One country after another has recently pressed Israel not to attack the Iranian nuclear facilities. Russia is the latest:
“Of course any possible military scenario against Iran will be catastrophic for the region and for the whole system of international relations,” Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said at a news conference.
“Therefore I hope Israel understands all these consequences … and they should also consider the consequences of such action for themselves,” Gatilov said.
There must be something in the Russian character that requires statements like this to be delivered in a bullying tone.
Everyone knows that the Iranian threat to Israel is existential. Everyone also knows that Israel’s leaders can predict Iran’s reaction to an Israeli attack, and would not bring this down on their country unless they were convinced that there was no other way to neutralize the more serious nuclear threat.
These warnings, therefore, are remarkably hypocritical and insulting, especially from countries whose immediate danger from Iranian bombs is far less than that of Israel. Telling Israel that it should not defend itself is like saying “just die, but don’t make a mess.”
It’s become a cliché, but I’ll say it anyway: when have Jews heard this before? The difference is that then they had no choice because they had no power to defend themselves. Today there is a Jewish state, which should not be expected to act as though it is as powerless as the European Jews of WWII.
All this is part of the “Israel is expected to…” syndrome.
Israel’s small size means that it cannot absorb too much disruption: a couple of atomic bombs, a few million Arab ‘refugees’, another expulsion of Jews from their homes, even a million economic refugees from Africa might be too much. Poof, there would be no Jewish state.
But Israel is expected to be ‘responsible’ and not strike Iran. Israel is expected to use restraint toward the vicious Hamas and Hizballah terrorists who are trying to murder its citizens day in and day out. Israel is expected to expel its own people and cede territory to its enemies, who have shown by their actions and declared in their words that they want to destroy her.
Israel is expected to be more democratic than any other nation, although it is already too democratic — does the US, for example, have members of Congress who openly support her enemies and call for overthrowing the Constitution? The Israeli Knesset has Haneen Zouabi and others who want to end the Jewish state.
Israel is expected to turn the other cheek in Christian fashion, although few Christian nations would do so in similar circumstances.
Technorati Tags: Israel, Iranian nuclear program
The audacity of Russia dictating to Israel its own demise is only outdone by the outrage of Haneen Zouabi.
The ingratitude and treason of Zouabi defies words. In the islamic culture, before the restoration of Israel, women like her would never have dared to question her patriarchal authorities, much like women in other Arab Islamic lands even now. I know from personal experience for I was born as a Christian in Bethlehem and even Christian Palestinian women were no better than baby factories and servants to their male family members and in-laws. It was worse among Islamists.
It’s astonishing that Russia presumes to admonish Israel considering its role as the progenitor of the pogroms and the May Laws that provided the mindset and paved the way for the Holocaust. I do not understand the blindness of world powers who do not rebuke Russia.
But even more bewildering is why someone like Zouabi is not stripped of Israeli citizenship and shipped off to Hamas where she may be treated in a manner more befitting her vitriolic nature.
Israel must stop waiting for permission from anti-Semites to defend itself against anti-Semites.
The ‘expectations’ are ordinarily expressions of what the expecting party sees in their own interests.
When the ‘expecting’ one is an ally of enemies one does not have to take the expectations into account. One might however have to take into account the question of whether there would be a reaction on thwarting the wishes of a country like Russia.
On the other hand the expectations of allies, and especially one major ally, if that is what one has, deserve serious consideration. It does not mean they must be followed. But they have to be considered seriously.
70 years ago today, a Soviet sub sank a ship in the Straits Of Bosporus called The Struma which was filled with 500 Jewish refugees. Not a single country lifted a finger to give them refuge. There was only one survivor. Then as now the world was not interested in helping the Jewish people to survive.
Israel should brush aside all the hypocritical calls directed at it to show restraint. At the end of the day, the only decision that must be taken is will this help Israel to survive? Whether it raises the price of oil for other countries, hurts Obama’s re-election bid or whether it results in Iranian retaliation is irrelevant. Israel must show no consideration for the very countries that did not lift a finger to save the Jews during World War II and who are certainly not doing much of anything to stop Iran today.
Israel’s sole concern should be doing whatever is necessary to survive no matter what others think. At the end of the day the Jewish people will have to go it alone but today they are no longer helpless. Unlike with the doomed Jews on The Struma Israel has the sovereign power to defend itself and the Jewish people. When there is no other choice, the State Of Israel will act to stop Iran.