Iran’s Genocidal Objective
In 2014 Hossein Salami, now commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corpse warned, “We will chase you from house to house, avenging every single drop of our martyr’s blood in Palestine.” In 2001, Ayatollah Khamenei stated, “It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map of the region”. In 2012, the Iranian chief of staff announced, “The Iranian nation is committed to the full annihilation of Israel”. As recently as 2021, Iran’s Brigadier said, “We will not back off from the annihilation of Israel. We want to destroy Zionism in the world”. On 7 October 2023 Hamas carried out that threat and then warned that they would repeat their attack “again and again” threatening to expel the Jews “from the river to the sea”.
And that can accurately be described as the GENOCIDAL INTENT of Iran and its terrorist proxies. The fact that it has largely failed is due to the courage and skill of Israel and the support of America. With the bloodthirstiness unleashed on innocent citizens in Israel’s kibbutzim, Israel has again woken up to the reality of Iran’s genocidal objective.
The Jews faced the Third Reich, but times have changed and “never again” is not a mere slogan. Just as Germany’s invasion of Poland and Japan’s strike on Pearl Harbor changed Britain’s and America’s disposition, if the Iranians proceed with their plan to go nuclear, the Islamic Republic’s journey will end as Japan’s and Germany’s did – in unadulterated devastation. The continued pursuit of nuclear weapons could be a death sentence for the Iranian regime[i].
Israel’s Justification
The founding of the state of Israel in 1948 did not force a reckoning with Iran’s Jewish community and many were happy to remain. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (The Shah of Iran) viewed Israel as a potential ally but following the return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in February 1979 the regime succumbed to the Islamic Revolution. The Shah died in Egypt where he had been granted political asylum. In 2005, Mahmood Ahmadinejad was elected president breathing new life into the regime’s most extreme anti-Israel attitude and asserted that “Israel would be wiped from the pages of history”. The elimination of Israel become state ideology.
As Greg Sheridan writes[ii], “The stakes for Israel are colossal”. Under the Shah, Iran was a friend of Israel, but when the ayatollahs took control in 1979, they did so in the name of a blood -soaked Islamist ideology. Israel, with a population of less than 10 million is involved in an existential struggle for survival against Iran and others who seek its complete destruction and the death of the Jews.
Netanyahu has publicly rejected proposals for a ceasefire, both in Gaza and in Lebanon and has done what he believes to be in the best interests of his nation. He has stood head and shoulders above the hesitant drivel of Western leaders at the UN and has become the “Ironman” of Democratic leaders[iii].
Israel’s Defence and Support of the United States
Israel has crippled Hezbollah and assassinated its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Almost 40 of the leaders in Hezbollah’s military structure are gone. Israel aims to push Hezbollah back 30 km north beyond the Litani River and to destroy its rocket stockpile, kill its leaders and degrade its capabilities. In April 2024, Iran fired 300 weapons at Israel. Most were intercepted, but on 1 October Iran again targeted Israel with more than 180 ballistic missiles almost all of which were intercepted with the help of the US.
In response to the 1 October attack, Netanyahu said, “Iran made a big mistake, and it will pay for it. The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies. They will understand.” Israel’s Defence Minister has said its retaliation will be “lethal, precise and above all, surprising.”
Joe Biden has said, “Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel” and he reaffirmed his “ironclad commitment to Israel’s security”. Only days ago, as Israel considers retaliatory attacks on Iran the Pentagon announced that it would send to Israel, its Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system (THAAD) costing about US$1billion, plus the crew of 100.
Iran’s Nuclear Program
Israel did the world a favour when it knocked out Iraq’s nuclear program in 1981, and Syria’s in 2007. Should Israel now strike Iran’s nuclear program or should they and the US watch while the Iranians acquire nuclear weapons? According to US military estimates, Iran could cross the nuclear threshold and assemble warheads within 6 to 12 months. Antony Blinken has warned that the timeframe needed to produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon has dwindled to only one or two weeks.
Hamas has been largely dismantled and Hezbollah’s capacity to attack has been greatly diminished. Israel and the US may have an opening to destroy Iran’s nuclear program and to stop Iran from building the bomb[iv]. Kamala Harris has said, “What we need to do is to ensure that Iran never achieves the ability to be a nuclear power. That is one of my highest priorities.”
About 1,500 km separate Israel from the sites of Iran’s nuclear program. Iran’s facilities are scattered across Iran. A mission to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities would require dozens, perhaps hundreds of aircraft to travel the entire distance to Iran’s multiple sites while carrying bombs capable of causing damage deep underground in fortified bunkers, some as deep as 100m which even bunker-busting bombs may not be able to penetrate.
Israel’s leadership is aware of the great risks and the challenges, but Netanyahu has claimed that Israel knows how to deal with the threats, and he said, “We are confident and sure that we can deal with any threat on our own”. He has said many times that Israel will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. If Israel does not attack Iran’s nuclear facilities in the short term, it will ultimately be faced with an Iranian bomb and an existential threat to the State of Israel.
If not now, when?
For the present, the political situation in Washington is fraught with only weeks before the presidential election. Biden has publicly said that he would not support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear-related sites and Netanyahu has assured Biden that the IDF would avoid targeting Iran’s oil or nuclear facilities at this time. That does not preclude Israel attacking more ambitious and dangerous targets in the future. Israel dares not ignore Iran’s repeated aim of the annihilation of Israel and the destruction of Zionism.
Biden/Harris/Trump have a choice. He or she can be the president who finally helps Israel to stop Iran’s nuclear program or the leader who allows Iran to go nuclear by passing up the last opportunity to prevent it. North Korea long feared that it would be toppled by the United States, but since becoming a nuclear power, it has been far more secure and increasingly aggressive. US sanctions and threats were not enough to stop North Korea, and now it is too late to do so. That must not be permitted in the case of Iran.
AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM – HEAR THE OTHER SIDE
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[i] Israel's Epiphany could end in Iran's destruction by Thomas Kaplan, The Wall Street Journal 2024
[ii] The Fight against Terrorism has an Urgency beyond the Survival of Israel, 5 October 2024
[iii] Bibi shows the West what leadership looks like, by Alexander Downer in The Australian, 7 October 2024
[iv] The Case for Destroying Iran's Nuclear Program Now, Foreign Policy 3 October 2024
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