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Surviving In A Mad, MAD World

I

technician there,
f you want to sqtylv e in a tough
Mordechai Vanunu, told a
neighborhood, *here IL the
London newspaper all
gangs have legolAndw
about them 18 years ago.
not welcome, you
better
btpre-
- -. -
;
The
Arab states, of course,
pared to fight and to win It's.ticSt if
knew
about them and used
those gangs know that you caiili.ut a
the fact as a pretext for
lot — a lot — . more
hurt
on
died.
..
.,
_starting their own nuclear
than they can on,You,
Weapons programs — a
That, in a nutshell, is why Israel has
'step
they surely would have
at least 200 nuclear weapons antIllie- ..
done
regardless of what
planes, submarines and land-based mis-
Israel
did.
siles. Those are the forces they need to
With President George
convince the Arab world that a massive
W. Bush having again
attack on Tel Aviv would result in the
focused the spotlight on
incineration of Cairo, Baghdad,
nuclear proliferation fol-
Damascus, Ammn, Beirut, Tripoli,
lowing
the disclosure of
Teheran and Riyadh, with Mecca and
Pakistan's technology sales
Medina thrown in along the way.
to North Korea and Iran, it
It is the old doctrine of MAD —
seems inevitable that Israel's -
Mutual Assured Destruction — that
foes will seek to have him .
worked during the last half of the 20th
pressure
Israel on the issue..
century to keep the Soviet Union and
That
could
lead to a very -
the United States from ever having to
needed clarification by all
use their nukes.
the acknowledged nuclear
It is worth remembering this context
powers — the United
when the pressure mounts for
States, Britain, France,
American foreign policy to address the
Russia and China — about exactly
fact that Israel, alone among the
how far they would go to protect Israel
nations of the Mideast, has nuclear
if it did not
weapons of the type that Saddam
retain its nuclear
Hu.sStin was supposed to be developing
before bin- invasion of Iraq.
. deterrent.
Given the cur-
Actually, an open debate, on both
rent
state
of
suicidal
fanaticism,
Islamic
sides of the Atlantic, could be helpful.
terrorists might well calculate that it
The American policy, first put in
would be worth taking perhaps mil-
place in 1969 by President Richard
lions of casualties in exchange for wip-
Nixon, was simply to ignore the obvi-
ing out Tel Aviv — particularly if is
ous efforts by Israel to build and test ,
not absolutely clear that Israel's allies
nuclear weapons. The truth about what
would retaliate for a nuclear strike on
the Dimona facility in the Negev was
the Jewish state.
producing was apparent long before a

GREENBERG'S VIEW

Iseaeu OCCUPATION FORMS
ONCE MAN RAVI/OAW 4 DEANS
CONF2ONT4TION WITH PALESTINIAN
PR66170Af FrAirees, TURNING
NOTHER. YOUTH INTO A MAA1YR
HI5 QUEST FOR Z/86A4770N...

.....................

-

I

EDITORIAL

*PitilWerimag zootadt,4

Israel should also decide if it Wants
to acknowledge openly its .nuclear pro
grams, possibly by signing the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty. That would
mean it would have to open its sites tel
international inspection, a step it cer-
tainly fears could make it easier for ter-
rorists to target those facilities. But it
would also end the ability of the Arab
states to resist effective inspections on
the grounds that Israel does not permit
them.
The Jewish state may well decide
that that gain does not offset the new

eifteditensertberg-artGoni

perils In either case, it is a matter for a
more open debate than Israel has ever
conducted on the topic.
• Vanunu's prison term ends in the
middle of next month. He's had 18
years to think about whether he still
thinks he did the right thing in betray-
ing Israel's secrets. Perhaps he'll be sur-
prised by how much more dangerous
the neighborhood of the Mideast has
become and how much more reason
Israel has to be sure that it will always
be able to deter the would-be attackers
that surround it. O

•

Gay, Shmay, Just Don't Be Alone!

7

he above headline was my Jewish grand-.
mother's reply after learning I am gay.
Unfortunately, her accepting outlook isn't
shared by everyone.
President George W. Bush wants a constitu-
tional amendment to permit discrimination
against the legitimacy of my marriage to my part-
ner. We were wed by a rabbi under the laws of
Reform Judaism, which recognizes same-sex mar-
riages. While our union is not yet "legal," it is
most certainly religious, moral and ethical.
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick says his.
"faith" prevents him from supporting my mar-
riage. But my faith supports my marriage. Surely,
Mayor Kilpatrick recalls the days when people

.

Joe Kort, MSW is a psychotherapist in Royal Oak and

author of the new book "10 Smart Things Gay Men
Can Do To Improve Their Lives."

said their "faith" prevented them from
ment might hold water. Instead, it's an
giving him and other African Americans
unfair violation of freedom of religion.
civil rights.
Michigan State University recently
President Bush is quoted as "interested
mounted an exhibit titled "Nazi
in protecting the sanctity of marriage."
Persecution of Homosexuals, 1933-1945."
My dictionary defines sanctity as the
This quote, posted on the wall, recounted
quality of being holy. But some people
what led up to gay men being captured,
feel that our marriage is somehow not
tortured and killed:
"holy" enough and, therefore, we don't
JO E KORT
"The growing visibility and acceptance
deserve to be part of the group whom the
Co mmunity
of homosexuals in some circles challenged
phrase ."sanctity of marriage" is meant to
traditional social norms. As liberal and
Pe rspective
represent and protect.
left-wing activists campaigned to promote
Conservatives are using the word "tradi-
homosexual civil rights, conservative
tional" to refer to their specific religious views.
nationalists fought to preserve and even expand
By doing so, they are adding religion to the
restrictions against homosexuality."
debate and violating freedom of religion. How
Is history repeating itself here, right here in
can our religious wedding ceremony conducted
Detroit? In the United States of America! I hope
by a rabbi not be traditional and holy? Only if
not. 111
same-sex marriages were purely legal, this argu-

3/12

2004

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