'If you want people to make hard decisions, you don’t put them in a corner'In addition to repeatedly reaffirming the importance of the strategic relationship in public, the US administration recently announced new funding for missile defense.Hadley added that it was important that Netanyahu know that America and its president were with him.“If you want people to make hard decisions, you don’t put them in a corner,” he said. “You put your arm around them and say we will be with you and we will walk through this together.”At the same time, he argued that this was a good time for “Israel to take the initiative,” particularly since a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would help end delegitimization of Israel.Barak has also been urging Israel to bring its own diplomatic plan to the meeting.Either way, the meeting is expectedto go smoothly in part because somesources of friction have been alleviated for the moment, including themajor issue of dealing with Iran.
Herzog: 'The issue of these sanctions istime-sensitive'Though Israel was uncomfortable with the previous US policy ofengagement, the current push on sanctions has met with Israeli approval.Herzog, however, said that “the issue of these sanctions istime-sensitive.” He gave a window of six months to a year to see ifthey were effective.He predicted that, absent a decision by Iran to rethink its policy, at that point there would be a debate about what to do.In the meantime, he reminded the audience that “when Israel says alloptions are on the table, they mean it.” And he encouraged othercountries to send the same message.“If you want sanctions to have an impact, the Iranians need to knowthat there are worse options for them down the road if they don’tchange,” he said.