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Farid Ghadry
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Bashar Assad - Why does Israel believe him?
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7 Questions for Israel

Syrian opposition leader Farid Ghadry has seven questions for Israeli government

In the Middle East, we are reminded every day of the danger lurking behind indecisiveness. And none is more important when it comes to Israeli action, or sometimes lack of it. I recall when your Israeli Air Force buzzed Assad's summer palace in June of 2006 after Hizbullah kidnapped Israeli soldiers and prior to the war of 2006. Some within the Bush administration were saying that your actions at that time against Assad lacked the determination necessary to persuade a typical violent dictator, something that I personally agree with.

 

The 7 questions I have for your government:

 

1. If Israel had taken a more decisive action in 2006 against the Assad regime rather than disturb his sweet dreams, would Assad be today heading to Moscow to acquire the kinds of arms that would, for certainty, remove the edge and the much touted deterrent Israel needs for its security?

 

2. If your government had not stood in the way of regime change in Syria, or not listened to its allies, would Assad today be enjoying the glory of his ties to Iran, Hizbullah, Hamas, and now Russia at the expense of the Israeli society?

 

3. If the Syrian regime was internationally forced to morph into a friendlier environment, shared by secularists and Islamists, would Israel be better or worse off today?

 

4. If the minority Syrian Islamists shared power in Syria, as they do in Jordan, would Israel be threatened more so than under an Assad regime whose violence is a certainty and whose character flaws outweigh his admirable minority status?

 

5. If the government of Israel knows that the Ba'ath Party was born in the belly of Nazism, why would they tolerate the Ba'athists in Damascus until they have grown powerful enough to finish what the Nazis have started?

 

6. If Israel is a country of skeptical people, why does your government believe Assad when he says that Islamists will rule Syria after him?

 

7. If all indications are that Assad is uncooperative and his relations with countries wishing harm for Israel keep getting stronger, why is Israel still against regime change for Syria?

 

What I am afraid of is that the government of Israel is not learning fast enough from the lessons of its past mistakes. Thanks to Israeli peaceniks, peace overtures and action to cease Assad's isolation have emboldened him to the point of allowing a Russian Armada with nuclear weapons at Israel's doorsteps.

 

In 2005, the world was capable of helping change Syria forever but in the Middle East indecisiveness is much more dangerous than erroneous decisions. Even today, it is still a possibility, with much less costs to both the Syrian and Israeli societies, if the Israeli government does not interfere in the Syrian opposition efforts to build a democratic, free, and a peaceful Syria.

 

Farid Ghadry , Reform Party of Syria (http://www.reformsyria.org )

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.21.08, 09:24
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