Iran is the Real Issue for Israel and America in Middle East
Iran is at the core of a struggle between Islamists and moderate national entities
What is to be done? There are several parties that need to understand what is going on. First, the United States must actively support a broad international coalition to back up Egyptian-Israeli countersmuggling efforts to prevent the rearming of Hamas and the renewal of the Iran-Somalia-Sinai arms trade.
Second, the United States should continue to train and equip Palestinian security forces, under the leadership of Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton. With administrative reforms to snuff out corruption, gangsterism, and terrorism within it, the PA might achieve the ability, and the will, to prevent and refrain from terrorism and thus become a suitable partner for a two-state solution.
For its part, Israel must continue to make it clear that opposition to an Israeli state is a road to nowhere. It was that determination that broke radical Arab nationalism in the 1960s and led to the Egyptian-Israeli peace.
Force can be effective. Operational capabilities can reduce terrorism, just as they can reduce crime. The destabilization of Iran's protégé in the Middle East, Hamas, is a major achievement. During the war in Gaza, most of the Arab world stood by Egypt and saw a common interest with Israel against Iran, for most Arab governments know that the prospect of Iran fomenting revolution, wars, and insurrection throughout the region under the cover of a nuclear umbrella is infinitely more terrifying than a Jewish state in the Arab heartland.
And then there's the important role of the media, which keep failing to understand the radical nature of Hamas and Iran and their enmity to the West. On Wall Street, Lionel Tiger points out, they say, "You can't fight the tape." In the Middle East, Israel, as a Western outpost, will have difficulty fighting the videotape—that is, TV pictures that may reflect a moment of reality but do not capture the full truth of the nature of Israel's radical enemies, thereby undermining the Western support neces-sary for a long-term struggle with the radicals.
The essence is that today Hamas and Iran know that Israel will not accept an Iranian terrorist base next to its major cities, any more than the United States could accept an al Qaeda base next to Washington. And that is what the United States and the Western world must understand and support. It is in our interest to contain the radicalism emanating from an ideologically expansive Iran on the verge of crossing the nuclear threshold.
There is an Arab proverb that applies: Do not stand in a place of danger trusting in miracles.
Reader Comments
union
Isreal and palastine can work together .
This can be achieved through joint education exchanges, relife work
group harvesting as well as both countries fighting the terrots like hamus.
Petrol Still A Curse Iran Cannot Avoid Predators
It is doubtful if any country would embark upon creating a nuclear weapons retalisatory capability unless they believe it was necessary to protect them from any nation(s) having such an arsenal. I cannot imagine how it must feel for the average Iranian to keep hearing threats that they will be nuked if they do not comply with the orders of the new master of Planet Earth- the U.S. How many Americans are aware of the successful attempt by Iran to create the first democratic nation in the Islamic world which was terminated by the CIA at the behest of Whitehall in London and British Petroleum in 1953. At the time the Iranians had the temerity to nationalize THEIR petrol industry thus depriving BP of the many decades of their monopoly on that resource. Of course, this CIA came at a cost as BP was forced to give the American oil companies 50% of this lucrative "pie." All the CIA leaders were rewarded with lucrative no-show jobs for their successful efforts in this that organizations first such success. In time, the ascension of the Ayatollah's coup (which forced London and Washington's stooge, The Shah, to flee) and there has been no hope that peace between Iran and us, and those allied with us, can be possible any time soon. Steve, World War 2
Iran is the real issue for Israel....
While I have no Iranian background, I have had personal contact with four Iranians who have been unjustly jailed by the various murky authorities there. I have no brief for the Islamic regime there.
But I also do not think that Iran (at the level of Supreme Leader Khamani) is looking seriously at major unilateral attacks, nuclear or otherwise, at anyone, be they Israel or the other Sunni states. They might have thought of attacks on Sunni states in the early years of the Revolution, but not now, after the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980's.
It is not a suicidal regime bent on slaughter of millions. They would have killed their own citizens in that quantity if they were. A carrot, along with a very strong stick, along with lower oil prices, will advance relations with the Persians.
Now if something can be done about the West Bank settlers to miinimize that particular issue....
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