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Last update - 09:43 16/04/2008 Iran is playing with fire By Haaretz Editorial Tags: nuclear, Iran, nuclear, Iran Iran under the Islamic revolutionary government represents a serious security problem for Israel. It trains, funds and carries out terror via Hezbollah in Lebanon, and via Islamic Jihad in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It, or its emissaries, hid navigator Ron Arad. Under its aegis, Syria continues to choose hostility over seeking peace with Israel. Worst of all, its leaders explicitly declare their desire to destroy "the Zionist entity," and act to do so by developing ground-to-ground missiles and attempting to obtain nuclear weapons. It is therefore impossible to view the statements of Iran's deputy chief of staff, that if Israel attacks Iran then Israel "will be eliminated immediately," as empty rhetoric aimed at prodding National Infrastructures Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer to respond with a similar promise. Israel has never threatened to destroy any state, while Iran never refrains from doing so. The Iranians are evidently counting on the weakness of the West, and with good reason. The West includes states that want commercial relations with Iran, such as Switzerland and its natural gas deal. They laugh at the damage that Washington caused itself in the recent security assessment, which declared that Iran halted its nuclear warhead planning in 2003. Only much later did the authors of the assessment announce that the production of fissionable material continued, and that this was more important. It was to no avail: Other states saw the softer assessment as a license to suspend the pressure on Iran. Advertisement Tehran is now waiting for the U.S. presidential and congressional elections. The obvious conclusion is that the threat of an American military operation, which in previous years seemed quite close - and the fear of which led to the presumed suspension of the warhead program - has nearly disappeared. If that is the Iranian presumption, it entails a risky gamble. It may be that the nuclearization cannot serve as an immediate pretext for action, since Iran is not expected to cross the military nuclear threshold for at least two years, but the Iranians are providing U.S. President George Bush with additional ammunition against them. Killing Americans in Iraq, damaging the ability of the government in Baghdad to impose security and to enable an American withdrawal, the threat to the Iraqi economy, interference in Lebanon through the military connection with Hezbollah, encouraging Palestinian terror, and last but definitely not least, the nuclear challenge to Israel and the assumption that Israel is liable to execute a preemptive strike against Iran and thereby drag the region into a new war - all of these are a reason for America to act. U.S. ground forces are already stretched to their limits, but its air forces and its missiles would suffice for an operation against Iran. Iran is playing with fire that could burn the Middle East. Bush may not be the world's police officer, but in the absence of any other cop on the horizon, he can be expected to make good on his promise to prevent Iran from acquiring the ability to destroy Israel. Bookmark to del.icio.us   A gentleman's word Olmert tells Haaretz he knows Iran won't have nuclear capacity. Farewell to arms B'Tselem says IDF must ban wide-range shell that killed civilians in Gaza.   1.   Short-term memory loss at Haaretz Editorial 10:00  |  Clickfool 16/04/08   2.   Israel is playing with fire 10:12  |  Natallie Durson 16/04/08   3.   TALMUDIST JEWISH ISRAEL represents serious problem for world ! 10:13  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 16/04/2008   4.   Haaretz Editorial 10:27  |  Ralph 16/04/08   5.   WHAT IS WRONG WITH FIRE? 10:29  |  indrajaya 16/04/08   6.   Excuse me...terror?? 11:09  |  Dutch Dirk 16/04/08   7.   Israel`s bid for regional supremacy. Why? Is it in the Torah? 13:16  |  Nick Ferriman 16/04/08   8.   SENSIBLE THINKING 13:17  |  Sechel 16/04/08   9.   USAF & USN also pretty toothless 13:31  |  spyguy 16/04/08   10.   HAARETZ IS GETTING MORE CONSERVATIVE 13:44  |  indrajaya 16/04/08   11.   This editorial appears to be chronologically challenged.... 13:56  |  Johnboy 16/04/08   12.   Hezbollah ,Hamas are The Terrorists!!!!! 14:53  |  Ken Radke 16/04/08   13.   ..HAARETZ is Iran really playing with fire??? 15:36  |  I LOVE AL-ASSAD 16/04/08   14.   Iran wants a war it thinks it can win 16:23  |  Phillip Hallam-Baker 16/04/08   15.   Is it any wonder when Haarets fuels hate against Israel to all 16:40  |  Dream Lover 16/04/08   16.   Iran has agents throughout the region 17:15  |  Anonymous 16/04/08   17.   appeasement 17:40  |  Anonymous 16/04/08   18.   Iran 17:41  |  Sean 16/04/08   19.   We are all appeasing Iran to keep the oil flowing 17:57  |  Anonymous 16/04/08   20.   Iran plays with fire 18:25  |  GKJames 16/04/08   21.   This is another one of those Haaretz "editorials" which... 18:42  |  ManInTheMiddle 16/04/08   22.   The iranian issue doesn`t really matter if the palestinian 13:29  |  Kris Lazar 17/04/08   23.   Iran makes a better friend than Egypt RIGHT ??? 07:19  |  M. S. 18/04/08   24.   Iran is playing... 19:00  |  Timothy Kaminski 18/04/08

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