Zionism needs Israeli Jews to feel frightened
The short answer I give in my Dear America Introduction – the long answer is in the three volumes of my book – begins with the statement that the overwhelming majority of all Arabs and Muslims everywhere do NOT hate America or Americans. What almost all Arabs and Muslims everywhere DO hate is American foreign policy – its double standards in general and, in particular, its unconditional support for an Israel which ignores UN resolutions, demonstrates its contempt for international law and human rights conventions and resorts to state terrorism… A related truth is that for decades very many Arabs and other Muslims would, if they could, have migrated to America to enjoy a better life there. Today, however, the number of Arabs and other Muslims who would opt for American residence and citizenship if they could is greatly reduced because of the fact, sad but true, that the monster of Islamophobia is on the prowl across the Land of the Free and licking its lips.
Over the past five years and since the escalation of international controversy over Iran’s nuclear program, Israel has repeatedly threatened Iran with an imminent military strike and supported the imposition of financial sanctions against the country over its nuclear activities. Will Israel eventually attack Iran? What will be the consequences of such an attack for the Middle East?
I do not believe that Iran is developing nuclear weapons but, for the sake of argument, let’s assume that I am wrong and that in the not too distant future it does possess some. Does anybody seriously think it would launch a nuclear first strike on Israel? Of course it would not. If it did, the whole of Iran would be devastated by a retaliatory response. No Iranian leadership is ever going to invite such a catastrophe. Unless Zionism’s leaders are completely out of their minds, they know this. So why, really, are they playing up the alleged Iranian nuclear threat?
I think they are doing so for three reasons.
One is to deflect attention from their crimes, in part to reduce the prospect of real pressure on them to be serious about peace on terms virtually all Palestinians and most other Arabs and Muslims everywhere could just about accept.
Another is what might be called a strategic consideration. Israel’s leaders know that if Iran did posses nuclear weapons, their freedom to go on imposing their will on the region would be greatly restricted.
But most of all there is Zionism’s need for Israeli Jews to feel frightened.
A good explanation of why was provided by Ira Cherna in a Truthout post in November 2009. It was headlined Israel’s Pathology. Cherna asked – How can it be that pathological feelings of fear, weakness and victimization are “comforting” to very many Israelis? His answer was the following:
“For starters, they automatically put Jews on the side of innocence. Who can blame the weak victim for the violence? All the trouble, it seems, is started by the other side… And if all the trouble is started by the other side, then all the fault must lie with the other side. Weakness and victimization seem to prove that ‘We’re moral.’ Obviously, it’s our enemies who are immoral and thus to blame for all our problems. So Israelis have no reason even to consider changing any of their policies or behaviors.”
Will Israel eventually attack Iran?
Where Zionism is concerned nothing is impossible, but I prefer to think that even Israel’s leaders, despite their rhetoric, are not that mad. As I’m sure you know, there have been reports that Obama sent messengers to Israel to tell its leaders that attacking Iran was not an option. That suggests to me there won’t be an attack on Iran on his watch. But what if Obama doesn’t get a second term? If the Republican and Tea Party lunatics come to power in the 2012 American elections, I imagine that all bets will be off. In a worst case scenario there’s a Mossad nuclear false flag operation in America which is blamed on Iran. Within minutes if not seconds of it happening, the cry goes up, “Bomb the bastards!” The only thing then to be decided would be whether the U.S. should give Israel the greenlight or do the job itself.
What would be the consequences of an attack on Iran?
Short answer, catastrophe for the region – sustained conflict and instability; huge damage to American and other Western interests throughout the Arab and wider Muslim world; and quite possibly the collapse of what remains of the global economy, this because Iran has the ability to disrupt oil exports from the Gulf and provoke a worldwide oil crisis.
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