Iran, Syria may talk a big talk, but too scared to act

s: "and for the hundredth time: it`s the brits who have illegally conquered australia and who have taken the land of the aborigines." Conquest and empire-building were perfectly legal in the 18th and 19th centuries, so there is absolutely **no** point in pointing back to the Days of Empire and bemoaning that Israel missed the boat. Israel is no more entitled to annex (or colonize) territory NOW than - gosh! - Britain or Australia are entitled to do it NOW. s: "first bring your own house in order, cj, before you command others!" *sigh* International Law as it is *now* is not retrospective. Britain, you may have noticed, is no longer the colonial master of the continent of Australia. Sovereignty rests with the Commonwealth of Australia and every aborigine is a fully-paid-up member of that commonwealth. Compare and contrast, as they say...

Israel once again has been left totally alone. Israel will attack this month. There is no other choice. As iran lies smolderizing in a concrete heap they will retaliate. Among all the missles they will mine the staights of hormuz. Once the flow of oil ceases, then we can welcome America to the war. Whether obama and his council of appeasers like it or not. In the end the world will be a better place.

Our slooow censor is here, so everything grinds to a halt. Slowman can`t move fast enough, so he skips posts. Why can`t you do it faster, Slowman? The other Haaretz censors are so much swifter. Is it because you are physically challenged? This may be true, but not reason enough to keep working in a job which you are not qualified to carry out. After years of work in Haaretz, you most likely have Kvi?ut (permanent job security). Why not tell your bosses that it is against your (human?) rights to do which you cannot perform. They will have to give you another assignment. In the meantime, do not try to understand the posts. Just look for key words and move on. You are the hidden disgrace of the good paper that Haaretz is.

Nobody planned on a 42+ year occupation. It was not foreseen. No plan survives first contact. and nobody's enemies perfectly cooperate in their own downfall. The US had to learn this lesson repeatedly. It would be unfortunate if Israel cannot ever learn it.

Every time Israel attacked and committed acts of evil and war crimes in the Middle East against its neighbors, it did it stealthfully as the writer clearly indicates. It seems that this time around it is the other way around. Israel is much talk and no action because it is UNABLE. Israel is past its zenith and Israelis have to come to grips of the new reality. Welcome to the age of Iran-Syria-Turkey.

what happens in certain universities is irrelevant to what happens in the real world. policies are decided by political leaders. western powers do not want a nuclear armed iran.

You are shill for the Iranian regime. Your argument that the Iranian protest movement wasn't home grown and sincere, but was rather a coup attempt by the US, doesn't pass the laugh test.

"The only voices of protest against Iran are those of politicians" The only? It is the world leaders who understand what is at stake, and they are the ones who take action. If University "protests" amounted to anything the US would never have invaded Iraq and Obama wouldn't have sent more troops to Afghanistan

"for the hundredth time: it`s the brits who have illegally conquered australia" Yes. The Brits. Part of the reason there has been a law ruling it inadmissible to acquire territory by war/force, since circa 1945. " and who have taken the land of the aborigines." No, Australia has it and is granting aboriginal land rights, which I fully agree with and actively support. "..first bring your own house in order.." A) I'm not British B) I fully support the Aboriginal cause. C) My family now has 3 generations of Aboriginal members, by marriage. D) If white Australians were to leave Australia (and I'd be headed to Israel, my Jewish homeland, with a didge) then Israel would withdraw to it's actual Sovereign boundaries and stop colonizing other folk's territories? Right? What a good idea. I see your point. Clever stuff.

"Nothing but mutual acknowledgement will be any good to anyone." tell this sentence to fatah and hamas who fight each other, to shiites and sunnites in irak who fight each other, to the taliban who fight the rest of the world, to the clans in sudan, etc. etc.

and for the hundredth time: it's the brits who have illegally conquered australia and who have taken the land of the aborigines. first bring your own house in order, cj, before you command others!

This column reminds me of something a high school student would write. OF COURSE Iran and Syria should "be afraid to act"! Israel is far more militarily powerful! That's not news. What is news is that you can't keep your stories straight. Either they (the Iranians) are fanatical armageddon lovers in which case the concept of MAD wouldn't apply or they're afraid of retalliation. If it's the latter, as the author boasts, then why the daily threats to attack Iran (and the begging of us to do it for you?)

You constantly talk-the-talk. Now walk-the-walk! I thank the heavens that the IDF generals know more than the ignorant and boastful talkbackers on this "forum". They seem to have no idea what they are in for if Israel attacks Iran. This is not the Gazans you will be playing with this time. And the Diaspora will suffer mightily, too.

