If there is any single indication of the total of bankruptcy of the way in which Israel is conducting relations with Iran it is in this story in today’s Haaretz. The report refers to an earlier interview with a senior Israeli minister in which he advocated assassinating the Iranian president:
Last year, former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff and current minister for strategic affairs, Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon, was quoted as saying by an Australian newspaper that the West must consider all options necessary to stop Tehran’s nuclear program, including assassinating Ahmadinejad.
Now, either Bogie or the reporter is a total ignoramus since both should know that the Iranian leader does not direct Iran’s nuclear program or policy. Anyone with an ounce of seychel concerning that country knows the Ayatollah controls this matter. So if Israel wanted to assassinate anyone it would have to kill the Ayatollah, which would likely inaugurate a holy war against Israel with half the Iranian people volunteering to strap on suicide belts and take revenge on Israelis and Jews the world over.
Not to mention that Ahmadinejad would consider it a privilege to die in service to his country and at the hands of the Zionist enemy. It would only serve to prove the Iranian hardliners correct in their assessment of Israeli perfidy.
And if Israel were to murder Ahmadinejad (or even Khameini) it would have no impact on Iran’s nuclear program. In fact, a more hardline and more capable leader would likely emerge to replace him as happened when Israel assassinated an earlier Hezbollah leader, leading to the asendancy of Nasrallah, who gave Israel a bloody nose in Lebanon in 2006.
But if Israel has no strategic direction and simply wishes to inflict damage on Iran for the sake of inflicting damage, then such narischkeit makes perfect “sense”–that is, it makes no sense at all.
I don’t put much stock in the Iranian claim featured in the Haaretz story that Israel conspired with the Iranian Mujahadeen to assassinate Ahmadinejad. The only ones who lie more than Israel are the Iranian hardliners. It would be in their interest to drum up such a fictional conspiracy. Though I must say that Israeli big mouths like Bogie make Iranian conspiracy theorists seem remarkably credible.
Richard, I responded your post about the Olmert offer on J Street wanted for treason.
link to richardsilverstein.com
2nd about your comment.
The only ones who lie more than Israel are the Iranian hardliners.
Can you give examples of Israeli lies?
Because Israel has a free press, unlike the Arab and Iranian press.
You think a “free press” never lies. Do please show me this press of which you speak. You couldn’t honestly be that dumb, could you? We’ve entered black and white nuance- free cartoon world, here. I think the Israeli press is in many respects quite a bit better than the mainstream American press, but that (to put it mildly) isn’t saying a hell of a lot. And yeah, I think Netanyahu, Avigdor Lieberman and the Iranian hard-liners are made for each-other. Peas from the same pod. In the fascist sweepstakes, I’d say Bibi and Lieberman have the mullahs beat, though. This is tough competition.
Please do keep commenting, you’re a wonderful advertisement for the, ahemm, solid intellectual grounding of your position. I guess right-wing Israeli propaganda has its ‘Sarah Palins’ as well as its ‘Frank Luntzs’.
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