Can Two Walk Together?

I AM not saying that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an agent of the Mossad.

Absolutely not. I don’t want to be sued for libel.

I am only saying that were he an agent of the Mossad, he would not behave anydifferently.

And also: If he did not exist, the Mossad would have had to invent him.

Either way, the assistance he is giving to the government of Israel isinvaluable.


LET’S LOOK at last week’s scandal.

Years ago, a conference against racism was convened by the UN in Durban, SouthAfrica. It was natural that such a forum would denounce, among others, theIsraeli government for its policy towards the Palestinians – the occupation,the settlements, the wall.

But the conference was not content with this. It turned into a platform for wildincitement against the State of Israel – and only against it. No other statein the world was denounced for violating human rights – and among thedenouncers were some of the most obnoxious tyrants in the world. 

When preparations were made for a second "Durban Conference", this time inGeneva, the Israeli government did everything in its power to convince at leastthe countries of North America and Europe to boycott it. That was not so easy.Well before the start of the conference, the US succeeded in eliminating thereference to Israel in the draft of its final document (leaving only a referenceto the resolutions of the first conference), and in the end it decided toboycott the conference anyway. But the European countries agreed to attend.

The Israeli government was anticipating the conference with great apprehension.The atrocities of the Gaza War have turned public opinion in many countriesagainst Israel. The conference could become an outlet for these emotions. Thebrightest minds in Jerusalem were trying to find ways to prevent this.

And then along came Ahmadinejad. Since he was the only head of state to attend,the organizers could not prevent him from speaking first. He delivered aprovocative speech – not being satisfied with criticizing Israel, his wordsdripped with unbridled hatred. That was a welcome pretext for the Europeanrepresentatives to get up and walk out in an impressive pro-Israelidemonstration. The conference became ridiculous.

If the "Elders of Zion" had planned the conference, it could not have endedbetter as far as the Israeli government is concerned. 


ALL THIS happened on Holocaust Day, when Jews in Israel and all over the worldcommemorate the millions of victims of the genocide.

The memory of the Holocaust unites all the Jews in the world. Every Jew knowsthat if the Nazis had reached him, he, too, would have gone to the death camps.We, who were then living in Palestine, knew that if the German general ErwinRommel had broken through the British lines at El Alamein, our fate would havebeen that of the Warsaw Ghetto.

All Jews feel that it is their moral duty to keep the memory of the victimsalive. To this profound feeling there is added a political consideration: thememory of the Holocaust causes most Jews everywhere to support the State ofIsrael, which defines itself as the "State of the Shoa Survivors". 

But time passes and memories fade. There is a recurrent need for a present,actual enemy, a "Second Hitler", who arouses all the latent fears lurking inthe Jewish soul. Once it was Gamal Abd-al-Nasser, the "Egyptian Tyrant".Then Yasser Arafat played this role. Nowadays there is Hamas, but that is hardlysufficient. No way to convince anyone that Hamas could possibly annihilateIsrael. 

Ahmadinejad is the ideal candidate. He is a consistent Holocaust denier. Hedeclares that the "Zionist entity" must disappear from the map. He isworking on the production of a nuclear bomb. This is serious – a few nuclearbombs on Israeli population centers can indeed wipe out Israel.

So we have a "Second Hitler", who is planning a "Second Holocaust".Against him, all the Jews of the world can unite. What would we do without him? 


THE PUTATIVE Iranian nuclear bomb fulfills another very important role. It isserving now as an instrument for the obliteration of the Palestinian problem.

Next month Netanyahu will present himself at the White House. That might turnout to be a fateful meeting. President Barack Obama may demand a clearcommitment to start a peace process that will lead towards the creation of thePalestinian state. Netanyahu will make a desperate effort to avoid this, sincepeace would mean the evacuation of the settlements. If he agreed to this, hiscoalition would fall apart.

What to do? Thank God for the Iranian bomb! It constitutes an existential threatagainst Israel. It is self-evident that the Israeli Prime Minister should not bebothered with bagatelles like peace with the Palestinians when the Iraniannuclear sword is dangling above his head!