...and, at the end of it, you have speculation. Naturally enough, when you speculate based on the speculations of other news services, it can get spectacularly speculative. Add a dash of Hasbara, repeat a few fallacies, here and there. Mix it in with some more UN-PROVEN speculation and bingo..a freshly churned out bit of rubbish passed off as journalism, but nothing more than another propaganda piece. IT IS Israel who has illegally acquired Syrian territory, Palestinian territory, illegally annexed, has not signed the NPT, is in breech of some 223 UNSC resolutions, has a leader who openly admits that Israel will continue to act outside the law by not returning Sovereign Syrian territory.

What the author is missing is the fact that these fundamentalists are COUNTING on confrontation in order to bring back the hidden immam. Can't you see that Israel is being baited?

Iran would like nothing better than for Israel to attack her, and takes every opportunity to degrade israel capacity and will to do so, of course Israel leaders should not buy into these incendiaries remarks, but to continue to presure the rest of the world, and particularly the UN security council to impose full-blown sanctions inmmediately-or they will have to bear the consiquences for whatever defensive means Israel takes...but let's not get ahead to any confrontation w/Iran, Israel survaillance should focus onwhat weapons of mass destruction Iran can deliver to Syria and Lebanon. It is from these two countries where any attempt to exterminate the Jews will be experimentel from.

It is the likes of Yoel Marcus who do Israel the most disfavour. The threats to other nations' survival and general well-being have the same bearing on those nations as the threats that Yoel attends to in his article. It is precisely such threats as those made by Yoel about Israel's abilities and willingness to use them that has made its enemies rush to match such capabilities. Yoel's (and similarly minded others) entirely misplaced macho stance can, ironically, only realise what he, and I, truly fear and wish to avoid. Those other nations too have national and survival interests that they feel are fundamentally threatened by Israel's powers. The repeated reference to Shia, Sunni and ruling minority (a purely Israeli benefit) has outlived its seditious purposes and is now being actively countered.Nothing but mutual acknowledgement will be any good to anyone. No man has ever monopolised utter destructive capabilities and cunning, but history has many wise ones who have mastered humanity

The place to put the thin edge of the wedge is Syria. Syria is allied with Iran for simple strategic reasons. It will not reduce that relationship until it has the major reason reduced. The endless threat from Israel. If Israel wants to ease the situation it should seek to ease relations with Syria. Until then the defensive alliance between Syria and Hizbollah and Iran will continue.

i think israel scares more than syria and iran.if there wasnt USa behind israel probably there woudnt be an israel country .but instead of israel trying to be a part of that region,it has been trying to be isolated form that place and gains more enemy.dont israel leaders think about what kind of future they will leave for thehir children ?what will happen to israel 100 years later if they keep having enemies more and more.. ? there must be a solution for peace..

is a nuclear armed Iran.

Marcus, as usual, will tell you what the public mood is now, or coming soon. That is his talent. But he is just lacking in analytical ability as is the general public. I see him as a personification of the "masses", lacking in any particular wisdom and run by emotions. Before the recent Lebanon war he was calling for blood like everybody else, then turned around when pointless deaths multiplied. Right now, there is no attack, so according to the "masses", the enemy is afraid. Some people learned from the surprise attack by Egypt in 1973 which at the time was seen as impossible, but the "masses" follow only the moment. That there are reasons for war is obvious: Syria wants its Golan, Iran wants a diversion from its nuclear program, and Hizballah wants to take over Lebanon (where Shiites now are almost a majority but held back by a population census of almost 80 years ago). Marcus should try to internalize Yogi Berra's saying: It ain't over till it's over.

She puts too much weight in civic society movements in the west, which despite being vociferous are not a lot. She is right in assuming that nobody in the west will trigger a war against Iran, but that does not mean that Israel will not do it. In that case, Durson assumes that the world will be against Israel because of oil prices. I am convinced that if misiles are dropped into Tel Aviv, America will stand with Israel. Despite oil prices that will go up for a while, the democratic world will have one clear picture in front of their faces which is stronger that oil prices. The people that suffered the holocaust are fighting back the great Satan: a horrible dictatorship that criminilizes its own people. The Christian Majority in America will be delighted... and most people in Europe will buy that. Russian and China will not move a finger for Iran, and both American and Israel will strike Iran in such a way that Teheran will hardly want to play with fire again.

You are far removed from reality. You often read in Haaretz of the grass roots protests against Israel at universities and various associations. You see none of this against Iran. The only voices of protest against Iran are those of politicians. These are mainly for form, because none of them have the will to attack Iran and most have said so. This makes the "pre-occupation with Iran" simply a matter of posing. There is endless talk of sanctions until the moment that Iran develops nukes. At that point, the sanctions will be replaced with wooing.

