I was just published for the 5th time by the Israel National News.
Click here to read "Netanyahu's Message to the World"
Thanks to everyone who reads my work and leaves feedback.
Special thanks to the Israel National News for publishing my work!
Cheers,
Robert D. Onley
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Netanyahu's Message to the World
By: Robert D. Onley
In his “Quds Day” speech on Friday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sealed the fate of Iran’s nuclear program by proving to the world that he is a delusional leader bent on inducing an apocalyptic war in the Middle East. As if to impale negotiations set to start October 1st, Ahmadinejad stated, “The existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to human dignity,” and continued by describing “the myth of the Holocaust”, all to cheers of “death to Israel.” By doing so yet again, Ahmadinejad leaves Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with no choice but to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.
All of the major powers are furiously preparing contingency plans should talks with Iran drag on into oblivion, or more than likely, outright fail. Foremost among the nations making such plans is Israel, with Prime Minister Netanyahu carefully watching what will transpire while justifiably keeping one finger on the pre-emptive strike trigger. This precarious position means Netanyahu must prepare statements justifying Israel’s impending actions, albeit without revealing Israel’s hand. As unnecessary as such statements may seem given Ahmadinejad’s abhorrent behaviour, Israel’s intractable position requires bulletproof scrutiny and well-crafted presentation.
Thus far Netanyahu has openly and repeatedly stated Israel`s preparedness in forcibly stopping the Iranian nuclear program, however what he has not publicly discussed is the inevitable Iranian response to a unilateral Israeli attack. Given there exists a tremendous likelihood that Israel`s pre-emptive attack against Iranian nuclear facilities will precipitate an enormous wave of counter-attacks from both Hizbullah and Hamas, it is pertinent that Netanyahu make equally bold assertions of Israeli sovereignty in the face of such Iranian malevolence. The Goldstone Report highlighted the absurd standard to which Israel is held by the international community. As a result Israel cannot be caught committing further “war crimes” should the Jewish nation be forced to act defensively, as it soon will.
Therefore, Benjamin Netanyahu must state absolutely clearly to the world two critically interlinked realities: Foremost, Israel is ready to and will destroy Iran`s nuclear weapons program should negotiations with the West fail after October. Second, any group that seeks to retaliate against Israel for its pre-emptive actions against Iran -- be it al-Qaeda, Hizbullah, Hamas, Syria, or any combination of the above -- will similarly experience a crushing, unflinching Israeli military response. Only by publicly addressing the reality and history of Iranian proxy counter-attacks will Israel preserve any sense of tactical legitimacy with the world community.
While this may seem like a fruitless effort to save face from the reflexively anti-Israeli United Nations, it is a necessary piece of statesmanship for what is inarguably a war-ready Netanyahu government. Recent history provides obvious examples of the battles Israel might soon be fighting once again following potential strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The Second Lebanon War against Hizbullah and this year’s Operation Cast Lead with Hamas were separate, distinct wars of specified purpose and generally controllable length. However if Hizbullah and Hamas were to begin launching retaliatory rockets toward Israel on direct Iranian orders, or for ostensibly Iranian ends, then Israel will be compelled to respond just as it did in 2006 and 2009.
The timing of these missions against Hizbullah and Hamas, be they immediately following the Iranian nuclear mission or in the violent weeks that are sure to follow in Israel, are the determinable variables that Netanyahu must address publicly in coming weeks. Netanyahu must make logical connections between Israel’s undesirable geographical position – squashed between two terrorist entities both harbouring the goal of destroying Israel – and Iran’s blatant support of both terror groups combined with the pursuit of nuclear weapons. The reality of the utterly lethal relationship therein is what will give Netanyahu even the tiniest shred of credibility with a roiling world community following Israeli strikes on Iran.
