It’s Ehud Barak, who’s done less for Israel’s security than many former prime ministers. /

Seriously though, Peres and Barak have rebuked the notion that Obama has been bad for Israel. US policy hasn’t changed since Obama took office, and he’s continued the same policies. He hasn’t forced peace talks when Palestinians have been incapable of forming a coalition government and can barely tolerate being in the same room as each other, let alone negotiating behind a unified position with Israel. That’s why there’s been no action on the peace process.

At the same time, the US just agreed to fund further Iron Dome systems to improve Israel’s security against kassams from Gaza (7 of which were fired over the weekend at Israel but were overshadowed by the opening of the Olympics) or even from Syria/Lebanon with the civil war in Syria threatening to spill over into neighboring countries.

Then, there’s Haaretz finding that Romney’s position is virtually identical to the President’s re: Iran. There’s not a lot either can do should Iran get nuclear weapons, but their options are similarly limited short of Iran going nuclear:

Taking both men at their word, they share the same basic view, which is that Iran must not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons and if the only way to prevent this is a military strike, the United States must carry it out.

Romney himself underlined the agreement on this issue between him and the president in an interview with Haaretz last week when he said that “President Obama has said that a nuclear Iran is unacceptable. I feel a nuclear Iran is unacceptable. The term ‘unacceptable’ continues to have a meaning: It suggests that all options will be employed to prevent that outcome.”

The presumptive Republican presidential candidate also reiterated his position that a strike is undesirable while there may be other options. “I think I made it clear in my address in Herzliya [in January 2007] that a military option is by far the least attractive option, but it should not be ruled out. The military option should be evaluated and available if no other course is successful.”

There may be some variations in tone between the two and Romney was careful in his interview with Haaretz to conform to the tradition of not criticizing the president while on foreign soil. But in a speech last week in Reno, the Republican attacked Obama for not being tough enough in the negotiations with Iran, while failing to present an alternative coherent vision or policy of how he himself would handle the issue.

The ambiguity is supposed to signify a difference, but it really indicates that there’s not much of a difference in policy perspective.

For its part, the IDF is contemplating all possibilities, and that’s their job. They have to game out potential scenarios to go after Iran’s nuclear program based on what they’ve learned about Iran, its nuclear ambitions, and threats against Israel.

And since we’re on the subject of Israel - Egyptian President Morsi sent a letter to President Peres indicating a wish for peaceful relations for all in the region (replying to Peres’ letter ahead of Ramadan).