Americans Amb. John Bolton, Thom Friedman, and James Woolsey among expert global affairs analysts at IDC Herzliya's Policy Conference

The Herzliya Conference - Israel‘s primary global policy annual gathering, drew together Israeli and international participants from the highest levels of government, business, and academia to present and debate national, regional and world strategic issues.

(Pictured from right to left, Amb. John Bolton; Chair of UN Watch - Amb. Alfred Moses; Hudson Institute President, Professor Herb London; James Woolsey, former Director, Central Intelligence Agency; American Jewish Congress' President Richard Gordon. Photo: Yotam From).

US former Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton and former CIA Director, James Woolsey are among the luminaries joining Israeli leaders Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni in this policy gathering.

Watch videos of proceedings here on the Herzliya Conference website.

Watch Video: Herzliya Policy Conference on Israel's National Policy - Featuring Bolton & Podhoretz

The Herzliya Conference, hosted by the Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya, has become Israel's center stage for the articulation of national policy by its most prominent leaders.

To watch the 2008 Herzliya Conference live and online click here
To browse the conference schedule click here
To read transcripts of the speeches click here
To view bios of the conference speakers click here (Hat tip: Israel eNews.com)

Regarding the Israel Air Force's Syrian nuclear weapons raid, US Ambassador John Bolton said: "The daring and successful Israeli military strike… has obvious significance for the potential of a military strike against Iran's nuclear program. I think, given the debacle caused by our National Intelligence Estimate, that it's close to zero likelihood that President Bush will authorize use of military force against Iran's program before he leaves office, absent some dramatic new development."

He concluded: "Certainly in Teheran you can bet that they took careful notice of what the Israeli Defence Force did. Penetrating Russian supplied radars very similar to the air defenses that Teheran has; using techniques that could be very useful for a long range strike against Iran; this is the kind of operation that the Iranians needIran may be leading in points but the final whistle is still far ahead. to continue to worry about. Because I think with the collapse of American policy, the Israeli strike against the Syrian / North Korea facility is the harbinger of what may be – absent regime change in Teheran – the last resort… Unless you are prepared to see Iran proceed unmolested toward a nuclear weapons capability, which this NIE has given them free rein to do in my judgment, you are coming very close to a decision point in this country of whether you will use military force to stop Iran."

He believes that North Korea is assisting 2 members of the US' list of State Sponsors of Terrorism in nuclear weapons development, Iran and Syria, which the US State Department wishes to keep hidden to protect the failure of their treaty agreement which removed North Korea from the Terror Sponsors list.

Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz hinted Tuesday that the probability of an Israeli military strike against Iran has increased given "the deterioration of efforts to stop Iran diplomatically."

"The diplomatic timetable is running short and thus the next two years are critical for stopping Iran through diplomatic means."

Mofaz, who also served as defense minister as well as chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, was quoted in Ha'Aretz newspaper as saying, "Reality is complex but the picture is very clear: Iran may be leading in points but the final whistle is still far ahead… It is clear that the current trend must be reversed; and all the means are justified. This is a historical time… This time, no leader will be able to say 'we didn't know, we didn't understand the importance of this time.' The world must do everything that is necessary in order to assure a future of peace and prosperity for the next generations as well."