***The Truth About Israel***

Speaking to dozens of participants in a terrorism and security program run by the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Ayalon said the “time is not yet lost” to stem Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but added that “it is of the essence.”

During a question and answer session at the Interdisciplinary Center’s Institute for Counter-Terrorism, Ayalon warned that Iran could try to sabotage sanctions by inflating international oil prices and raising energy costs for China, which is dependent on Iranian crude oil, and which is a permanent member of the UN security council. At the same time, he added, alternative energy providers to China, like Saudi Arabia, were available.

“The only way to stop Iran is through a unified diplomatic position,” Ayalon said. “Iran is a big and vulnerable country, that will use psychological warfare and divide and conquer. Calling their bluff is the only way,” he added.

During his speech, Ayalon said Iran “is the source of instability in the Middle East. For Iran, the nuclear program is not a means but an end.”

Addressing attempts by the pro-Palestinian lobby abroad to have senior Israeli army figures and politicians arrested on war crimes charges, Ayalon said, “Terrorism has become sophisticated. It is trying to gain victory by exploiting the legal system. International law is suitable for wars between armies, not for combat between an army and a terrorist organization hiding within a population. To win, the legal system must be configured to match the new type of warfare.”

Former IDF chief of staff and Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya’alon told the audience of two main terrorist fronts, one led by Sunni al-Qaida and the second managed by Shi’ite Iran, which included Hizbullah and Hamas.

While the US and its allies were the targets of the former entity, Israel was the main target of the latter, Ya’alon said.

He argued that the Iranian-backed axis had access to more weapons and resources than al-Qaida due to the existence of two state sponsors of terrorism in the coalition – Iran and Syria.

Ya’alon said added that any future peace agreement with the Palestinians would have to be based on an insistence on an end to terrorism and indoctrination to hatred among schoolchildren.

“Without these changes, any peace will be a temporary cease-fire,” he added.

Ya’alon described the Goldstone Report as “the most clear example of a new blood libel whose purpose is to deprive Israel from defending itself.”

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, former CIA agent Dr. Jay Le Beau, trip leader and instructor of the Marshall Center, addressed the differences in perception of the Iranian threat among western security circles.

“I would argue that the US views Iran differently than a lot of European friends and colleagues, primarily due to a history that is particular to us. American security officials… regard Iran as having a long history of rogue state behavior. That was particularly the case at the start of the Islamic Revolution, because it was American hostages who were held and mistreated for a long period of time,” Le Beau said.

“European countries by and large, while surely objecting [to Iran’s conduct], did not have it directed at them. I would argue that their view is fundamentally different,” he added.

Le Beau described efforts by US President Barack Obama to engage Iran diplomatically as “prudent,” but added, “today, a lot of observers see this has not demonstrated results. Iran seems to be impervious to any sort of approach.”

Le Beau, who served in the CIA for 26 years as a clandestine service officer, spent most of his service time outside of the US. He is leading a five week program for more than 80 students from around the world, including Israel, comprised of intelligence officers and government members which includes a one-week visit to Israel in this year’s course, and four weeks of study at the Marshall Center’s campus in Garmisch, Germany.

“We believe our program helps create a global network of practitioners who know each other and who have learned of each other’s solutions,” he said.

Ashkenazi will attend a Friends of the IDF fund-raiser at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan and hold talks in Washington with his US counterpart, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The two last met in Israel in mid-February.

Ashkenazi will also meet with US National Security Adviser James Jones and other senior government and military officials.

As reported on Sunday in The Jerusalem Post, a large protest sponsored by more than 25 left-wing organizations will be held outside the hotel starting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

An online article announcing the planned protest called Ashkenazi the “Butcher of Gaza.”

Groups sponsoring the protest include American Jews for a Just Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace, Progressive Democrats of America, Women in Black Union Square, Codepink and Gaza Freedom March.

IDF sources said on Sunday that Ashkenazi would be surrounded by two layers of security at all times. The first layer will be of American security guards and NYPD officers. The second layer will be made up of members of the General Staff security team that is responsible for the army chief’s routine security.

“Naturally, Ashkenazi is under threat,” one officer explained.

Biden is scheduled to meet twice with Netanyahu on Tuesday, once in the morning with staff, and then again at a dinner in the evening, with both men accompanied by their wives.

US Mideast envoy George Mitchell, who announced the indirect talks, will not be at the Biden-Netanyahu meetings, an indication that the Palestinian issue, although sure to be a topic of discussion, will not be the main agenda item.

