Fuad aka Benjamin Ben Eliezer is an Israeli minister (born in Iraq), whose opinion I respect because he was right many times in the past. This morning he sounded very alarmed. Ahmedinijad is clinically crazy, he said, he denies not only the Holocaust but the Twin Towers terror attack, he should be in a madhouse, we should expect mad acts from him. Mad as a goat but he is gathering momentum and followers and he is eroding the existing power structure in the Middle East. Syria is allying itself to Iran, and the Hizballah is its instrument. But also the Hamas is trying to align itself with Iran, and the moderate Palestinians are losing faith in America and exploring the possibility of joining Iran's gang. Turkey, rejected by Europe, is distancing itself from the West and looking to Iran. On the other side of the ocean, Hugo Chavez leads another group of anti-American countries, closely allied with Ahmedinijad. The whole thing is acquiring traction and getting momentum. America could find itself facing a different structure than the existing one, a profoundly hostile group of unstable dictators with nuclear capabilities. Fuad said that this is an American problem motr than an Israeli one, insinuating that America will be forced to do something. I dont like that Galut thinking. History shows that Great Powers prefer to suffer losses if action means helping Jews. They will not do anything that may be construed as helping the Jews, to avoid the accusation of sacrificing their own people to Jewish interests. Fuad seemed genuinely alarmed.
He made me worry because we seem to be unable to defend ourselves and are expecting Big Power guarantees (and everybody knows what they are worth). VicePresident Biden is expected to arrive soon to Israel and to confirm that the US is committed to spreading its nuclear umbrella to cover Israel; in other words, if the US will threaten to strike back with nuclear weapons if Iran attacks or tries to attack Israel with unconventional arms. I hate the idea of Americans defending us.
11 comments:
#1 A is not really crazy - he says crazy things because he knows they will appeal to his core constituency and drive the West mad - double good! Even he doesn't really believe this crap - he has a smirk on his face when he says it.
#2 The ayatollahs don't trust A with the keys to the car. He's just their front man/ jester, not really in charge of anything. He's Goebbels, not Hitler.
"A profoundly hostile group with nuclear capabilities" - Been there, done that - see Cold War. The Cold War actually worked out rather well for the US, not so well for the other side, so anyone who wants to start another Cold War should remember that, not that the gang of idiots that Eliezer recites has any sense.
US has interests that largely coincide with Israel at this point, but nevertheless Israel should not depend on the US to save them. #1 lesson of the Holocaust is never to put the fate of the Jewish people in the hands of others. Never. In the end, every country and person acts in accordance with his interests, which may or may not be the same as yours. They may not actively wish for your demise but it just won't be their concern, or not a big enough concern to divert their resources to help you when perhaps they have their own distractions - maybe they'll send a sympathetic message instead of the real help that you need. "So sorry Jews, we feel awful about this. We renounce it in the strongest terms. Maybe you Jews should do some introspection and see if you provoked your enemies just a little bit, like our friend Goldberg says. Now where should we have lunch." So, never, ever, ever put yourself in a situation where your very existence depends on someone else volunteering to help you.
K
I agree with you so much. Yet people does not seek Big Power guarantees because wants to, but because has no choice.
Israel has always been, since ancient times, at best a small regional power whose fate rested in the hands of larger empires. We have seen in Europe that when the big elephants (US, Germany, Russia) stomp around, the small powers (some that were not so small by Israeli standards - Poland, Hungary, etc.) can get trampled underfoot. But this was all before the nuclear age.
In the US in the Wild West days, the Colt revolver was called the "Equalizer" because it made a small man holding one equal in power to a big strong one. For Israel, nuclear weapons were the "Equalizer". If other states (Iran) are allowed to get nuclear weapons, this will be gone. Israel must act boldly now to prevent this. No one else, not even the US, has a strong enough political will to help you. The European nations, even maybe the US, will publicly denounce you but they won't lift a finger to help Iran either. Behind the public denunciations, they might even be in favor and secretly help you, so ignore the Kabuki denunciations that will follow and do what is necessary for the preservation of the Jewish people. Good luck.
K
Re-reading your comments, first of all I'm not sure that Biden is really going to say this - it sounds like wishful thinking. Never since 1945 has the US responded to a conventional attack with nuclear weapons and I can't imagine this changing except as an absolute last resort against an immediate existential threat to the US (not Israel). And even if Biden did say these words, Obama has shown himself to be someone who is willing to prostrate himself with guilt before the feet of tyrants, so why should they listen when his proxy issues what will appear to them to be empty threats?
But, what concerns me more, is reading between the lines - why should Israel need the US's nuclear umbrella when it has plenty of its own nukes? Reading between the lines, there must be some question as to whether Israel has the delivery capability to project its nuclear power as far as Iran, especially given that the Russian keep selling more advanced anti-aircraft systems to Iran. Israel should upgrade its missile delivery systems ASAP so that it has its own "umbrella" and doesn't need anyone else's. I always come back in my head to those images of the American bombers flying right over Auschwitz, snapping photos of the Jews of Budapest lined up to be gassed, on their way to bomb some unimportant oil refinery - this is what happens when you put the fate of the Jews in someone else's hands. Never again, I say. Gevalt, Yidn, never again even if it takes all of your strength and treasure.
K
Salut, Sir K, what "jewish" people to preserv, You can always find(convert) to Judaism person from any ethnic group You need :)
I'm not quite sure what you are getting at, Anon.? I suspect there may be some language barrier. Jews have never been that good at evangelizing for converts. Perhaps the fact that male circumcision is required cuts down on recruitment - "you want me to cut off what?"
One of the great all time strokes of genius in recruiting was the Christian idea of the "New Covenant" - all you had to do was accept Jesus and all those difficult 613 Torah requirements about cutting off parts of the male anatomy and not eating your favorite bacon sandwich with a glass of milk, etc. were magically erased from the Bible. Christianity could never have caught on in such a big way if they hadn't come up with this.
K
Look, as I see it, Judaism is an ethnic movement more than a religion.
Ethnic groups cannot expand by seeking "converts".
That's why Judaism is not a religious threat to anyone. This has surely been one of the main factors why Jews were tolerated, at least initially, in the many jurisdictions where they traveled.
Anon.
If Jews are an ethnic group they are a funny one - Indian Jews look Indian, Chinese Jews look Chinese, etc. Whenever two population groups live among each other, there is always racial mixing - if there is one thing that humans do it is have sex with each other. Even in E. Europe where there were strong social barriers there was still mixing at the rate of maybe 1% per generation but after 100 generations in European exile this added up considerably - I think of my very Jewish uncle with very un-Semitic pale blue eyes and all the freckled Jewish redheads, etc. Judging on skin color alone, I don't think that there was one pureblooded Semitic Jew left among the Ashkenazim.
The answer to the multiple choice question are the Jews an ethnic group or a religion is "all of the above" - the two are not mutually exclusive.
K
Perhaps the fact that male circumcision is required cuts down on recruitment - "you want me to cut off what?"
K, probably 60% of American men are circumcised, yet AFAIK recruitment remains very low except in the case of intermarriage.
I was only joking - that still leaves giving up bacon, anyway (still joking). Jews in recent centuries have not recruited - was frowned upon by the dominant religions.
Apparently circumcision of non-Jews has become less popular again. I remember attending HS in the NE in the 70s (with boys born in the mid 1950s, almost all white Christian), maybe 99% were circumcised.
K
I think Jews realize that IQ is largely inherited, and that converts are more likely to dilute this 'main asset' than help in any way.
Anon.
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