It remains to be seen how exactly the UN will pin blame on Israel for a broader war, in the wake of clearly failed negotiations with Iran that result from a Russian veto at the Security Council, compounded by weak-kneed Obamian diplomacy. Netanyahu’s “secret” trip to Moscow last week highlighted how deep Israel’s distrust of Russia is, after Russia attempted to smuggle advanced S-300 anti-air missiles to Iran aboard the Arctic Sea. This high-stakes incident, stopped only by Israeli agents, dramatically emphasized Russia’s overt support of Iran’s nuclear program and Russia’s similar disregard for Israel’s existential security concerns. That Obama topped the week off by scrapping former President Bush’s eastern European missile shield also showcased Obama’s frightening lack of foresight and the likelihood that the US will not, under any circumstances, prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, despite all public pronouncements.
For all of the nonsense that Israel must put up with geopolitically, Netanyahu also has the never-blinking eye of the international media ready to spit back at him. What Netanyahu’s government cannot allow to happen - though the media is almost guaranteed to portray it as such - is for the predictable Hizbullah and Hamas counter-attacks against Israel to be somehow viewed by the world as equally legitimate, given Israel’s “attacks” on an “innocent” Iran. Yes, some Middle Eastern governments like Saudi Arabia will secretly cheer when they see Iran’s nuclear sites destroyed. But the mood on the streets will be much different, with protests against Israel sure to be ignited and promoted by those same governments across the region.
Netanyahu’s job today is thus to aggressively define the terms of future battles in order to recast the coming fight for what will be a very angry world community. These efforts will also instil fear inside the hearts and minds of Hizbullah and Hamas fighters who have certainly already received directions from Iran about what to do after Israel strikes. If these same fighters perceive Israel to be steadfastly engaging in deliberate, defensive action against her enemies despite their latent threats of retaliation, Netanyahu will have made an unequivocal statement about Israeli resolve, and will have effectively manifest the will of the Jewish people for self-preservation.
There can be no illusions about the total seriousness of this matter. It is not said lightly that Netanyahu must begin telling the world that Israel will take matters into its own hands, as a result of the abject failure of the world body. Regardless of one’s personal beliefs, the vitriol emanating from Tehran is as pure of a manifestation of evil intentions as has been since the Holocaust that Ahmadinejad so callously denies. No other world leader but Ahmadinejad is addressing public crowds and delivering such shocking, backward and downright disturbing interpretations of history, all packed with lucid implications of worse events to come.
In order to thwart any chance of Ahmadinejad achieving his frighteningly Holocaust-like dreams, both the man and his nation’s covert nuclear weapons program must be resolutely destroyed. No nation on earth can declare surprise at Israel’s ensuing actions against Iran if talks fail and no other major power steps up to protect Israel. By addressing the outstanding concerns above, Netanyahu will be well prepared to adamantly defend his people from the Iranian threat – a threat which surpasses all others combined throughout the history of the Jewish State. It is nonetheless shameful but unsurprising that Israel is the nation forced to prevent a second Holocaust. History certainly has a peculiar way of repeating itself.
Robert D. Onley
Friday, September 4, 2009
"Israel Alone" published by the Israel National News!
My latest op-ed "Israel Alone" was published on Wednesday by the Israel National News and can be read here.
Thanks for reading!
-Rob
Thanks for reading!
-Rob
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
70 Years Later: Israel Alone
By: Robert D. Onley
On September 1st, 1939, exactly seventy years ago today, the world knew little of Hitler’s threats against the Jewish people, and less still of the evil that would result from his invasion of Poland to start the Second World War. Indeed Nazi Germany’s aggressive military posturing against Austria and Czechoslovakia in the late 1930’s effectively concealed Hitler’s dream of a “Judenrein” Europe and hid what would eventually become the most ruthless campaign of murder, genocide and violence seen in human history.
Truly it was not until at least 1945 – when the war ended – that the rest of the world understood and saw the absolute venom Hitler unleashed upon Jews in particular. While there were rumours, suspicions and even aerial photographs of the death camps that ended so many lives, it was not until these death camps were opened that the world’s leaders witnessed the sheer, unadulterated evil that humanity was capable of organizing in the modern age.
Today, numerous threats are facing the Jewish people and their homeland Israel – threats that bear undeniable resemblance to those that similarly preceded the Second World War. However unlike in 1939, today the malicious, delusional desires of Israel’s enemies are being publicly, blatantly and aggressively spread across the world, emanating specifically from the Islamic Republic of Iran, and enacted by its proxy armies Hamas and Hizbullah. Thus for those who intrinsically hate the Jewish people today, instead of having to hunt for Jews scattered across numerous nations throughout Europe as Hitler did, a large number of Jews can be found “conveniently” in one location – Israel.
