ISRAEL: Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, has instructed his political and diplomatic colleagues, at home and abroad, to button their lips and avoid making any extraneous remarks about a possible conflict in Iraq.
Mr Sharon is fearful that the country is being perceived increasingly, and damagingly, as the world's firmest champion of a US-led war.
Only Mr Sharon, his Defence Minister, Mr Shaul Mofaz, and his Foreign Minister, Mr Silvan Shalom, are permitted to discuss the issue, with the other cabinet ministers, ambassadors and other envoys now ordered to put a halt to all "unnecessary chatter".
With opposition to the war mounting around the world, Israel has been one of the most steadfast supporters of the Bush administration's military build-up and firm rhetoric, and this has led to charges, most significantly by critics and commentators in the US itself, that the administration is being overly influenced by Israel, by its own perceived pro-Israel staffers, and by the American-Jewish lobby.
The most dramatic instance was last week's unvarnished assertion by Virginia Democratic Congressman Mr James Moran that, "if it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this".
The White House yesterday criticised Mr Moran for comments its spokesman called "shocking" and "wrong," and the Congressman has issued an apology.
But his has been far from a lone voice. Several US talk-show hosts and print journalists have intimated in recent days that Israeli right-wingers, along with a handful of Jewish and/or apparently pro-Israel administration figures - including Deputy Defence Secretary Mr Paul Wolfowitz, and Mr Richard Perle, chairman of the Pentagon's Defence Policy Board - are playing a leading and disproportionate role in shaping the Bush strategy.
The Israeli government is well aware that in much of the world - with the US a significant exception - it is regarded as the prime culprit in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mr Sharon is, therefore, all the more anxious to avoid embarrassing so supportive a US administration with intemperate remarks over Iraq. On Monday, to that end, Mr Sharon declared that the conflict with President Saddam was "not Israel's war".
The overwhelming consensus in Israel is that the sooner the Iraqi dictator - who fired 39 Scuds at Israel in 1991 - is ousted, the better, for the Israeli people and for regional stability. Over 77 per cent of Israeli Jews support the US-led campaign, according to a survey published last week.