Sounding the Alarm for Eminent Guests

Israel presents itself as a nation at war for leaders of U.S. Jewish organizations.

Israel has again threatened to take military action against Iran. The cause of the threat this time was an act that no one knows for certain is imminent, but one that in any case is 100 percent legal and normal: the passage of two Iranian warships through the Suez Canal. Egypt is bound by international law to permit warships of all nations to pass through the canal as long as it is not in a state of war with the nation in question. Israeli warships have used the waterway, the shortest route between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, numerous times.

Extreme right-wing Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced on Wednesday that two Iranian warships – a frigate and a supply vessel – wanted to pass through the canal early Thursday morning en route to Syria. The audience Lieberman chose for this revelation was a high-ranking delegation of leaders representing 52 of the most important Jewish organizations in the United States who were all in Israel for several days. Journalists were not permitted entry to the conference they were attending. The Israeli Foreign Ministry eventually released a communiqué in which Lieberman said the act was a “provocation” that illustrated Iran’s increasing self-confidence and “chutzpa.” He went on to say that the international community was unfortunately not prepared to deal with the increasing Iranian provocations, adding, “the international community needs to understand that Israel will not be able to ignore these provocations forever.”

Other governmental officials, principally those who serve as sounding boards for Israeli propaganda in the United States, were on hand to ensure the seriousness of the situation was fully understood by their American guests. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told them that since the democratic takeover in Egypt, Israel had to “prepare for the worst.” Democratic elections could be a dangerous thing since, as the L.A. Times put it, “elections in Lebanon and the West Bank and Gaza Strip served to bring to power two of its archenemies, Hezbollah and Hamas.” Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced that Israeli troops might be “called to enter [Lebanon] again.”

Wednesday evening, Ahmed Al-Manakhly, the Egyptian director responsible for the canal’s administration said that foreign warships planning to go through the canal had to report their intentions 48 hours in advance, but he was not in possession of any such request from Iran. Then, suddenly on Thursday morning, the Iranians announced they had abandoned their plan to use the Suez Canal. Other sources, however, reported that the Egyptian government had turned down the Iranian request.

The only thing all these reports have in common is the fact that by Thursday afternoon none of them had been confirmed. All were based on rumors from frequently unreliable sources such as Al-Arabiya and purported statements by anonymous Egyptian officials. No official Iranian response was available at press time.