This “convenience” means that once again, unlike in 1939, their latent and literal threats toward Israel are clearer, more definitive and disturbingly deliberate than ever could have been the case during the Third Reich. While Hitler’s “Final Solution” was ultimately kept secret until the 1942 Wannsee Conference, the leaders of Iran today share a public desire to see Israel “wiped off the map”, and have for several decades. The veracity of Iran’s threat to Israel is embodied by Iran’s repeated military parades of enormous Shahab-3 missiles draped with the words “DEATH TO ISRAEL” and “DEATH TO AMERICA.” These same missiles could quite literally be nuclear-tipped within the coming months.
As such, while U.S. President Obama and the EU actively pursue what are perceived to be “long overdue” negotiations with Iran this September, it is with an incredibly critical and cynical eye that Israel must view any supposed “progress” set to emerge from these talks. After years of blatant proof of Iran’s evil intentions, virulent threats toward Israel, and covert military nuclear development, Israel holds much legitimate pessimism for any “progress” the Iranians might package for the West inside further layers of deceit.
Imagine Adolf Hitler meeting with Neville Chamberlain at Munich in 1938 once again, but this time with the meeting hall decorated with enormous banners that read “DEATH TO THE JEWS” and “JUDENREIN EUROPE” - only to have Chamberlain emerge from his talks with Hitler to somehow announce “peace for our time” nonetheless. The lunacy of such an outcome – when the warning signs and banners were so visible before even entering negotiations – would have led many to question the wisdom of negotiating with Hitler in the first place.
With the unfair advantage of hindsight, we know today that Chamberlain was at the least a bit naive and that Hitler was a liar. However Chamberlain did not have enormous banners that plainly and grotesquely stated Hitler’s goals when he entered into negotiations. In contrast, Western leaders, diplomats and concerned Israeli defence planners have had a panoply warning signs about Iran’s true intentions - signs that should stand the hairs up on the necks of any official possessing serious visions of finding a compromise with Iran this month.
No, Ahmadinejad is not exactly Hitler and Iran today is certainly not the military machine that 1938 Nazi Germany was, if one directly compares the two. What is true of this comparison however - and inarguably so - is that the threats toward Israel that have already emerged from Iran are far more menacing than Hitler’s ever were, given Iran’s ongoing defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons technology and its already far-reaching missile capability.
It has been said that what Hitler took six years to accomplish against the Jews in World War Two, Ahmadinejad could make happen in less than six minutes with a single nuclear-tipped missile launched from Iran. Others, including this writer, have argued that a more accurate time-frame might be just six seconds, were Iran able to smuggle a nuclear weapon to Hamas in the Gaza Strip for use directly against Israel.
U.S. defence planners, intelligence officers and the State Department may shrug at the sight of “DEATH TO AMERICA” banners hung on Iranian Shahab-3 missiles as generic anti-American bluster, but their Israeli counterparts simply cannot do the same for Iran’s “DEATH TO ISRAEL” monikers - not when every single Israeli military facility is within striking distance of those same Iranian missiles. This is not to mention the entire physical landmass of Israel which remains subject to random rocket attacks from Iran’s Hamas and Hizbullah proxies.
As such Iran’s anti-Israel rhetoric – be it from President Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Khamenei, or various other crazed Iranian leaders – is not viewed by Israel the same way that the United States or the EU might more ‘idealistically’ interpret it. Neither still are Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s repeated statements that the ‘end is coming for Israel’, evidenced by his “World Without Zionism” conference, his multiple Holocaust denials and his purported desire to “wipe Israel off the map”, as the former Ayatollah Khomeini stated.
To top-off the absolute legitimacy of Israel’s worst fears about Iran, Ahmadinejad’s fanatical ravings about the coming “Hidden 12th Imam” at the UN General Assembly in September 2007 provided stark proof that Iran’s leaders mean what they say, no matter how insane and provocative. Would any other national leader step on to the world stage to declare that the end of the world is coming, and that they expect it to happen “in the near future”?
