Iran’s nuclear program presents a clear and present danger to the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews and to the existence of the Jewish state.
The evidence accumulated by Israeli and other western intelligence agencies has confirmed Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons and not just nuclear energy, as it claims.
For more than 20 years, Israel’s leaders – from Yitzhak Rabin to Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert – have continually sounded the alarm against the menace rising to the east and appealed to the international community to step in.
Benjamin Netanyahu himself has warned – repeatedly and with increasing intensity – that Iran is set on going nuclear and that, once obtained, its atomic warheads will be aimed first at the State of Israel, but not only at this state.
The accumulated effort of these successive Israeli prime ministers spurred an often reluctant and vacillating world – with the prodding of one or two leading nations – slowly ratcheted up sanctions, bringing Iran almost to its knees.
But now US President Barack Obama – after acting to prevent an Israeli military strike on Iran’s program in the past year – has opted for what he calls “responsible diplomacy” in an effort to circumvent military action.
The route taken by the administration has already eroded the effect of the sanctions; Washington has given Iran reason to believe that it can get billions of dollars pumped into its economy without ending or even partially reversing its nuclear drive.
Alarmed by the developments, Netanyahu continues to loudly castigate the dangerous potential of the Obama-led road.
On November 13 he cautioned that the tabled plan was a “very bad deal” that could lead directly to war.
Even before the talks with Iran in Geneva, Netanyahu put the international community on notice that Israel will not let its fate be decided by third parties the way Czechoslovakia had its future determined by the world powers of its day.
Since September, the prime minister has spoken on the carpeted floor of the White House, in the United Nations General Assembly, at the University of Bar Illan and on widely watched media like the Charlie Rose Show, NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ and CBS’ ‘Face the Nation.’
On October 1 he spelled it out to the UN: “I want there to be no confusion on this point: Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”
The world – it appears – either dismissed that warning, or was galvanized by it into appeasing Iran.
Nonetheless, in a sharply worded message to US Secretary of State John Kerry on November 8, Netanyahu let it be known that his country would not be obliged by any deal worked out between the world powers and the Iranians – that it was resolved if it had to, to go it alone.
“Israel will do everything it needs to do to defend itself; to defend the security of its people,” were his words.
The world has been clearly warned: Israel is poised to act, with or without the world’s permission. She has put the international community on notice that she will act alone if forced to.