Yitzhak Shomron
צילום: פוטו דניה
To be or not to be
Defending against Iranian threat is State of Israel's duty
At this time, our collective memory should give rise to the voice of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who traveled among Jewish communities and warned his listeners: "If you don't eliminate the Diaspora, it will eliminate you."
Many years later, in an interview to Yedioth Ahronoth, Benjamin Netanyahu said the Iranian threat should not be taken lightly, as this giant nation led to the death of roughly one million soldiers in its war with Iraq – a fact that did not bother the two countries. Later Netanyahu noted that Iran's nuclear program, if not taken care of, could lead to disaster.
Yes, at times there's room for collective panic. If there's one lesson we should be learning from North Korea's and Pakistan's nuclear tests, it is that we cannot count on European or American diplomacy, which is facing internal problems without a clear authoritative leadership.
Solve the problem
The State of Israel was established to solve the problem of Jewish existence in a hostile world and allow the possibility of using force in response to lurking dangers. Yet in Israel and among Jews abroad, there's a sense of recoil when it comes to the notion of using force.
We have a historical tradition of aspiring for dialogue, peaceful relations, and exaggerated faith in human nature. The problem is that we haven't yet got used to the idea that a state cannot escape the need and duty to use its power, even if this does not fully conform to noble human ideals.
It may be that at this time we have no other option but to revive our special identity. The Holocaust is a fact. If we're facing, God forbid, the danger of a second extermination, we must warn the world we will no longer be silent and will not allow international intrigues to develop into such possibility.
Urgent convention
One option open to Israel is to initiate an urgent convention of all representatives of international bodies, all Jewish leaders, and all thinkers, in search of an answer: What can we do in the face of an existential threat?
This collective body must act at all corners of the world, give expression to this existential threat, and demand genuine action by foreign countries, lest they become, God forbid, partners to an existential disaster of a people who for many generations was at the center of Jewish existence.
This cry, accompanied by the necessity to consider using the State of Israel's force, is essential not only in declarative terms, but also in operational terms.
Do you recall George Orwell's "1984"? In that book, the British author described a nuclear war that led to extermination in the wake of a war in the Middle East. The date has indeed passed by now, but the threat is real.