Especially those that require political remedies. Iran and Hizbollah will both accept the decision of the Palestinians if they decide to conclude an agreement with Israel. Syria will mimic Egyptian behaviour toward Israel if they too reach agreeement on the Golan. So logically one might expect a country that is not politically moribund to enter wholeheartedly into negotiations the PA, to encourage some reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah and pick up where they were immediately after the Palestinian elections. Once these two issues are dealt with [2 State and Golan]neither Iran nor Hizbollah can gain any traction via Hamas and Israel loses its 'existential' excuse. Of course, Israeli politics as always is founded on the principle of lowest common denominator. They unite for war and 'existential' dangers but divide over anything else. Hence, no political future for those who want to defang enemies by statesmanship but security of tenure for those who prefer war.

Once again, this " Israeli occupation" crap rears it's head. Why doesn't Jordan and Syria carve out the land from their modern borders so as to create a Palestinian State, lands of which were pre-1948 Palestine? Israel created millions of refugees living in slums.....let's see - for all of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, Israel should provide you with a means of living, housing, water, electricity, etc so that you can continue to smuggle rockets, guns and suicide bombers into israel. That makes a lot of sense. Are the people who make this argument really that stupid?

By the tone of your argument, It appears as though you want the Iranians to get the bomb. Do you have the intellect to fully grasp what that would mean?

...but no action , just talking and bluffing. US has to allow israel to attack because of their awacs systems.If they allow that then all hell breaks loose on the US and israel in the region.

"Is all that factored in if you preempt?" If we premept it will factored my dear as always. "A shame for you that Israel missed out on the right of conquest. " Don't change everything upside down. Who wants to conquer, what we need is a true peace, and we offered certain times. The bottom line is Arabs did not accept to live side by side with Jews and would never accept to live in peace. The prove is, simply look at the Hamas charter. What you and your Arab brothers illusion's was and is, Arabs are the majority, Arabs has more weapons, Arab should have to won these wars. The result is Arabs are sure to won then attack. The reality is you had loosed al these wars. If you dare to attack or kidnapped another soldier we'll show to all what the hell is this world. Aby

as history books tell us, israel wasnt out for a 42 + occupation in 1967 but wanted to make peace with the arab neighbours. however, the arabs responded to israel's peace offer with the famous three no's of khartoum, what means, the arabs didnt want to have their land back by peaceful means. they didnt get that the right of conquest was over but tried again in 1973 to conquer israel (after they didnt manage in 1948 and 1967).

nattering nonsence seems to be your speciality. concerning your question "who is too scared to act?" i would respond: in any case not the iranian oposition. however, look what the iranian regime has done with those people of the opposition. that's just a little pretaste of what iran will do with syria when syria doesnt behave as iran wants it to behave!

Ahmet, Cipora is not blind but you are. You've been teached the muslim version of history. Google a little you'll learn the true history. Israel does not occupied, but it had to occupy these lands. Israel for a true peace gave back the whole Sinai, and offered Gaza strip to Egypt which Egypt did not accepted. Israel in 2000 offered Arafat the whole WestBank and half of Jerusalem and accepted the right of return for 200000 people. What Arafat wanted was the right of return of 4 million arabs to Israel which it means the end of Israel. Do you know that almost the same number refugees have been created in 1948. Jews had to have to flew away from the Arab countries that were living, leaving all the properties and wealth in the Arab lands. There was nothing here before 60 years. In 60 years we have created miracles. In this time, what did have done the muslims for their Arab brothers. Just nothing, in the mean time your innocent brothers had gifted suicade bombers to the world

ahmadinejihad behaves like a wolf in sheep's clothing vis-a-vis syria, what means, first he is friendly but at the end he will try to eat the sheep called syria. therefore syria better should make peace with israel instead of bowing in front of iran.

...goes on telling her fairytales without taking into consideration the real facts and the complexity of the topic.

in view of your response i wonder whether you've read at all the opinion piece....

First, show some evidence that Iran is actually building a bomb. You have been complaining about them longer than it took the US to conceive, invent, and build its first 10 nukes, none of which could fit on even one missile. Where is the bomb factory? We know it is not Netanz or Qom. And the US has been doing things to Iran, including proxy wars for 30+ years. Where do you think Saddam got his first WMDs? Don't try to appear so naive. It's not a convincing act. If you or the Israeli government miscalculate, are you willing to accept the consequences? Are you sending your kids or going yourself? Or are you just willing to spend Israeli and Iranian lives based on a theory that is still unproven? Moshe Dayan didn't plan a 42+ year occupation in 1967. I don't think the US has given 100,000 Patriots to Israel. Production is not that great. Nobody is perfect, not even Netanyahu.

