History of usage Red line (phrase)

political cartoon red lines ranan lurie. drawn after 2013 ghouta chemical attacks.

in israel, phrase notably used political metaphor foreign minister yigal allon, in 1975, when said washington has managed draw red line arab countries know must not cross - america not going sacrifice israel sake of arab support. yitzhak rabin later used phrase refer line past syrian army should not allowed cross after 1976 occupation of lebanon. on september 27, 2012 @ 67th united nations general assembly @ u.n. headquarters in new york in speech addressing iran s nuclear program israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu publicly added red line prepared bomb cartoon.

according ben yagoda, professor of english , journalism @ university of delaware, in 1987, there references red lines in conflicts between chad , libya, , in 1999 new york times article, muslim clerics in iran reported draw red line revolution no 1 should cross. these references occurred earlier well, appearing milwaukee sentinel article of 26 january 1984 regarding french intervention in chad , red line held french forces in southern chad.

the phrase has been used u.s. diplomats going 1990s. example, u.s. officials, quoted reuters news agency in may 1994, used term in reference negotiations north korea on withdrawal of reactor fuel; , martin walker in guardian used same phrase in june, in reference statements united states officials. secretary of state warren christopher used phrase in reference nato control on peace-keeping mission in bosnia on cbs program face nation on 22 october 1995. barack obama used phrase on august 20, 2012, during syrian civil war in relation chemical weapons, saying have been clear assad regime, other players on ground, red line start seeing whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. change calculus. change equation.

in us, phrase became source of contention when political opponent john mccain said red line apparently written in disappearing ink, due perception red line had been crossed no action. on 1 year anniversary of obama s red line speech ghouta chemical attacks occurred. obama clarified didn t set red line. world set red line when governments representing 98 percent of world s population said use of chemical weapons abhorrent , passed treaty forbidding use when countries engaged in war, in reference chemical weapons convention.