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Last update - 09:54 13/12/2006
Iran grows strong, the world yawns
By Haaretz Editorial

It is possible to make fun of the conference of Holocaust deniers in Tehran, as the historian Prof. Moshe Zimmerman proposes. It is also possible to view this reaction as yet another symptom of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that has afflicted the West in the face of rising Islamic extremism. As long as the Arab world was united against Zionist Israel and its policies toward the Palestinians, it was possible to hope this hatred would disappear once the local conflict had been resolved. But the conference in Tehran is another sign that anti-Israel sentiment has long since turned into open anti-Semitism.

The repeated calls for Israel's eradication that emanate from Iran, to which even the reactions of disgust have grown weaker over time, should - especially when accompanied by nuclear weapons, but even without them - have generated an active and effective worldwide front. Instead, we are gradually seeing the problem become Israel's problem alone.

It is too early to say the world is remaining silent in the face of the threat to destroy Israel, but it is not too early to say that the world is apathetic and yawning. The Holocaust denial conference is an integral part of an Iranian foreign policy that has garnered great success over the past year after all the West's diplomatic offers to Iran were politely rejected. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's crude appearance at the UN General Assembly, which granted him legitimacy; the evaporation of the policy of sanctions; and now, the weakening of the American promise to defend Israel, as reflected in the Senate testimony of incoming defense secretary Robert Gates; the Baker document, whose essence is removing America from the Middle East; and the weakness that Israel demonstrated in its unsuccessful war against Hezbollah - all of these provide a morale boost to the Iranians.
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The preoccupation with Ehud Olmert's statements about Israel's nuclear program is marginal and petty in light of the magnitude of the threat facing Israel. The ambiguity policy is not the subject on the table right now, and it could be that this policy's benefits were exhausted long ago. What is on the table now is Israel's war of survival against an open threat to destroy it. In the face of this increasingly clear possibility, everyone must unite, including those who believe, justly, that the Israeli occupation of the territories must end quickly and that the Palestinians' suffering undermines Israel's security rather than bolstering it.

