Thursday, November 14, 2013

The Hardest Decision In the History of Israel

From Family Security Matters.



Zero Hour: Israel must now choose between attack and enslavement


Israelis across the political spectrum are in a state of shock over a proposed deal to lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for promises to partially suspend its nuclear program and a pledge to not expand it.

Acting out of a position of self-imposed weakness, the world's democracies have effectively undermined the aim of several United Nations resolutions banning any uranium enrichment. The agreement that's currently being ironed out in Geneva will allow Iran to continue to enrich but at a lower grade.

Since 1979's Iranian Revolution, world powers have doggedly worked at crafting and implementing a crippling sanctions regime meant to weaken the rule of Iran's Mullahs.

Currently, these sanctions have never been tougher, with Iran becoming increasingly isolated and its leadership increasingly destabilized.

Yet just as this maximum leverage on Iran to scrap its nuclear program is beginning to bear fruit, sanctions are about to be eased without requiring Iran's thuggish theocracy to dismantle even one centrifuge.

In response to this very bad deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a stinging rebuke to Washington, stating over the weekend that "Israel utterly rejects it and what I am saying is shared by many in the region, whether or not they express that publicly."

So serious is the rift that has opened up between Israel and the United States that, in an unprecedented move, Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke out right away against the deal and its principal backer, the United States.

US President Barack Obama, the perpetual crisis manager, quickly phoned Netanyahu in an attempt to tamp down growing unease over the emerging Iran deal among the United States' Middle East allies.

The bitter lesson that devout proponents of diplomatic engagement with Tehran are beginning to realize is that one sovereign nation can not realistically outsource its security to allies or supranational organizations.

Simply put, Israel's zero hour with regards to Iran has never been nor will it ever be synchronized with that of the United States.

As such, Israel must now decide between launching a preemptive attack to eliminate the nuclear threat posed by Iran or live under the constant threat of nuclear blackmail.

Until recently, opponents of such an attack relied heavily on an array of doomsday prophesies: the reaction of Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas; international anger directed at Israel over higher oil prices; an escalation of hostilities across the Persian Gulf.

As dire as these worse case scenarios sound, they are non-lethal and short-term.

In contrast, the cost of continued restraint could be far greater than that of a preemptive strike: a nuclearized Iran would enslave Israel both politically and militarily.

Left unimpaired, Iranian nuclear assets and materials could be shared with certain Iranian surrogate or otherwise aligned groups, including Hezbollah, or assorted Jihadi organizations.

Regarding the legality of such an attack, if there is an imminent threat against another state, then a preemptive strike is technically lawful under the UN Charter .

Israel, like any other nation, is under no legal obligation to sit back passively and quietly await annihilation from a country that remains determined to destroy it.

Should Israel strike at Iran, the world will undoubtedly howl. Let it: this too shall pass. Guided by the rightness of its cause, Israel will be acting for the advancement of shared regional and global interests, which happen to dovetail with its own.

4 comments:

Vladimir Putin said...

Then do it already. Walk the walk for once, instead of talking at UN Podiums.

Throw the dice, let the chips fall where they may. Because that's all it is, a gamble. You could win everything, or lose everything.

Do the benefits outweigh the costs? Israel is not the only one with friends. Iran has friends and allies too. The only difference is, Iran's allies aren't dithering.

Go ahead. Go at it alone. It's going to be a very entertaining watch on Cable News.

The Duhnmharu said...

Israel knows its enemy and it knows its enemies friends. Saudi, Egypt, and others all fear a nuclear Iran... why is that? I would expect ISrael to go it alone. Obama has lied too much and too long on this and has thrown ISrael under teh buss too many times for ISrael to trust anything teh current admin says. ISrael has struck other nuclear facilities and if terror attacks are teh result of action, ISrael has dealt with terror attacks before and will again and again until terror is wiped out or Iran stops playing the games. I for one would applaud ISrael for pre empting Iran . The time is now, she has the capability and now teh motivation to go foeard as Obama is such a lying sack of shit. Kerry and Clinto by teh way are no better. They allow Iran to run teh clock .

Vladimir Putin said...

I don't think that's such a good idea Dhunmharu. Iran is not Iraq 1981 or Syria 2007. Their response might not be what Israel expects, wants or can handle.

Best stay out of it. Pre-empting will only isolate Israel further.

Yes they fear a nuclear Iran, but not a nuclear Pakistan. That's rich. The epicenter of international terrorism armed with over a hundred nuclear warheads. But Iran is the threat. Russia's main ally in the Middle East. What a coincidence.

Israel is too drunk with its victories against arguably technologically inferior opponents in the last 25 years. Iran will be a whole new ball game. You ready for that? This isn't Gaddafi's air defenses we're talking about. This is S-400's. Are you prepared for downed pilots? Video footage of wrecked Israeli jets?

Haven't thought it through thoroughly have you? Go back to the drawing board. Think, put that word into your vocabulary.

Vladimir Putin said...

I know liberals are intellectually dishonest. Just look at the liberal opposition in my country. Their main concern is pride parades. Not the economy or how Russia will move forward in the coming years and decades, no no, its Pride Parades that are of pressing importance.

Well if American Jews are that easily manipulated.....who's fault is that.

Ah but in who's mind is right and wrong? The mistake Israel and the West in general is that the whole world has a universal perception of right and wrong that overwhelmingly slants towards a western neo-liberal stance. You couldn't be more wrong.

Right and wrong and morality are relative. What's normal for the spider, is chaos for the fly. Generally I don't subscribe to the theory of moral relativism, primarily because it leaves itself open to a host of intellectual abuse, but....Where Israel sees it as its moral duty to thwart Iran from acquiring nuclear capabilities, Iran on the other hand sees it as its own moral duty to do quite the opposite, acquire nuclear capabilities.

And you're very wrong, politics are a huge part of right vs wrong reality. The problem for you is that you don't approach the situation at hand with the cold cynical political way(as reality dictates), but instead you trap yourselves within the bubble of "exceptionalism"(a bubble our president so masterfully burst in the Times OpEd) and get outmaneuvered politically.

It's not a question of if, rather than when Iran acquires nuclear weapons. Even if Israel decides on the unilateral preemptive path, Iran will only be more motivated to accomplish the task. And instead of dividing the populace, you will unite them into a fierce patriotic union with a not so popular regime. And the latter will enjoy unprecedented support. Israel will come out on the losing end of such a unilateral preemptiveness.

I hope for the sake of tens of millions of people in the region the war hawks have thought this through well.