To Bomb or Not to Bomb

Realistic Israelis may provide the only hope for avoiding war with Iran.

Protestors sign in Israel reads, reads, 'Bibi Don't Bomb Iran'

(MANAMA, Bahrain) - Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Barak have been working hard to find sympathy for their craving to bomb Iran.

So far they haven’t been able to convince eight hesitant senior ministers; and according to Haaretz, have attempted to convince the Israeli public of the imagined danger to their security.

Apparently the public can't decide whether a war against Iran or nuclear weapons in Iran's hands would be more dangerous. Commented Haaretz’ editor, "The goal might be democratic, but the method is demagogic."

Unfortunately, even Haaretz--often honest about Israeli politics and politicians--loses its integrity with some issues. One such issue is the goals ascribed to Iran.

Instead of honest reporting, Haaretz’ editor writes, "Iran is extremist and openly seeks Israel's destruction." To call Iran extremist, without a point of reference, is as demagogic as they attribute to Netanyahu.

Bibi Netanyahu

What's more worrying is the proven propaganda in the claim that Iran "openly seeks Israel's destruction." This fear-mongering has long been found false by honest interpretations of remarks by Ahmadinejad.

Dan Meridor, Israel’s Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy said in April, "Mr. Ahmadinejad and Iran’s ruling cleric, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had said repeatedly “that Israel is an unnatural creature, it will not survive. They didn’t say, ‘We’ll wipe it out.’"

In the same issue of Haaretz (August 12), Gideon Levy writes of the fallacious assumptions girding the warmongers.

A comment by Levy intended for the likes of Netanyahu and Barak leaves no doubt that Israel is rife with warmongers. Their approach is opportunistic:

"First they inflame the demonization and sow fear and paranoia, with the Holocaust and a second Holocaust always in the background. Then they launch a preaching campaign to convince people there's no choice, something-must-be-done. They beat the drums of war and urge its commencement."

Responding to the argument that Iran will spur other states in the region to develop nuclear bombs, Levy notes, "As though there wasn't another state in the area, not Iran, which began the nuclear race."

Levy never admits openly that only Israel has nuclear weapons in the Middle East, he merely alludes to that truth. He simply can't come clean with the whole truth.

Bibi and Barak

The most liberal Israeli could say, emphatically, Iran has ZERO nuclear weapons. Israel has 200-300 bombs ready to go!

In his article "Bomb Iran Fever" Pepe Escobar summarized this succinctly: "The IAEA, US National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs), and even Israeli intelligence know there is no Iran nuclear weapons program. Russia--which has thousands of technicians in Iran--also knows it."

Yoram Kaniuk, another Haaretz writer castigates Israelis for being loyal to the lunatic Bibi Netanyahu: "He is a Sicarii in a tie. When he talks about Iran he sounds the way false messiah Shabtai Zvi must have sounded.

In ancient Israel, the Sicarii were a suicide prone sect who didn't mind taking fellow Jews with them to death.

Mimics Kaniuk,"It makes no difference what happens, it makes no difference how many of us die, I, Bibi, am going for it."

Netanyahu “is suffering from megalomania. Iran for him is like a demon that has to be attacked so he can die and conquer the mountain (Masada, a mountaintop fortress where 900 Jewish zealots held out against 5000 Romans).”

It’s important to keep in mind that the labels ascribed to Netanyahu—lunatic, megalomaniac, zealot, false messiah—came from other Israelis.

In contrast, Netanyahu’s cheering squads in America provide standing ovations when he speaks and propaganda echo chambers for his words.

Realistic Israelis may provide the only hope for avoiding war with Iran.

Throughout his life as an educator, Dr. Paul J. Balles, a retired American university professor and freelance writer, has lived and worked in the Middle East for 40 years - first as an English professor (Universities of Kuwait and Bahrain), and for the past ten years as a writer, editor and editorial consultant.

He’s a weekly Op-Ed columnist for the GULF DAILY NEWS . Dr. Balles is also Editorial Consultant for Red House Marketing and a regular contributor to Bahrain This Month. He writes a weekly op-ed column for Akbar Al Khaleej (Arabic). He has also edited seven websites, including bahrainthismonth.com, womenthismonth.com

Paul has had more than 350 articles published, focusing on companies, personality profiles, entrpreneurs, women achievers, journalists and the media, the Middle East, American politics, the Internet and the Web, consumer reports, Arabs, diplomats, dining out and travel. Paul's articles on Salem-News.com are frank and enlightening. We are very appreciative of the incredible writings Dr. Balles has generated for our readers over the years, and we are very pleased to list him among our most valued contributors.

Indulging the hard subjects that keep the world divided is our specialty at Salem-News.com, and with writers like Dr. Paul Balles on our team, we amplify our ability to meet challenges and someday, will see the effects of this exist in context with a more peaceful and generally successful world.