Why then does President Obama entertain the prospect that Ahmadinejad might suddenly change his apocalyptic preparations for the supposed "return of the Hidden Imam"? Particularly after Iran’s election fiasco and its suppression of protests, any dreams of reining in the reckless Iranian Republic should have been dashed for good. Obama’s September 15th deadline for Iran to agree to negotiations could bear fruit for concerned Israelis hoping against hope, but Israel should not hold its breath.
Ultimately it is the ruthless lethality of a single nuclear weapon, and the potential for its random, indiscriminate use against Israel, which is precisely why Israel - and Israel alone - must be prepared to act defensively in eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat. For if the United States stalls, and Obama pleads for more time and patience on Iran, the nuclear timeline will pass and Israel will be left with no choice but to unilaterally stop Iran.
Not since 1939 has a threat to the Jewish people been so obvious, so particular and so lethal. In light of the Jewish people’s tragic past, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu recently stated that the lesson of the Holocaust is that evil must be “nipped in the bud”. But just as the world held out hope for peace after the Munich Agreement in 1938, so too it might this September after negotiations with Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu cannot be assuaged by American and Iranian pleasantries. Seventy years after Hitler began his attempt to wipe them out, the Jewish people have the advantage of hindsight and the ghastly lessons of history to make the dreaded decision that will preserve Israel’s future today. This future is why Israel will fight, even if it means fighting alone.
Robert D. Onley
On September 1st, 1939, exactly seventy years ago today, the world knew little of Hitler’s threats against the Jewish people, and less still of the evil that would result from his invasion of Poland to start the Second World War. Indeed Nazi Germany’s aggressive military posturing against Austria and Czechoslovakia in the late 1930’s effectively concealed Hitler’s dream of a “Judenrein” Europe and hid what would eventually become the most ruthless campaign of murder, genocide and violence seen in human history.
Truly it was not until at least 1945 – when the war ended – that the rest of the world understood and saw the absolute venom Hitler unleashed upon Jews in particular. While there were rumours, suspicions and even aerial photographs of the death camps that ended so many lives, it was not until these death camps were opened that the world’s leaders witnessed the sheer, unadulterated evil that humanity was capable of organizing in the modern age.
Today, numerous threats are facing the Jewish people and their homeland Israel – threats that bear undeniable resemblance to those that similarly preceded the Second World War. However unlike in 1939, today the malicious, delusional desires of Israel’s enemies are being publicly, blatantly and aggressively spread across the world, emanating specifically from the Islamic Republic of Iran, and enacted by its proxy armies Hamas and Hizbullah. Thus for those who intrinsically hate the Jewish people today, instead of having to hunt for Jews scattered across numerous nations throughout Europe as Hitler did, a large number of Jews can be found “conveniently” in one location – Israel.
This “convenience” means that once again, unlike in 1939, their latent and literal threats toward Israel are clearer, more definitive and disturbingly deliberate than ever could have been the case during the Third Reich. While Hitler’s “Final Solution” was ultimately kept secret until the 1942 Wannsee Conference, the leaders of Iran today share a public desire to see Israel “wiped off the map”, and have for several decades. The veracity of Iran’s threat to Israel is embodied by Iran’s repeated military parades of enormous Shahab-3 missiles draped with the words “DEATH TO ISRAEL” and “DEATH TO AMERICA.” These same missiles could quite literally be nuclear-tipped within the coming months.
As such, while U.S. President Obama and the EU actively pursue what are perceived to be “long overdue” negotiations with Iran this September, it is with an incredibly critical and cynical eye that Israel must view any supposed “progress” set to emerge from these talks. After years of blatant proof of Iran’s evil intentions, virulent threats toward Israel, and covert military nuclear development, Israel holds much legitimate pessimism for any “progress” the Iranians might package for the West inside further layers of deceit.
