem Post that Israel should make its own decisions about how to combat Iran’s nuclear program.

“Israel didn’t ask us permission to drop bombs twice on Syrian nuclear facilities,” said Lautenberg in the interview, published this week. “I didn’t hear America scolding Israel for what it did then. Hypothetically, if Israel were able to get rid of Iran’s nuclear bomb-making capability, I’m sure that America would not send Israel a chastising e-mail message. We have to give Israel the courtesy of [allowing it to] make its own decisions.”

Lautenberg was in the Middle East May 24-30 for a fact-finding mission, and meetings centered around prospects for peace in the region, evaluating shared security threats and ground for cooperation.

While bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities should be regarded by Israel as a “last resort” to halt threats to wipe out the Jewish state, and such a move would endanger the free world, Lautenberg told the paper that President Barack Obama “can never dictate to Israel to follow a path that would lead to harming itself.”

He added that if Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fails in his bid for reelection on June 12, “we’ll celebrate — unless there is someone worse in his place…. Bombing Iranian nuclear facilities would be a desperate act for Israel. I’m certainly not promoting it. But all free countries are endangered. The battle has to be fought together. Obama is a leader, and he will do what is necessary.”

In Israel, Lautenberg met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and opposition leader Tzipi Livni. The trip’s delegation also included Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa.), Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) and Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.). The delegation also traveled to the West Bank and Turkey, where they met with senior government officials.

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