Although I was not delighted with one of his comments during his Israel visit this week, I can’t help but be impressed with Italy’s PM.  I was not aware of his mother’s heroism during the war, but it must have made a deep impact on him as he is one of a very small number of world leaders who seem to have clarity on the need to deal in most serious terms with the Iranian regime and their nuclear program.  Here’s what the Telegraph had to say about it:

Mr Berlusconi, who was visiting Jerusalem appeared to wipe away tears when the Israeli leader recalled how Rosa Berlusconi, who died in 2008 at the age of 97, saw a German policeman trying to arrest a Jewish girl on a train in Milan.

“The Italian woman, who was then eight months pregnant, stood between the policeman and the girl. And without a grain of fear, she confronted the German policeman and said to him: ‘You can kill me, but look at the faces of the people on the train, I promise you they won’t let you get out alive’,” Mr Netanyahu said.

“With this firm statement, the Italian woman saved the Jewish girl and lit, if only for a moment, a ray of humanistic light and bravery in the great darkness that pervaded all of Europe.”

Though I have my issues with him as well, Bibi “get’s it”.  He internalized the lessons of the Holocaust and is able to read the signs of approaching danger-hence his clarity on Iran and the necessity for real action.  It also seems that this issue has unified both sides of the political fence in Israel.  Ehud Barak had this to say a couple of days ago:

Ehud Barak, the defense minister and the government official most trusted on military matters, told top defense officials Monday that “all options are on the table and we mean it,” according to a report in the newspaper Haaretz.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/bibi_not_bam_has_iran_plan_3CacWoCSSzFSqut1dniwdK#ixzz0eaDsmgUs