Netanyahu’s predecessors also used this ploy. Whenever somebody raises thematter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and demands that our government startreal negotiations, freeze the settlements, dismantle the outposts, releaseprisoners, end the blockade on the population of the Gaza Strip, remove theroadblocks – the Iranian bomb appears ex machina. No time to think aboutanything else. The bomb heads our agenda. The bomb is our agenda. 

There is a lot of irony in this. Iran has never been the least bit interested inthe plight of the Palestinians. Ahmadinejad, too, doesn’t give a damn. Likeall other Middle East governments he uses the Palestinian cause to further hisown interests. Now he wants to penetrate the Sunni Arab world in order to turnIran into the dominant regional power. For this purpose, he raises the banner ofthe Palestinian resistance. But for the time being, he has only succeeded inpushing the Sunni Arab regimes into the arms of Israel.


AHMADINEJAD’S MOST enthusiastic fans sit in the Ministry of Defense inTel-Aviv. What would they do without him?

Every year, the struggle over the defense budget breaks out anew. This year,what with the economic crisis, the debate will be even more acrimonious. LittleIsrael maintains one of the largest and most expensive military establishmentsin the world. Relative to the GNP (gross national product), we easily trump theUnited States, not to mention Europe.

Must one ask why? Israel is surrounded by enemies who are plotting to destroyus! True, Egypt is now the most loyal collaborator of Israel, Iraq has quit thegame for the time being, Syria has long since ceased to be a threat. Jordan ishumble, the Palestinian Authority dances to our tune. It is hard to justify agiant defense budget for fighting little Hizbullah and tiny Hamas.

But there is Iran, thank God. And there is the fearsome Iranian bomb. Here youhave an honest to God existential danger. Our Air Force declares that it isready to take off any day – no, any minute - and eradicate all the manyIranian nuclear installations.

For that they need money, lots of money. They need the most advanced airplanesin the world, each of which costs many, many millions. They need suitableequipment for reaching the targets and fulfilling the task. That is moreimportant than education, health or welfare. After all, the Iranian bomb willkill all of us – including the children, the sick and the underprivileged.(The tycoons may perhaps succeed in getting out in time.) 

The budget will be approved, but the flyers will not fly. It is not clearwhether such an attack is at all feasible. Neither is it clear if it wouldsignificantly postpone the production of the bomb. But it is clear that such anattack is not possible politically: it cannot be executed without the expressconfirmation of the US, and there is no chance that this will be forthcoming.The attack would almost automatically cause the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,through which all the Gulf oil is shipped. That would be catastrophic,especially during a world-wide economic crisis, when a huge rise in the price ofoil can cripple the already weakened economies. No, our valiant pilots will haveto content themselves with bombing residential neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip.

IT COULD be argued: if Ahmadinejad behaves like a Mossad agent, AvigdorLieberman behaves like an agent of Iranian intelligence.

I don’t say so, God forbid. I really don’t want to be sued for libel.

But Lieberman’s behavior is indeed – how to put it – slightly bizarre.

True, for a moment he looked like a winner. After he sent Hosny Mubarak to hell,the Israeli media reported that the most important Egyptian minister had metwith him, shaken his hand and invited him to Egypt. Perhaps he wanted to showhim around the Aswan dam, which Lieberman once wanted to bomb. But the next daya furious Mubarak reacted by denying the story and declaring that Lieberman willnot be allowed to set foot on Egyptian soil. 

In the meantime, an important newspaper in Russia published an interview withLieberman, in which he asserted that "the US will accept all our decisions."Meaning: we rule America, Obama will do as we tell him. 

Such talk will not increase Israel’s popularity in the White House, to say theleast. Especially just now, after it was disclosed that the Israeli Lobby, AIPAC,has asked a congresswoman to intervene in favor of two American Jews indictedfor spying for Israel. In return, AIPAC promised to get the Congresswomanappointed as chairwoman of a very important committee. How? Simple: AIPAC willtell the majority leader of the House that if she does not comply. a Jewishbillionaire will stop contributing to her election fund. Not a very savorydisclosure.

In brief, the Iranian Ahmadinejad and the Israeli Lieberman are Siamese twins.The one needs the other. Lieberman rides on the Iranian bomb, Ahmadinejad rideson Israeli threats.

"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" asked the prophet Amos(3:3). The answer is: Yes, indeed. These two can very well walk hand in handwithout agreeing on anything.