The U.S. Jew whose Iran views rile Israel intelligence officials

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Nor does she conceal her criticism of American policy regarding Israel's own nuclear program. "President Obama may enjoy talking like he is serious about nuclear disarmament, but I don't believe he is prepared to challenge Israel on the nuclear issue. Israel will be able to ignore the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty until an American president gets serious about global nonproliferation and disarmament, including the creation of weapons of mass-destruction-free zones in critical regions like the Middle East. That will require a country-neutral approach to nonproliferation issues by the United States, which would mean an end to U.S. support for Israel's nuclear ambiguity," Mann Leverett observes.

"American support for Israeli nuclear ambiguity strongly reinforces deep-seated perceptions in Tehran that the United States is out to ensure not merely Israel's safety and security, but also its regional hegemony - and that is Iran's principal concern about the U.S.-Israel relationship," she says - in addition to Iran's status in the Middle East.

In her opinion, the fear of Israeli hegemony explains Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's violent anti-Israel rhetoric and his denial of the Holocaust.

"Ahmadinejad's rhetoric about Israel and the Holocaust serves instrumental purposes for him and is very calculated. His rhetoric about Israel and the Holocaust is very popular not only at home inside Iran, but on the Arab street. Since Ahmadinejad became president of the Islamic Republic, public opinion polls show that he is routinely one of the two or three most popular political figures in the Arab world. This makes it very difficult for Sunni Arab regimes concerned about Iran's nuclear program or its rising regional influence to support military action against the Islamic Republic."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1127839.html