One of the overarching issues in this year's presidential election is what the United States and/or Israel might do about Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Should the U.S. hold direct talks with Iran as Democratic candidate Barack Obama has proposed? Did Senator Joseph Biden tell Israel three years ago -- as an Israeli report recently said -- that they would have to get used to a nuclear Iran? Biden denies the report.
Would Senator McCain confront Iran militarily since he says the only thing worse than an attack on Iran would be allowing Iran to get nuclear weapons?
Regardless of who is elected on November 4th, Iran poses one of the greatest threats to the Middle East and to the world. Israel knows this most of all.
Just last week, Iranian Deputy Chief of Staff General Masoud Jazayeri warned that if the U.S. or Israel attacked Iran, it would lead to a world war. For years, Iran has threatened Israel's very existence.
No matter what the U.S. does, Israel might act alone. The Israel newspaper Ma'ariv reported within the past few days that Israel had made the strategic decision to "take whatever means necessary" to stop Tehran.
If Israel did act, one of the most probable "windows," according to a former senior Israeli official we spoke with Monday, would be between November and January. The time frame has less to do with logistics than politics. This is the time between November's U.S. presidential election and the inauguration of the next President on January 20th.
We asked the Israeli official, can Israel do the job? If the goal is to delay Iran's nuclear capabilities by several years, he believes the answer is yes. However, he said Israel needs both the military and political umbrella of the U.S. if it decides to attack.
He spoke with us fresh from a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. It's a sober and profound reminder that Israel looks at Iran's nuclear threat a lot differently than the rest of the world. Israelis know they can't allow another Holocaust.