Israel faces wider threat

-Pritam S. Rana

The May 31 Mavi Marmara incident demonstrates that Islamic charities in the world are getting increasingly assertive in Israel-Palestinian conflict. The Insani Yardim Vakfi could well be an Al Qaida outfit but its capacity to rally Arab outcry against Israel is significant. First reports speak of Lebanese and other would be emulators to test the resolve of Israeli maritime resolve. Israel’s minimal force policy to deploy Sayeret Matkal special forces unit might be the policy to use minimum force as not to arouse brute force and genocide allegations. Economy of force is the basic tenet as the current global recession also affects Israeli society and its military budget. The so called activists on the other side also realize this. But on the front of the battle of charities, Israel is on the losing side.

Iran’s oil money coupled with vast Islamic diaspora in the West is acutely politically conscious and through Internet technologies capacity for organization is unmatched. Radio was the primary tool in 1948 to organize Arab youths in a fatal conflict on the question of ownership of the mandate territories. Thousands upon thousands rallied for Arab cause then and in 1967 and 1973 through organized leadership of Nasser, Sadat and Assad. After relentless pressure by US government, Israel had to give up its prized possession of Sinai, where Moses sermoned the world. In 1956, Israel’s participation in the war was easily portrayed by Arabists as a ‘colonialist’ when in fact Anglo-French Suez company was basically trying to recover its investments. The Six Day War was in response to massive build up of Soviet war machines by Nasser. Israel’s sovereignty was threatened by uncurtailed build up of Russian arms in both Syria and Egypt under the political aegis of United Arab Republic whose sole aim was to antagonize Israel and expel Jewish population by force of arms.

The issue of land for peace seems utopian but the guarantee for peace is a far cry. Golan Heights was a fortified area from where shelling was regularly conducted on Galilee settlements. Giving it way for peace with Hezbollah seems logical but who will guarantee that the same elements which cross the Blue Line and shell Moroccan Jewry with BM-21 Katyusha may not deploy T-72 Main Battle Tanks and BM-27 Grad rockets to dominate Israel’s northern towns.

Iran is assembling a vast array of rockets which are in fact powerful enough to deliver Nuclear Biological and Chemical (NBC) warheads. Iran’s de facto military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) also known as Sipah e Basij e Pasdaran recruits children as young as 15 or 16 to be cannon fodders in a foreseen struggle with Jews. The Quds Force of this unit, supposed to liberate Jerusalem from “Jewish occupation” reportedly controls Lebanon’s Hizballah. Hizballah (Party of God) which pilots a parallel government ala PLO in the 1970s and is also a powerful social service organization providing all services from medical care to recruiting volunteers to attack Israel. This force kidnapped Israeli soldiers Eldad Regev and Oudi Goldwasser in 2006 which began an Israel-Hizballah Summer War which killed more than 1,000 Lebanese and more than a hundred Israelis. Israel had to mobilize 30,000 young men and women to pacify this unruly aggression sponsored by Syria and Iran. Noteworthy is Lebanon now boasts ten MiG-29s in its fledgling air force of which one seat can be expected to belong to a Hizballah pilot.

Syria has been notorious supporter of anti-Israeli elements like Samir Kuntar who has been awarded with Syria’s highest medal for his campaign of bloody violence against Israeli citizens. The only sad news in United States is that $1 billion of our taxpayers money goes to Palestinian aid in Gaza. Saudi Arabian government also reinforced this aid with another $1 billion of its petro-dollars. World Alamanac lists Syrian charity as the largest while no one knows if there is any accounting or auditing of this aid if it does not reach terroristic activism whose soft form is Mavi Marmara.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza is only meant for controlling the flow of weapons from Egypt and the Mediterranean. If Israel were not to monitor and restrict its maritime frontier, arms galore will reach Gaza to arm Hamas fedayeens to open another front and invite wrath from Israeli military.

Iran’s nuclear ambition is seen as prestigious among its elites and its space program backed by cash hungry Russian government is sure to invite doom and massacre to Iran’s public. The only reason stopping Israel from launching Osirak style raid is the fear of antagonizing United States. US troops overseas will be legitimate targets of Teheran sponsored terrorists. The latest Shahram Amiri affair is nothing but a stark reminder by Iran’s conservative government that they mean business and seek nuclear parity with both Jerusalem and Washington. Iran’s nuclear capability and its strike capability to continental United States will give it enormous leverage and bargaining power from protecting its citizens abroad or threatening US withdrawal from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Restive Iraq is Iran’s playing field. A nuclear armed Iran will also be an important chess piece for Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) planners to mitigate US influence and values such as good governance, human rights, fair distribution of resources, fair wage (scientific management) and freedom from threat of annihilation. By eroding US security umbrella in close cooperation with other hegemons like Russia and China, Iran is exploring business contracts in Venezuela in open violation of US Monroe Doctrine. Analysts have accurately deduced US vulnerabilities and its growing trade imbalance as well as its foreign debt. Thus as published in 1990 Pentagon journal Soviet Military Power, the shift toward Arab superiority is clear in the seemingly untenable position of Israel in media forums while US is far stretched in dealing with one movement-political Islam. Threats from Russia, China and Iran is a subject of deeper analyses.

The most disturbing aspects of anti-Israeli politics in the business front is boycott of Israeli product in the United States by a store according to Caroline Glick, a noted Israeli journalist who spoke in Los Angeles on July 21, 2010. This denotes nothing but greater financing of public media by anti-Israeli activists. The consistent push by “human rights activists” to force Israel to open fire on knife wielding crewmen is a sad push to wider intervention.

THE END
July 22, 2010