Post by ndrthl on Jan 20, 2006 17:56:49 GMT -5
www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=672752&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
Hold your horses
By Yoel Marcus
No one is ever sorry about something he didn't say. Especially not a civilian politician filling the shoes of an ex-general. Without even being an elected prime minister, Ehud Olmert has walked into a mine field with spiked shoes on.
At a press conference held during his visit to the President's House, he declared that Israel regards the Iranian nuclear threat as the greatest danger to its national security. "At no stage can we allow anyone harboring evil intentions toward us to be in control of weapons of mass destruction that endanger our survival," he said. "Israel will never resign itself to living under such a threat."
No wonder the world media has interpreted his words as an out-and-out ultimatum. Before his stroke, Ariel Sharon, a man known far and wide as a fearless combat officer, expressed himself a lot more cautiously and a lot less aggressively than Olmert. He said that Israel should not spearhead the battle against Iran's nuclear program lest the world accuse us of being behind any military action against Iran that may be taken.
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Without dismissing the seriousness of a nuclear threat from Iran, Israel's prattle on this subject seems to have crossed all bounds. It's hard to say who it scares more the Israelis or the Iranians. Chief of Staff Dan Halutz has said on several occasions that we should be worried about those who have etched the destruction of Israel on their
banner. In his latest appearance, he described the possibility of Iran having nuclear weapons as the one threat to Israel's existence.
It is worth paying attention to the dates on which these warnings and scary predictions are released to the public. Before stepping down, Military Intelligence chief Aharon Ze'evi Farkash told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that by the end of March 2006, Iran would be capable of producing an atom bomb. Olmert and the chief of
staff made their statements in the middle of January, with the arrows also pointing toward the end of March, two or three days before the elections. Coincidentally or not, the Iraqi nuclear plant was blown up in June 1981, a few days before the elections. It wouldn't surprise me if The Sunday Times of London published a report on an Israeli plan for a combined land and air strike on Iran's nuclear facility.
Israeli ethos, from the start, was that the country had to be able to defend itself on its own. The founding leaders told our friends around the world: Give us the tools; we will do the work. Menachem Begin used to boast that no American soldier had ever died in our defense. But anyone with half a brain can see that today we are not alone. Under the
circumstances created by the rise of global terror and the nuclear aspirations of fundamentalists and lunatics, Israel can no longer sing solo.
If the world were indifferent to Iranian threats to destroy Israel, we would have something to worry about. But this is not the case. Iran today is a command center for global terror, and the danger of it becoming a nuclear power also jeopardizes the Gulf states, which have more important interests than firing nuclear missiles at Israel. When sources of oil are threatened, the whole world is at risk. It is not by chance that the
United States and Europe, soon to be joined by Russia, are banding together to bring the issue before the Security Council. If military action is deemed necessary, it will be a more complicated affair than the sortie of eight planes we dispatched to knock out the Iraqi reactor.
The issue is not Iran against Israel, but Iran against the world. To stop Iran, let alone attack it, is out of our range. We like to talk big, but in this terrifying match, we should be sitting in the bleachers not playing on the field. As part of the sane world, it is definitely in our interest to cooperate in the global effort to put the brakes on Iran, through transmitting data or participating in international brainstorming. But it is important that while contributing to the global collective and its defense, we preserve a sense of modesty and lay low. Our leaders, with their threats and warnings and pompous self-importance, would be advised to hold their horses.
Hold your horses
By Yoel Marcus
No one is ever sorry about something he didn't say. Especially not a civilian politician filling the shoes of an ex-general. Without even being an elected prime minister, Ehud Olmert has walked into a mine field with spiked shoes on.
At a press conference held during his visit to the President's House, he declared that Israel regards the Iranian nuclear threat as the greatest danger to its national security. "At no stage can we allow anyone harboring evil intentions toward us to be in control of weapons of mass destruction that endanger our survival," he said. "Israel will never resign itself to living under such a threat."
No wonder the world media has interpreted his words as an out-and-out ultimatum. Before his stroke, Ariel Sharon, a man known far and wide as a fearless combat officer, expressed himself a lot more cautiously and a lot less aggressively than Olmert. He said that Israel should not spearhead the battle against Iran's nuclear program lest the world accuse us of being behind any military action against Iran that may be taken.
Advertisement
Without dismissing the seriousness of a nuclear threat from Iran, Israel's prattle on this subject seems to have crossed all bounds. It's hard to say who it scares more the Israelis or the Iranians. Chief of Staff Dan Halutz has said on several occasions that we should be worried about those who have etched the destruction of Israel on their
banner. In his latest appearance, he described the possibility of Iran having nuclear weapons as the one threat to Israel's existence.
It is worth paying attention to the dates on which these warnings and scary predictions are released to the public. Before stepping down, Military Intelligence chief Aharon Ze'evi Farkash told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that by the end of March 2006, Iran would be capable of producing an atom bomb. Olmert and the chief of
staff made their statements in the middle of January, with the arrows also pointing toward the end of March, two or three days before the elections. Coincidentally or not, the Iraqi nuclear plant was blown up in June 1981, a few days before the elections. It wouldn't surprise me if The Sunday Times of London published a report on an Israeli plan for a combined land and air strike on Iran's nuclear facility.
Israeli ethos, from the start, was that the country had to be able to defend itself on its own. The founding leaders told our friends around the world: Give us the tools; we will do the work. Menachem Begin used to boast that no American soldier had ever died in our defense. But anyone with half a brain can see that today we are not alone. Under the
circumstances created by the rise of global terror and the nuclear aspirations of fundamentalists and lunatics, Israel can no longer sing solo.
If the world were indifferent to Iranian threats to destroy Israel, we would have something to worry about. But this is not the case. Iran today is a command center for global terror, and the danger of it becoming a nuclear power also jeopardizes the Gulf states, which have more important interests than firing nuclear missiles at Israel. When sources of oil are threatened, the whole world is at risk. It is not by chance that the
United States and Europe, soon to be joined by Russia, are banding together to bring the issue before the Security Council. If military action is deemed necessary, it will be a more complicated affair than the sortie of eight planes we dispatched to knock out the Iraqi reactor.
The issue is not Iran against Israel, but Iran against the world. To stop Iran, let alone attack it, is out of our range. We like to talk big, but in this terrifying match, we should be sitting in the bleachers not playing on the field. As part of the sane world, it is definitely in our interest to cooperate in the global effort to put the brakes on Iran, through transmitting data or participating in international brainstorming. But it is important that while contributing to the global collective and its defense, we preserve a sense of modesty and lay low. Our leaders, with their threats and warnings and pompous self-importance, would be advised to hold their horses.