Will Israel Strike Iran?

The United States is out of luck - Israel’s new prime minister is Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel is also out of luck - America’s new president is Barack Hussein Obama. On Monday, these two very different individuals met at the White House for the first time. One of them supports the creation of two states in the Near East - Israel and Palestine. The other does not. One wants to strike Iran. The other does not. I do not think it is hard to figure out who is who, who is the hawk and who is the pragmatist.

Netanyahu is basically obsessed with the threat of Iran’s nuclear attack. For this, there are two personal reasons: his father’s philosophy and his brother’s martyrdom. The premier’s father, Benzion Netanyahu, who is now 99-years-old, is a famous historian and an expert on the history of Spanish Jews. His theory: the Spanish hated the Jews not only based on theological motifs, but their hate was racist. According to Netanyahu senior, anti-Semitism is hate. This hate is eternal and cannot be logically sorted out. The only rational answer to this hate is militaristic.

If Netanyahu senior shaped his son’s worldview, it was his brother Jonathan who gave this worldview a “practical embodiment.” He died in 1976 when Israel’s commandos, under his leadership, rescued hostages at the Entebbe Airport (in Uganda), which was hijacked by Arab and German terrorists. Jonathan became a national hero and the symbol of rejection from “Jewish passiveness.”

People close to Benjamin Netanyahu assert that he learned three lessons from his brother’s death. Lesson one: those who threaten Jews and have the means of realizing their threat are subject to “preventive neutralization.“ Lesson two: no one will protect the Jews except the Jews themselves. Lesson three: foresight has chosen the Netanyahu family to squash and destroy anti-Semitism before it turns into a Holocaust. This is Barack Obama’s counterpart today.

Netanyahu’s position consists of focusing the talks on Iran’s nuclear threat and not on the issue of creating a Palestinian state. And here develops Hamlet’s dilemma: if Iran develops a nuclear weapon, will Tel-Aviv strike Tehran without approval from Washington? The most likely answer is it will not dare. However, this is what Israel’s President, Shimon Perez, says on the subject: “The history of the Jewish people teaches before us will rise two erroneous choices: overreaction and underreaction, I will choose overreaction.” And this comes from Perez, the dove, not Netanyahu, the hawk!

The United States is also not thrilled about Iran’s transformation into a nuclear state. However, for them it is not a matter of life and death. Obama prefers the path of international sanctions and finding a way for a direct dialogue with Tehran. Does this approach satisfy Netanyahu? In words he supports both the sanctions and the dialogue. However, he makes it understood that if sanctions and dialogue are not effective by the end of the year, a preventative strike on Iran will be necessary.

In the beginning of June, Obama will address the Islamic world in Egypt. Obama’s sympathy for the suffering of the Palestinian people is sincere. It is clear from his books and from his speeches before and after the presidential election. However, sympathy, even if sincere, even if from the American president, is one thing, and completely different are the fundamental interests of Washington.