(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
I am need to start with a shocking confession: I'm not afraid of the Iranian nuclear bomb. I know this makes me an abnormal person, almost a freak. But what can I do? I am unable to stir up fear as a true Israeli. If I never try so much, I won't be hysterical about the Iranian bomb. My father once taught me how to resist blackmail: Imagine that the blackmailer has already made his terrible threat. Then you say to him: Go to hell. I have tried many times to follow this advice and have found that it works well. So now I apply it to the Iranian bomb. I imagine the worst has happened: that the terrible Ayatollahs have acquired the bomb that can wipe Israel out in no time. So what? According to foreign experts, Israel has hundreds of nuclear bombs (the estimate ranges from 80 to 400). If Iran sends its bombs and wipes out most of Israel (including myself), Israeli underwater boats will wipe out Iran. Whatever I think about Benjamin Netanjahu, I trust that he and our security officers will ensure that our "second strike" capability is intact. As late as last week, we learned that Germany had delivered yet another submarine of recent screams to our Navy for such use. Israeli idiots – and there are some of them – respond: "Yes, but the Iranian leaders are not normal people. They are fools. Religious fanatics. They are taking the chance of total destruction of Iran just to destroy the Zionist state. It's like swapping queens at bay. ”Such beliefs are the result of decades of demonization. Iranians – or their leaders, at least – are considered inhumane villains. The reality shows us that the Iranian leaders are very cunning, very calculating politicians. Cautious merchants like the ones you find in the Iranian bazaar. They take no unnecessary risks. The revolutionary vehemence of early Khomeini times is no longer there, and not even Khomeini would have dreamed of doing something so nationally suicidal. A civilization worth preserving. According to the Bible, the great Persian king Cyrus allowed the Jews captured in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple. At that time, Persia was already an ancient civilization – both culturally and politically. After the "return from Babylon", the Jewish community around Jerusalem lived for 200 years under Persian rule. I learned in school that these were happy years for the Jews. Since then, Persian culture and history have lived through another two and a half thousand years. The Persian civilization is one of the oldest in the world. It has created a great religion and exerted influence on many others, Judaism included. Iranians are mightily proud of that civilization. To imagine that today's Iranian leaders would at all consider risking Persia's existence of hatred of Israel is both ridiculous and megalomaniac. Moreover, the relationship between Jews and Persians has almost always been excellent throughout history. When Israel was founded, Iran was seen as a natural ally, as part of David Ben-Gurion's "periphery strategy" – an alliance with all the countries surrounding the Arab world. The Shah, who was reinstated by the US and British secret services, was a very close ally. Tehran was full of Israeli businessmen and military advisers. The city served as a base for the Israeli agents who collaborated with the rebel Kurds in northern Iraq, who were fighting against Saddam Hussein's regime. After the Islamic Revolution, Israel still supported Iran against Iraq in their brutal eight-year war. The infamous Irangate affair, in which my friend Amiram Nir and Oliver North played such an important role, would not have been possible without the old ties between Iran and Israel. Even now, Iran and Israel are in peaceful negotiations over an old cooperation project: the Eilat-Ashkelon oil pipeline, which was built jointly by the two countries. Should the worst happen, the nuclear state of Israel and the nuclear state of Iran will live in a balance of terror. Highly uncomfortable, of course. But no existential threat. Still, to all those who are terrified at the thought of Iranian nuclear weapons, I have one piece of advice: Use the time we still have. Under the Iran-US agreement, we have at least ten years before Iran can reach the final stage in producing the bomb. Please: Use this time to create peace. The Iranian hatred of the "Zionist regime" – the state of Israel – has its origins in the fate of the Palestinian people. The feeling of solidarity with the helpless Palestinians is rooted in all Islamic peoples. It is part of their popular culture. It is real, even if the political regimes abuse, manipulate or overlook it. As there is no reason for a specific Iranian hatred of Israel, it is based solely on the Israel-Palestine conflict. No conflict, no enmity. Logic tells us: If we have several years before we have to live in the shadow of an Iranian atomic bomb, let's use the time to eliminate the conflict. As soon as the Palestinians themselves declare that they consider the historic conflict with Israel to be resolved, no Iranian leadership will be able to raise the people against us. For several weeks now, Netanyahu has been bragging about a great, yes, historic, feat. For the very first time, Israel is a real part of an Arab alliance. Across the region, the conflict is raging between Muslim Sunnis and Muslim Shiites. The Shiite camp, led by Iran, includes the Shiites in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. (Netanyahu mistakenly – or out of ignorance – includes Sunni Muslim Hamas in this camp.) The Sunni camp consists of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Gulf states. Netanyahu suggests that Israel is now accepted by them as a member. It's a very messy picture. Iran is fighting in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State, which is a mortal enemy of Israel. Iran supports the Assad regime in Damascus, which is also supported by Hezbollah, which is fighting the Islamic State, while Saudi Arabia supports other extreme Sunni Muslim Syrians fighting against Assad and the Islamic State. The Turks support Iran and Saudi Arabia as they fight Assad.
No Arab state will enter into open and close cooperation with Israel before the end of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Deep solidarity. I am not in love with Arab military dictatorships and corrupt kingdoms. To be honest, I hate them. But if Israel succeeds in becoming an official member of any Arab coalition, it will be a historic breakthrough, the first in 130 years in the conflict between Zionists and Arabs. However, all Israeli relations with Arab countries are secret, except for Egypt and Jordan, and even these two contacts are cold and distant. There are relationships between regimes rather than between people. Let us face the facts: No Arab state will enter into open and close cooperation with Israel until the end of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Not even kings or dictators can afford to do such a thing. The solidarity among their people with the oppressed Palestinian people goes far too deep. Real peace with the Arab countries is impossible without peace with the Palestinian people, just as peace with the Palestinian people is impossible without peace with the Arab countries. So if there is an opportunity to establish official peace with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, and make the cold peace with Egypt a real peace, Netanyahu should seize it immediately. The terms of an agreement are already on the table: the Saudi peace plan, also called the Arab Initiative, which was accepted many years ago by the entire Arab League. It is based on the two-state solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict. Netanyahu could amaze the whole world by "taking one de Gaulle" – creating peace with the Sunni Arab world (as de Gaulle did with Algeria), which would force the Shiites to follow. Do I believe in this? No I do not. But if God wills, even a broomstick can shoot. And on the day of the Jewish Passover, in memory of the (imaginary) exit from Egypt, we remind each other that miracles are happening.
