Ties with US undamaged by disagreement over red lines, Liberman says

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said Thursday that ties between Israel and the US had not been damaged by a recent spat over the setting of red lines for Iran.

Liberman was speaking aboard a jet carrying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, which he will address at 1 p.m. Thursday (New York time; 7 p.m. Israel time).

An official from the Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu would use the speech to “set out clear red lines,” beyond which Israel would act to stop Iran’s nuclear program.

“The US and Israel have a common interest in ensuring Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon and will work together to reach that goal,” the official said.

Liberman said Netanyahu’s speech should represent Israel’s best interests, even if they were not in line with the rest of the world’s.

“It doesn’t always go hand in hand with what the US wants. Such disagreements have happened in the past and it doesn’t take away from the two countries’ friendship or commitment to each other,” he said.

The US has rebuffed Israeli calls for it to similarly set red lines for military action against Iran, a move which sparked a heated cross-Atlantic verbal exchange between officials in Washington and Jerusalem.

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama did not use his speech at the UN to set out the so-called red lines, as some Israeli officials had hoped, but nonetheless said the US was committed to keeping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

On Thursday, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said the US and Israel had kept up closed-door contacts on the red lines issue and were moving closer together.

The main bone of contention between the two countries is reportedly the timetable for when the military option must be used. The US and much of the West believe time remains for sanctions and diplomacy to work on Iran, while Israel sees those measures as mere stalling tactics.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, a claim both Israel and US deny.

Netanyahu’s plane landed shortly after 6 a.m. in New York. Before boarding, the prime minister slammed Iranian president Mahmoud Ahamdinejad’s speech at the UN.

“On the day that we pray to be inscribed in the Book of Life,” the prime minister said in reference to Yom Kippur, “the authoritarian Iranian regime takes every opportunity to condemn us to death.”

Netanyahu said his speech would constitute a response to Tehran.

While in New York, Netanyahu is expected to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.