Imagine Adolf Hitler meeting with Neville Chamberlain at Munich in 1938 once again, but this time with the meeting hall decorated with enormous banners that read “DEATH TO THE JEWS” and “JUDENREIN EUROPE” - only to have Chamberlain emerge from his talks with Hitler to somehow announce “peace for our time” nonetheless. The lunacy of such an outcome – when the warning signs and banners were so visible before even entering negotiations – would have led many to question the wisdom of negotiating with Hitler in the first place.
With the unfair advantage of hindsight, we know today that Chamberlain was at the least a bit naive and that Hitler was a liar. However Chamberlain did not have enormous banners that plainly and grotesquely stated Hitler’s goals when he entered into negotiations. In contrast, Western leaders, diplomats and concerned Israeli defence planners have had a panoply warning signs about Iran’s true intentions - signs that should stand the hairs up on the necks of any official possessing serious visions of finding a compromise with Iran this month.
No, Ahmadinejad is not exactly Hitler and Iran today is certainly not the military machine that 1938 Nazi Germany was, if one directly compares the two. What is true of this comparison however - and inarguably so - is that the threats toward Israel that have already emerged from Iran are far more menacing than Hitler’s ever were, given Iran’s ongoing defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons technology and its already far-reaching missile capability.
It has been said that what Hitler took six years to accomplish against the Jews in World War Two, Ahmadinejad could make happen in less than six minutes with a single nuclear-tipped missile launched from Iran. Others, including this writer, have argued that a more accurate time-frame might be just six seconds, were Iran able to smuggle a nuclear weapon to Hamas in the Gaza Strip for use directly against Israel.
U.S. defence planners, intelligence officers and the State Department may shrug at the sight of “DEATH TO AMERICA” banners hung on Iranian Shahab-3 missiles as generic anti-American bluster, but their Israeli counterparts simply cannot do the same for Iran’s “DEATH TO ISRAEL” monikers - not when every single Israeli military facility is within striking distance of those same Iranian missiles. This is not to mention the entire physical landmass of Israel which remains subject to random rocket attacks from Iran’s Hamas and Hizbullah proxies.
As such Iran’s anti-Israel rhetoric – be it from President Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Khamenei, or various other crazed Iranian leaders – is not viewed by Israel the same way that the United States or the EU might more ‘idealistically’ interpret it. Neither still are Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s repeated statements that the ‘end is coming for Israel’, evidenced by his “World Without Zionism” conference, his multiple Holocaust denials and his purported desire to “wipe Israel off the map”, as the former Ayatollah Khomeini stated.
To top-off the absolute legitimacy of Israel’s worst fears about Iran, Ahmadinejad’s fanatical ravings about the coming “Hidden 12th Imam” at the UN General Assembly in September 2007 provided stark proof that Iran’s leaders mean what they say, no matter how insane and provocative. Would any other national leader step on to the world stage to declare that the end of the world is coming, and that they expect it to happen “in the near future”?
Why then does President Obama entertain the prospect that Ahmadinejad might suddenly change his apocalyptic preparations for the supposed "return of the Hidden Imam"? Particularly after Iran’s election fiasco and its suppression of protests, any dreams of reining in the reckless Iranian Republic should have been dashed for good. Obama’s September 15th deadline for Iran to agree to negotiations could bear fruit for concerned Israelis hoping against hope, but Israel should not hold its breath.
Ultimately it is the ruthless lethality of a single nuclear weapon, and the potential for its random, indiscriminate use against Israel, which is precisely why Israel - and Israel alone - must be prepared to act defensively in eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat. For if the United States stalls, and Obama pleads for more time and patience on Iran, the nuclear timeline will pass and Israel will be left with no choice but to unilaterally stop Iran.
Not since 1939 has a threat to the Jewish people been so obvious, so particular and so lethal. In light of the Jewish people’s tragic past, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu recently stated that the lesson of the Holocaust is that evil must be “nipped in the bud”. But just as the world held out hope for peace after the Munich Agreement in 1938, so too it might this September after negotiations with Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu cannot be assuaged by American and Iranian pleasantries. Seventy years after Hitler began his attempt to wipe them out, the Jewish people have the advantage of hindsight and the ghastly lessons of history to make the dreaded decision that will preserve Israel’s future today. This future is why Israel will fight, even if it means fighting alone.
Robert D. Onley
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