Just as the Iranian president does not draw any connection between the occupation and his desire to nullify Israel's existence, the world should also view the Israeli-Palestinian struggle and the Iranian threat to Israel as separate issues. Ahmadinejad does not recognize the 1967 borders - or any borders - for a Jewish state. He uses Holocaust denial to eradicate the moral basis for Israel's existence, and even says so openly. That was the explicit explanation that the Iranian foreign minister gave for why it is necessary to discuss the "myth" of the Holocaust right now. To counter this, it is necessary to create a moral, diplomatic, political and even military front - one that will be activist rather than sleepy and apologetic, and that will make the discussion of Israel's destruction unprofitable for the Iranians even before any discussion of the goals of the nuclear capabilities they are developing.
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  1.   Well, the world stood silent when Israel acquired 10:01  |  Iranian 13/12/06
  2.   Well Iranian, Israel never threatened another with anihilation 10:15  |  Richard 13/12/06
  3.   Resonse to no. 1 10:16  |  Israeli 13/12/06
  4.   To Iranian #2 10:17  |  jude 13/12/06
  5.   Ahmadinejad and the never ending story of Israels image problem 10:22  |  Swiss (Dino) 13/12/06
  6.   Separate issues? 10:23  |  sh 13/12/06
  7.   Iranian you sound like Khalid 10:33  |  Gina 13/12/06
  8.   I don`t think the world "yawns" 10:38  |  Clickfool 13/12/06
  9.   #5, Dino, wrong as usual 10:42  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 13/12/06
  10.   Iran is not a threat 10:44  |  Natallie Durson 13/12/06
  11.   Iran. Strong? 11:00  |  Tom 13/12/06
  12.   iran growws strong 11:03  |  mohd ola 13/12/06
  13.   The Guardian of Israel 11:07  |  Joseph 13/12/06
  14.   Why I yawn at Iran-Israël gesticulations 11:07  |  raymond 13/12/06
  15.   Israel all by itself 11:13  |  Katja 13/12/06
  16.   For Cipora # 9 11:13  |  Clickfool 13/12/06
  17.   Cipora You are wrong 11:15  |  Guy From NYC 13/12/06
  18.   Israel must accept responsibility 11:21  |  Iranian-American 13/12/06
  19.   Iran is Irans problem . . . . 11:21  |  revoltop 13/12/06
  20.   raymond 11:22  |  Gina 13/12/06
  21.   How do we do that #3 ??? 11:23  |  Iranian-American 13/12/06
  22.   Europe is not the world 11:24  |  Ikram 13/12/06
  23.   Will they yawn when nuclear Iran supports"spontaneous"riots 11:28  |  PETER SM 13/12/06
  24.   Tom`s prediction #11 11:29  |  Iranian-American 13/12/06
  25.   to Gina: Israel "prospers"? 11:30  |  Katja 13/12/06
  26.   #10, Natallie: the art of the beautiful 11:30  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 13/12/06
  27.   GETTING WHAT ONE DESERVES: Bush, P. Wolfowitz & Others. 11:33  |  Proud Pal Defender 13/12/06
  28.   Raymond (#14) don`t be disingenuous 11:34  |  Lawrence 13/12/06
  29.   Guy from NYC 11:35  |  Gina 13/12/06
  30.   Iranian American == settlers were removed 11:38  |  Gina 13/12/06
  31.   SEE if the opiate addict capital of the world with high inflation 11:40  |  PETER SM 13/12/06
  32.   THIS we can yawn at..... 11:40  |  Clickfool 13/12/06
  33.   #6, sh: some words on wisdom 11:42  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 13/12/06
  34.   Let`s take care of ourselves 11:55  |  Jonas 13/12/06
  35.   Need I, or anyone else for that matter, add to this excellent.... 11:55  |  Nadav 13/12/06
  36.   Katja - check out Jpost from a couple days ago 11:57  |  Gina 13/12/06
  37.   Gaza after settlers 11:59  |  Iranian-American 13/12/06
  38.   PETER SM tell em......Do not worry 12:00  |  iranian-American 13/12/06
  39.   #23 Peter SM 12:03  |  Jonathan 13/12/06
  40.   iran and the bomb 12:09  |  Timoteo auelese 13/12/06
  41.   Cippora Julianna Kohn, I am behind every word you wrote to....... 12:13  |  Nadav 13/12/06
  42.   KATJA health care & education in shambles?Really? 12:13  |  PETER SM 13/12/06
  43.   Iranian American - context 12:14  |  Gina 13/12/06
  44.   Katja - 2 12:17  |  Gina 13/12/06
  45.   To Raymond from Europe: You yawn since you are Anti-semite 12:21  |  AA 13/12/06
  46.   #17, no, I am right all the way through 12:22  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 13/12/06
  47.   Iranian Holocaust Denial Conference 12:26  |  Mike 13/12/06
  48.   JONATHAN.You must have missed recent Moslem riots in Europe. 12:27  |  PETER SM 13/12/06
  49.   GOOD FOR IRAN.... ALL NATIONS ASPIRE TO BE STRONG! 12:28  |  Messaoud 13/12/06
  50.   Don`t bleat - just be nicer 12:41  |  Tom Spender 13/12/06
  51.   #48 I missed nothing, Peter SM 12:41  |  Jonathan 13/12/06
  52.   #45, please read the guidelines 12:48  |  Raymond 13/12/06
  53.   The world stands silent because it doesn`t really feel threatened 12:59  |  Judith in Haifa 13/12/06
  54.   Gina and her false sense of prosperity 13:07  |  Guy From NYC 13/12/06
  55.   Cipora Julianna Kohn 13:12  |  Walid 13/12/06
  56.   Iran 13:13  |  Robert Carey 13/12/06
  57.   Nattalie Durson 13:14  |  Sarah 13/12/06
  58.   Wake up, stop yawning. 13:15  |  H.H.M 13/12/06
  59.   Wake up, stop yawning. 13:16  |  H.H.M 13/12/06
  60.   Peter SM on rioting muslims 13:19  |  Guy From NYC 13/12/06
  61.   Iran 13:21  |  Zac 13/12/06
  62.   Tom 13:21  |  Sarah 13/12/06
  63.   Iran is not strong but the West is weak 13:24  |  Jonathan S 13/12/06
  64.   CPKohn on wisdom 13:35  |  sh 13/12/06
  65.   #53, Walid 13:36  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 13/12/06
  66.   Group of Orthodox Jews attending conference. 13:37  |  sandra chitayat 13/12/06
  67.   To Mike in London #47 13:37  |  Ari ben Yisrael 13/12/06
  68.   JONATHAN I said Europe NOT France, remember the cartoons etc 13:38  |  PETER SM 13/12/06
  69.   Iranian-American - traitor against USA 13:38  |  stars n stripes 13/12/06
  70.   To Cipora : 2000 years of hate 13:43  |  Jonathan S 13/12/06
  71.   JONJATHAN quoting from your reference article-- 13:43  |  PETER SM 13/12/06
  72.   Israel Rich or poor 13:47  |  Dan 13/12/06
  73.   Iran grows strong, the world yawns