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Last update - 08:45 10/06/2008 Superfluous and harmful talk By Moshe Arens Tags: nuclear weapons, israel, iran  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is providing unlimited material for speeches and declarations by Israeli politicians. Some are useless, some are senseless and some are downright harmful. Not that nuclear weapons in the hands of the regime in Tehran would not present a danger to Israel. Ahmedinijad is not Hitler, and Iran is not Nazi Germany, but the destructive power of nuclear weapons is such that even in the hands of a Third World country, they have the potential of causing immense damage. Talk is not going to avert this danger. Whatever needs to be done is best done without publicity. But the subject is irresistible to Israeli politicians. It is grist for their mills and serves internal political purposes. First, the specter of a major war with Iran has been held up by our politicians as an imminent danger for the past two years, and has been used as an excuse not to do anything about the daily rocket attacks on Israeli civilians in the South. Why get bogged down in Gaza, they hint, when we are likely to be engaged in a major war in the North at any moment? Advertisement Second, the Iranian threat is presented as a good excuse for offering the Golan Heights to Syria. What is more important at this time than disrupting the alliance between Iran and Syria, and the Syrians might be tempted to move away from Iran in return for the Golan Heights, some of our politicians declare. Moving 30,000 Israelis from their homes seems to them a small price to pay for such an achievement. Even in the unlikely event of a severance of the present close ties between Iran and Syria were to occur, how it would avert the nuclear danger from Iran is left to speculation. Third, it is claimed, this is no time for an election. Even though the Olmert government failed miserably in leading the nation in the Second Lebanon War and has done next to nothing to protect the civilians in the South, still, it is argued, it should be allowed to hang on because of the Iranian war clouds on the horizon. We can't endure an election, Olmert's supporters argue, while the danger from Iran is staring us in the face. This kind of talk, superfluous and useless, may be no more than the usual scare-mongering the Israeli public has become used to. But the declarations from our leadership about the urgent need for the United States to act to avert the Iranian nuclear threat are downright harmful, especially when they are made in the U.S. They are harmful to the crucial U.S.-Israeli relationship, because they create the impression that Israeli leaders are trying to drag the U.S. into a military adventure in Iran. Attempts have already been made in the U.S. to portray Israel as having been responsible for America's involvement in Iraq. No need to add to that charge. What is more, the public calls from Israeli leaders that it is high time for the U.S. to do something about the Iranian nuclear project are less than useless. The American leadership is well informed about what the Iranians are doing, and while there may be some differences between Israeli and U.S. intelligence on that subject, the comparisons are best made secretly. It is true that nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran constitutes a danger not only to Israel, and the Middle East, but also to the rest of the world, and therefore to America's interests. But the Americans will do whatever they consider to be in the best interest of the U.S. You can depend on that. No amount of urging by Israeli politicians is going to change their decision. Publicity about our prime minister's visit to Washington to discuss the Iranian threat with the president of the U.S. can only do harm to both countries' interests. Nothing is served by this, except the domestic political interests of Israeli politicians, and that is not sufficient excuse for harming the long-term interests of Israel. The threat to Israel from nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran is well understood. The preparations that need to be made and the consultations that need to be held to contend with this eventuality should be conducted in secret. Nothing more needs to be said. There is probably no way of stopping our politicians from exploiting this subject, especially any time that Ahmadinejad gives them an opening by uttering another one of his threats against Israel. But keep America out of it. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Snoop Dogg in Israel American rapper Snoop Dogg slated to perform in Ramat Gan. Late date Scientists revive 2,000-year-old date seed found at Masada.   1.   It is all in a good cause! 08:56  |  Natallie Durson 10/06/08   2.   George Orwell and Israel 09:26  |  Clickfool 10/06/08   3.   Moshe Arens is essentially correct 09:49  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 10/06/08   4.   Puppet Master 09:55  |  Vinegar Hill, 10/06/08   5.   Moshe Arens left out a crucial point 09:56  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 10/06/08   6.   israel should so what it must 10:53  |  taxpayer 10/06/08   7.   #3 Cipora Juliana Kohn. 11:05  |  Maureen Ann 10/06/08   8.   #37, Maureen, you have no idea what it is you are talking about 11:48  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 10/06/08   9.   Natalie #1 11:50  |  Hilda 10/06/08   10.   Click the fool#2 11:55  |  Hilda 10/06/08   11.   #3 #4 12:00  |  Hukda 10/06/08   12.   moshe arens vs. common sense 12:00  |  eric 10/06/08   13.   You`re wrong, Hilda # 10 12:38  |  Clickfool 10/06/08   14.   # 5 Cipora J K 12:42  |  Vinegar Hill, 10/06/08   15.   LONG LIVE MOFAZ 12:58  |  indrajaya 10/06/08   16.   Arens: All Loud on the Eastern Front 13:43  |  Ronnie Wolman 10/06/08   17.   Hilda - I love your post! 13:49  |  Natallie Durson 10/06/08   18.   Hilda 13:58  |  Vinegar Hill, 10/06/08   19.   Hilda, ignore them 14:36  |  Dror 10/06/08   20.   I have to admire the arrogance..... 15:18  |  Johnboy 10/06/08   21.   # 5 Cipora Julianna Kohn 16:17  |  Bob 10/06/08   22.   For Dror #19 16:53  |  Clickfool 10/06/08   23.   Clickfool and Natalie 17:05  |  Yossi 10/06/08   24.   THE IRON DOME OVER SOUTHERN BORDERS 17:35  |  indrajaya 10/06/08   25.   Natallie #1 06:21  |  Ulrich 11/06/08   26.   #20, Johnboy 06:27  |  Bahmani 11/06/08   27.   22 Clickfool, Well said on both counts 11:04  |  Dutch 14/06/08   28.   #5 Cipora, Israel has no right to dictate to others 11:46  |  Dutch 14/06/08

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