Biden is expected to add his weighty voice to the cavalcade of top US officials over the last six weeks who have come to coordinate positions on Iran, assure Israel that the US is working aggressively to impose sanctions that could impact Teheran, and urge Israel not to take unilateral military action.

“I can promise the people in Israel that we will confront as allies every security challenge that we will face,” Biden said, in a written interview with Yediot Aharonot that appeared Monday. “An Iran armed with nuclear weapons constitutes a threat not only to Israel, but also constitutes a threat to the US.”

Biden, in the interview, did not answer the question of when significant sanctions would be leveled against Iran, saying only that consultations were continuing.

The vice president would not speculate regarding a timeline for the sanctions, but said the US efforts were “serious,” and that the US was approaching the matter with a sense of urgency.

Netanyahu, who has called for crippling sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector, is expected to tell Biden that the current international efforts are “too little” and “too weak.”

Biden, the highest-ranking US official to visit Israel since the Obama administration took office in January 2009, arrived Monday afternoon, accompanied by his wife Jill, for a three-day visit. He did not make a statement when he arrived and was met at the airport by Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

In addition to his meetings with Netanyahu, Biden is also scheduled to meet President Shimon Peres and Kadima leader Tzipi Livni on Tuesday. The following day he will travel to Ramallah for meetings with PA President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

The laconic statement issued by Mitchell on Monday night about the agreement to indirect talks, a statement that revealed remaining gaps between the sides on the framework of the talks, precluded any expectation that Biden would formally and ceremoniously launch the start of the talks during his visit.

“I’m pleased that the Israeli and Palestinian leadership have accepted indirect talks,” Mitchell’s statement read. “We’ve begun to discuss the structure and scope of these talks and I will return to the region next week to continue our discussions. As we’ve said many times, we hope that these will lead to direct negotiations as soon as possible. We also again encourage the parties, and all concerned, to refrain from any statements or actions which may inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of these talks.”

Mitchell, who arrived Saturday night and met twice with Netanyahu before meeting Abbas on Monday, is scheduled to leave Tuesday morning.

Netanyahu, in a Jerusalem speech Monday night, “welcomed the renewal of the peace process,” and said he hoped these talks would in the near future lead to direct negotiations.

He said that the two principles that would guide him during the talks were the need for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and the need for real security arrangements on the ground that would ensure Israel’s security.

Abbas, meanwhile, voiced skepticism regarding the prospects of the indirect talks during his meeting with Mitchell in Ramallah, saying that Israel’s latest decision to build 112 housing units in Betar Illit showed that the Netanyahu government was not serious about achieving peace with the Palestinians.

According to chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat, “The president told Mitchell that if every visit by the US envoy would be accompanied by more settlement construction, unilateral measures, creating facts on the ground and the continuation of assassinations, detentions and closures of Palestinian lands, then this raises a question mark over all our efforts.”

Erekat said that Abbas was particularly concerned about the decision to build the new homes in Betar, “despite the big deception called settlement freeze.”

He said the decision was at the top of the agenda of the Abbas-Mitchell talks.

Israeli media on Monday reported on a Defense Ministry okay to build 112 housing units in Betar, a decision a Defense Ministry spokesman said was made because of “safety issues.”

These units are part of a larger project, and not building them, while the others are in various stages of construction, constituted a safety risk, according to the ministry.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Israeli officials had explained that the construction was approved before the moratorium.

“On the one hand, it does not violate the moratorium that the Israelis previously announced,” Crowley said. “On the other hand, this is a the kind of thing that both sides need to be cautious of as we move ahead with these parallel talks.”

Erekat said Abbas received a letter from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week in which she promised that Washington would play an “active and productive” role in the upcoming negotiations.

Mitchell’s talks in Ramallah came less than 24 hours after the PLO Executive Committee gave Abbas a green light to resume indirect negotiations with Israel under the auspices of the US.

Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a senior Abbas aide, revealed that the Palestinians have made it clear that if the two sides failed to produce agreement over the borders of the future Palestinian state after four months of the indirect negotiations, there would be no point in pursuing the talks.

“When we talk about the borders, we are referring to those in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, the Jordan Valley and the Gaza Strip,” he said, adding that the Palestinians were also seeking territorial continuity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Abdel Rahim said that once Mitchell manages to reach agreement on the borders, the two parties would then launch talks on final-status issues such as refugees, Jerusalem, settlements, water, security, land and prisoners held in Israeli jails.

He said that the US administration has informed the PA that the goal of the talks was to “end the occupation that began in 1967 and the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state that would live in peace and security alongside Israel.”