What Israel’s supporters should ask Netanyahu before any attack on Iran

As the drums of war against Iran get ominously louder, what have the friends of Israel — the true friends of Israel — been privately telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visits to Ottawa and Washington?

Are they bellicose and uncritical, urging Netanyahu to indulge his base instincts and challenge President Barack Obama before confronting the Iranians? Or are they restrained and reproachful, reminding him the stakes are enormous — for Israel, Iran and for the rest of the world — if he blows it?

If they are the latter, here are five hard questions they should ask Netanyahu to answer before Israel even contemplates an attack on Iran:


1. “Why now? The growing pressure on Iran is having a damaging impact. What is the urgency for war?”
The Iranian economy is suffering mightily from sanctions imposed by the U.S. and Europe. In a cover story this week headlined “Why an attack on Iran will not eradicate the nuclear threat,” The Economist put it starkly: “Iran’s economy is now at risk of great damage. The regime in Tehran is divided and has lost the faith of its people.”

2. “How can you justify an attack when your case is not proven and an attack could only have limited success?”
There is no hard evidence to refute Iran’s claim that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has described nuclear weapons as “forbidden” under Islamic law. Former CIA chief Michael Hayden says the U.S. “doesn’t know whether Iran has decided to build a bomb.” The chief of Israel’s Mossad Tamir Pardo describes Iran “as a threat, but not an existential one.” And the director of U.S. National Intelligence, James Clapper, warns an Israeli attack on Iran would only set back its nuclear program “by one to two years.”


3. “How can you risk an attack when the consequences for Israel and the rest of the world are incalculable?”
Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak believes there would only be limited retaliation after an attack on Iran: “There won’t be a 100,000 dead, not 10,000 dead, nor 1,000.” But no one really knows. Among its options, Iran could launch conventional strikes against Israeli cities or encourage its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon to shower Israel with rocket attacks. Former Israeli Mossad chief Meior Dagan warns that attacking Iran “would mean regional war.”


4. “How can you defend an attack when you don’t have the support of the Israeli people, or the United States?”
A poll released on Wednesday indicated only 19 per cent of Israelis support an attack on Iran without U.S. backing. More than half of Israelis believe such a war would last months (29 per cent) or even years (22 per cent). And in a poll last November, 90 per cent indicated an attack would only delay, not stop Iran from eventually acquiring nuclear weapons. American public opinion is also wary of military action: a Pew Research survey this week indicated that 51 per cent of Americans want the U.S. to remain neutral.

5. “Mr. Netanyahu, you have been prime minister since 2009. How did it all come to this?
The efforts by Iran in recent years to obfuscate and deceive are known, and they justify continuing international pressure. However, that is not the entire story. As in 2003, the world is stumbling into a conflict that has frightening risks. But the region is more volatile now than it was then — due to the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Blame can be attributed to a divided Palestinian leadership and previous Israeli governments, but the current Prime Minister, in particular, seems to have worked tirelessly to prevent the creation of a viable Palestinian state.

In a new book, The Crisis of Zionism, American journalist Peter Beinart cites the plight of Palestinians who suffer the humiliations of an occupied people, and argues that the real challenge for Jews today is not the challenge of weakness but the demands of power: “We are being asked to perpetuate a narrative of victimhood that evades the central Jewish question of our age: the question of how to ethically wield Jewish power.” Beinart believes Israel is not nearly as vulnerable as it often feels. He is particularly critical of major American Jewish organizations which are uncritical in their defence of Israel, quoting one prominent leader as saying: “Israeli democracy should decide; American Jews should support.”

As Benjamin Netanyahu seeks support in the capitals of Ottawa and Washington during these anxious days, let us hope that the true friends of Israel speak to him bluntly.

Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Tony Burman