When it looked as though President Barack Obama was applying pressure, it didn't seem such a great problem. It was perhaps even something positive, since it's hard to see anything moving around here without a little pressure. But now, when the US president touches the nuclear question, it's another story. Not that this proves that the man is an enemy of Israel, as some will certainly argue, but America's support of a UN decision that means supervision of our nuclear installations is certainly a dangerous crossroads. The problem is not so much to do with our relations with the US, since after all the US is more than this or that president who changes every few years, but with the current president.
The problem is not just that the decision ignores the ambiguity Israel has adopted over the nuclear issue. The whole world accepts Israel's nuclear capability as a fact, including the Arab world. The ambiguity was always formal, a cover behind which to hide and deny. Israel's formula that it will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the region has served not only Israel, but also leaders of countries who understood that for Israel nuclear capability is crucial, in fact, a matter of life and death. This understanding grew out of recognition of Israel's unique situation, as a country among countries that do not recognize its existence, and have not come to terms with it.
When, in the 1950s, then Deputy Minister of Defense Shimon Peres presented the need for nuclear capability in various government forums, his explanation was entirely simple: Israel would not for ever be able to withstand a conventional arms race against Arab countries rich in oil, money, and population. Israel therefore needed a weapon that would deter other countries from exploiting their conventional superiority. Not everyone understood this, in the 1950s. Most ministers were worried that there were no means to pay for it, a very real concern at that time. But Prime Minister and Minister of Defense David Ben-Gurion did understand, and that was enough.
No peace without the atom
Previous US presidents also understood how vital a nuclear capability was for Israel, and consented to the cloak of ambiguity. It seems that Obama does not understand, that he thinks that ridding the world of nuclear weapons will be for everyone's benefit, including Israel's. That is a terrible mistake. For if Obama succeeds in his mission, no-one will have nuclear weapons, and then what will happen? We will return to the position Peres spoke about. Everyone will stockpile conventional weapons, and who will stockpile the most? Those with the most money. That is certainly not the State of Israel. It certainly is the Arab countries and the terrorist organizations that they finance. I also do not accept that Israel will be able to forego a nuclear capability if there is peace and normalization of relations will all the Arab states, because situations like that change, and Israel without the atom presents a temptation to attack. The guarantee of a period of peace of that kind is a nuclear Israel.
Israel now has a supreme task, namely to explain to the US president and persuade him that, when it comes to the question of its existence, Iran with nuclear capability is preferable to Israel without it. This the moment of truth, for us, for the US Jewish community, and also for our current guest, Rahm Emanuel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 30, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010