There was a fascinating moment on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme this morning when Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, answered a question honestly because he thought he was off the air. That was enough to cause a craven BBC (dictionary definition of craven – “cowardly”) to apologize for the fact that one its presenters had caught him off-guard. So what did he say?
He had just completed his on-air (live) contribution to the programme’s two-minute Thought for Today slot. He spoke in support of the BBC’s annual Children In Need appeal which, as he said, is focused on “the right of every child to be safe and secure and reach their own potential.” Given that Israel’s leaders have no qualms about impoverishing and killing Palestinian children, I would have been impressed if he had said “every child includes Palestinian children.” But he didn’t make any reference to them.
When the daily speaker comes to the end of his or her two-minutes, that’s it. The presenter says “Thank you” and you hear no more from the speaker. But not this morning. Evan Davis, one of this morning’s two presenters said, “Jonathan, before you go, any thoughts on what’s going on in Israel and Gaza at the moment?”
After an audible sigh, the Chief Rabbi replied, “I think it has got to do with Iran, actually.”
Co-presenter Sarah Montague was clearly alarmed that he didn’t know his remarks were still being broadcast and she whispered, “We’re live.”
The Chief Rabbi then put himself back into broadcasting mode and said the crisis demanded “a continued prayer for peace, not only in Gaza but for the whole region.”
The question his off-guard comment triggered in my mind was this: In what way could Israel’s latest war (in all but name) on the Gaza Strip be “to do with Iran”, at least in part?
There are, it seems to me, three possible answers.
One can be deduced from an IDF statement yesterday that claimed Hamas had turned the Gaza Strip into a “front line base for Iran.” That could indicate an IDF perception that this base needed to be taken out. (The idea that Israel’s current offensive was spontaneous is ludicrous. It would have taken weeks for Israel’s intelligence gathering networks to assemble all the necessary target information to enable the air force to bomb with the precision now being demonstrated. The precision is essential to limit the number of Palestinian civilians killed. That’s not because Israel’s political and military leaders care about the number of injuries and deaths they cause. The point is that they know very large numbers of the peoples of the world, not their governments, do care).
Another possible answer is that Netanyahu authorized Israel’s air and naval bombardment to demonstrate that he is a man of action as well as words (verbal threats). The point here is that having talked up the need for an attack on Iran and then being seen to be backing off because many of his own military and intelligence chiefs (past and present) effectively joined with President Obama in saying “Don’t do it”, he needed to prove that he was prepared to continue the Zionist tradition of teaching the Arabs lessons by the application of brute force. “We Israelis are still the masters.”
A third possible answer is that it is still in his mind to attack Iran at some point but he knows that before doing so he must protect Israel’s rear by putting all who would strike at Israel from within the Gaza Strip out of action.
The bigger question waiting for an answer is whether or not Greater Israel will be more or less secure when the current war (in all but name) is over. If it ends up being less secure than it was before the assassination of Hamas’s military chief, there might be some reason to hope that enough Israelis will want to say goodbye to Netanyahu and deny him another term in office.
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I'm not interested in WHY Israel is once again crushing the already crushed. they like to do it before elections. they "get off" on it.
I'm saddened and angry that the (any) (Chief) Rabbi, a Lord yet, after speaking on behalf of children, and being asked about Gaza, could only "sigh", say nothing about the children, and mumble on about politics.
Chief Rabbi is not the only one who knows the truth.
“Israel cannot do to Iran what Bibi wants done to Iran. Only Obama can. If there is no US attack on Iran by November, and Obama wins, there may never be a US attack on Iran. No wonder Bibi is frustrated,” Patrick J. Buchanan, Anti-War, April 17, 2012.
“Israel does not want to do it. For as long as I can remember, the Israelis have been trying to get US to do it, because they have long believed that Iran was so big that only a big country could successfully take on the mullahs in a direct confrontation. So Israel’s Iran policy has been to convince us to do whatever the Israelis think is best. And while they’re willing to do their part, they are very reluctant to take on the entire burden," Michael Leeden, Zionist historian and co-founder of JINSA.
http://rehmat1.com/2012/09/13/why-netanyahu-is-affraid-to-attack-iran-alone/
"Cast Lead" did not stop the rockets. Why would Israelis believe that the current onslaught could do it. It can't be that this is to quiet the rear for an attack on Iran. Israel cannot take on Iran. Israel cannot risk any retaliation at all and that's why they pick on Hamas and other relatively defenseless groups. It doesn't matter how big and powerful the IDF is if they cannot and will not risk wholesale losses and this they will not risk. The political blowback would be horrendous whether they win or lose. So, I agree it is not about Iran at al and the Rabbi is not in the inner circle. Like everybody else, he is told lies. The truth is probably just Bibi looking to enhance his re-election. It doesn't matter to him how many Palestinian children will never grow up thanks to Israel's asymmetric and cowardly assault.
It's likely more the third reason, but they're not all mutually exclusive.
As for the third reason, this has more to do with Syria and Hizballah in Lebanon, who have far more and more powerful missiles that could cause the Israeli population to have to stay in bomb shelters for most of every day which would damage the economy and tick them off so they might vote out the politicians in the next election.
This is why Israel and the US and NATO are so determined to degrade Syria's military so that it will be an ineffective actor in an Iran war. During that process - which WILL entail foreign airstrikes at some point - Israel will attack Hizballah in Lebanon to try to force them further north so most of their missiles can not hit southern Israel and also to try to capture as much of the missile arsenal as possible.
Gaza can be hit as well, but it really won't make as much of a difference as Syria and Lebanon.
And where is the outrage when israel attacked Sudan??? All those looking the other way and remaining silent are JUST AS GUILTY!
Sadly it seems that he is a zionist first and a rabbi second,but then again according to the zionists thats just what all "good" jews should be,frankly I`m surprised he didn`t mumble your traditional western platitudes about israels "right" to defend itself or similar garbage
I find it difficult to accept the perspective that Gaza holds anything for Israel to fear militarily.
Sadly, these are Lord Sacks' views on the current situation in Gaza
Same old drumbeat that Israel has to defend itself....
" CHIEF RABBI’S STATEMENT ON THE SITUATION IN ISRAEL
In response to the development in the past few days in Israel, the Chief Rabbi issued the following statement: “In the past week alone over 275 rockets have been fired into southern Israel from Gaza. No nation on earth can be expected to live under this constant threat to innocent life. The people of Israel are entitled, as is any other nation, to live in peace and safety. We mourn with all the bereaved families, and pray for an end to the hostilities from which both sides suffer.”
[...] Last year, Lord Sacks admitted on BBC that Israel’s 8-day attack over Gaza was meant for Iran. [...]