Editor's Letter
take
your
eyewear
to
new
heights
Hamas, Iran And Israel
p
resident Obama's intent to engage the Israelis and
Palestinians in concrete peace talks rings hollow. The
Palestinians, who are literally Arabs, lack a common
government or authority.
When Obama tells reporters, "As hard as it is, as difficult as
it may be, the prospect of peace still exists:' he's technically
correct. But neither the Palestinian Authority, which governs
the West Bank, nor Hamas, which rules
the Gaza Strip, will recognize Israel
as the Jewish state. Hamas further is
sworn to Israel's destruction.
,
At an April 21 press conference in
Washington,
Obama said he hoped to
I
see "gestures of good faith" on all sides.
"The parties in the region probably
have a pretty good recognition of what
intermediate steps can be taken to
encourage confidence-building mea-
sures:' he said.
That's a pipedream.
Hamas brands Jews as inherently evil and Israel a spreading
cancer. Religious leader Ziad Abu Alhaj reinforced llamas' rac-
ist ideology in an April 3 sermon on Hamas TV. According to
Palestinian Media Watch, a respected Israeli watchdog orga-
nization, Alhaj declared, "Who is it that is leading the world
today in the vicious, all-encompassing war against Islam and
Muslims? The answer is clear: It is the Jewish nation."
He said hatred for Muhammad and Islam — and thus
Muslims — is burrowed within Jews.
Ironically, the cleric once took part in a global forum of
"imams and rabbis for peace" whose delegates vowed to
condemn any negative representation of each other's faiths,
including incitement.
Hamas' interpretation of Islam pins Jews as a global threat.
Allah's will desires all Jewish children to be exterminated, the
cleric preached. "No Jew or Zionist will be left on the face of
this Earth," he vowed.
Such vile inflames at a time when the Middle East is a pow-
der keg.
On Monday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas not only affirmed his rejection of the Jewish state, but
also urged Israel to commit to a Palestinian state.
Amid this tenuous setting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
"Bibi" Netanyahu announced last week he won't demand that
the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state in order to
renew peace talks. I understand his logic. Such recognition
isn't crucial to rekindling a dialogue with the Palestinians
though it is essential, like Bibi says, to advancing diplomacy
and reaching accord.
Bibi wisely puts the onus on the Palestinians. Despite
Abbas' bluster, the P.A. might wave a small olive branch.
Hamas might, too, if you believe rumblings about it secretly
considering discussion with Israel.
Disconcerting Ech
The cry for Israel's annihilation because of its "racist soul"
is a popular refrain. Alhaj and Obama weighed in on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict within days of Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's April 20 diatribe scolding Israel for
being "racist" and, consequently, "appalling" and "harmful."
The backdrop — the United Nations' World Conference
Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and
Related Intolerance — enabled Ahmadinejad to bring world
attention to his rant. He strives to hide his hatred of Jews by
deriding Zionism.
Ahmadinejad is dangerous not because of his presidential
title, but because of who gives him his anti-Zionist, anti-West
pedestal: Iran's ruling clerics.
Believe it: Iran has the potential to produce a nuclear bomb,
although precisely when is subject to debate. In direct viola-
tion of several U.N. resolutions, the Persian nation continues
to chalk up nuclear enrichment and technological warfare
advances, both vital to atomic arms.
Jews the world over must stay vigilant because of who will
control the Iranian levers of atomic energy: the Revolutionary
Guard. The Guard works with Iranian mullahs led by Supreme
Leader Ayatollah All Khamenei to secure the revolution
through enforcement of Islamic codes and morals.
Iran's power derives from the growth of Islamic fundamen-
talism, which also has well-nourished roots in Lebanon, Gaza,
Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Afghanistan. Behind this surge
are the region's corrupt, repressive regimes that cannot pro-
vide jobs — and thus no hope for the masses of poor people.
A Real Threat
On an American Israel Public Affairs Committee visit to
Metro Detroit last year, Professor Jonathan Adelman of the
University of Denver's Graduate School of International
Studies mused: "Were it a matter of one more nation acquir-
ing nuclear weaponry, like India and Pakistan did in 1998,
Israel's military superiority would be a sufficient deterrent.
But in the case of Iran, the mullahs would gladly sacrifice lives
from a Zionist counter assault if their bomb attack ultimately
could destroy Israel."
The point: We're dealing with a creed that believes Jews and
Zionism have no right to exist in the Middle East.
Israel is just 8,000 square miles and 7.4 million people.
Seventy percent of its 5.5 million Jews live in four cities:
Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv and Beer Sheva. One atomic bomb
hitting Tel Aviv could take out 300,000 to 500,000 people.
America and other major powers — like the European
Union, Russia and China especially — hold the key to tougher
economic sanctions on businesses that essentially underwrite
Iran's energy and military sectors. The civilized world can
start by not buying Iranian oil, a tactic that would resound
through the Central Bank of Iran. Stricter travel and trade
sanctions also must come into play.
President Obama maintains his outreach to Tehran, but
harbors no illusions. "Iran is a very complicated country with
a lot of different power centers," he told reporters on April 21.
To intensify real pressure on Iran, the American people
must convince Congress and Obama to push the Islamic
Republic up on our nation's international agenda. Remember:
llamas, Israel's archenemy, draws some marching orders
— and funding — from behind the black robes of Tehran.
Meanwhile, American, Israeli and allied interests remain on
high alert.
ROBERT MARC*
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Does America take Iran too lightly?
Would Iran actually bomb Israel?
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April 30 2009
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