Gush Dan, the most heavily populated section of Israel encompassing Tel Aviv, Herzeliya, Givatayim, Ramat Gan, Rehovot, Bnei Brak, Kiryat Ono, Holon, and a litany of other municipalities sectioned at the whim of some cartographer with either a very shaky pen or very creative gerrymandering aspirations, stands at an estimated 3 million people. It may suddenly occur to you that this represents half of the Jewish State’s entire Jewish population.
The thought of a first strike by a nuclear Iran there…it’s best not to contemplate. And not contemplating it is how the country functions, because you can’t get up and go to work every day with the thought of a nuclear weapon whispering in the breeze. It’s just not that great for sales. But somebody’s got to deal with the problem. That kind of thing is left up to politicians, and some interesting stuff was reported today on that front.
Apparently, a deal is starting to be worked out between Israel and Western leaders concerning international support for a first strike on Iran. This, in return for certain concessions to the Arab world. At first, this sounds pretty good. Israel gets to ensure the existence of the 3 million sitting ducks from a possible nuclear attack on Gush Dan, and everyone promises not to yell at her.
Is it just me, or does something smell funny? The question is, what does international support mean? Will the Western leaders sit at their desks, pump their arms and go “Woot Woot!” as Israeli F16i’s cut through the skies and destroy the nuclear facility at Natanz, risking their lives in the process? I’d like to ask top military strategists about their assessments of the strategic value of “Woot Woot!”.
Let’s go back in time 28 years to 1981 for a second and think together here. Israel, completely on its own initiative and totally lacking the backing of the wooting West, decided that her life was more important than international support, and bombed Saddam Hussein’s Osirak nuclear reactor in Operation Opera. Not only was Western support lacking, but Osirak was actually sanctioned, designed, and built by Western powers in the first place, lock stock and barrel. Here’s a photo to remind us.
The young strapping lad in the mustache would be Saddam Hussein, and the guy in the glasses? Here’s a superimposed hint. It is of course the young, strapping Jacques Chirac, former president of France.
Now fast forward another 10 years to 1991 and the first Gulf War. Conveniently for the United States, Iraq was lacking nuclear weapons. If he had had them at the time, world history would have developed slightly differently. It turns out, then, that Israel wasn’t only saving itself 28 years ago. It was saving the Western powers, too.
Now back to the present. Essentially, Israel is being told that if she wants Gush Dan and its 3 million inhabitants, she’ll have to do what the West says. Now imagine if that happened in 1981 and Osirak was never destroyed. It could just be that, by making demands on Israel, Europe is endangering its own safety.
It’s hard to say what concessions to the Arab World Israel would have to make for some international cheering. But whatever they are, are they so important that Europe is willing to compromise its own security? Woot woot…
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