Miss Durson has been dreaming about Obama's taking action against Israel. Nothing has happened and nothing will happen. Any attempt of sanctions against israel will be blocked in the S C by the United States. In the meantinme obama is involved in three wars, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen, and probably Iran. Miss Durson talks about Israel swallowing territories while Israel abides by the 242. It has given back Sinai, it has returned lands to Jordan and it has abandoned Gaza. In short abides by the law.

i am always amazed when citizens of countries that have been among builders of empires and have killed countless humans then accuse israel of injustices. israel has made peace with egypt and with jordan. both egypt and jordan respect israel's sovereignty. israel withdrew from lebanon and from gaza. yet hezbollah and hamas continued to attack israel and violate her sovereignty. now please explain to us what business does iran have threatening israel. what give iran the right to fighting proxy wars against israel. did israel ever attack iran? Salaam Ahmet.

He lost it when the Mossad tried to murder Khalid Mesh'al in Jordan and the Jordanians threatened to execute the agents. Bibi backed down very promptly. He's just a windbag.

there shouldn't be any problems bringing these assassines to justice and the US should be worried with the facts that two of the assassines found it safe to enter the US on forged passports right after the assassination. Interpol is now being "asked" by the US, Austria, Germany, Britan, Ireland and Australia to pursue the case, how much can Israel do to stop it? Not much is the answer. Who prepaid the Meta Bank drafts should be a start. 11 different fingerprints will help at identification and the doctoring of the passports have already been undoctered and bio scans are run through the system. All roads leads to Israel and sooner or later, if the political will is there,the murderes will be identified.

Idiot the man who listens even a little fraction of your nonsense.

You mean this sneaky assassination? What was James Bond style about it?

Cipora, are you blind to see that whatever attack has been made on Israel and whatever threat made today is because of Israels occupation of another people, because they are on land that doesnt belong to them, because israel created millions of refugees living in slum and because israel is brutal and kills and destroys and paralyses innocent people. the list goes on and on.Simple as that!

according to your own calculation, iran has 10,000-15,000 conventional missiles. iran also has proxies armed with at least 100,000 missiles, some very sophisticated. what do you think will happen once iran has nuclear bombs which can be mounted on some of those missiles. do not forget that iran has been fighting proxy wars against both the u.s. and israel for years.

Your own intel people keep telling you that Hezbollah has 15,000 missiles. How many does Syria have? How many does Iran have? How good is their targeting? Do they have conventional warheads or non-nuke fuel-air-explosive warheads? Is all that factored in if you preempt? In 1967, did you factor in a 42-year + occupation and the resultant loss of Israeli lives? Don't be so cocky Danny Boy. A shame for you that Israel missed out on the right of conquest. That ended when the US and its allies put some people out of business in 1945. There were some trials in 1946-7 and some subsequent treaties later that even your country signed. Maybe you should read some, too. Try Google to start; it's not bad.

Great article! Yoel Marcus is right about Syria having a lot to lose by any attack on Israel.The problem lies with Iran/Syrian proxies, such as hizbollah and hamas, who don't mind at all shooting from within civilian areas, from the moment Iran orders them to do so.It wouldn't be too farfetched to suppose a scenario in which both hamas and hizbollah decide to wage an all-out war against Israel, even without Syria's consent. From that moment on, since Syria already has sent enough weapons to both groups, these groups cannot be stopped from attacking Israel.In other words, even though Syria might not want them - for now - to act against Israel (e.g.and keep both groups in reserve as a deterrence against any direct Israeli attack on Syria)Syria might be dragged into an all-out war with Israel against its will.The Damascus conference clearly shows that both Syria and Iran are worried.Hiz

israelis are the ones who are scared and paranoyed ...and they ought to be . every month there,s military drills , masks are being distributed to israelis , bunkers and shelters are ready to accomodate israelis . diplomats and leaders are roaming the world trying to convince others of the danger facing israel . so , who is scared ?

...Syria was, and remained for the last 60 years, a rabid enemy of Israel, even when others calmed down. The only reason I do not extrapolate that into the future is that Rabin, and now Barak, want peace with Syria. What, and how they thought to achieve it is a mystery to me. Particularly when Assad's father reason to maintain the state of war was to be able to wash his feet in the Kinneret...our only lake that is synonym with Israel itself!

nuttie sets israels borders and then pronounces judgement upon them ! it is israel who is too scared to use the means of total destruction of her local enemeies !

Israel fully understands the dynamics of the Iranian threat. Having failed in its efforts to inflict damage on Israel through its proxies - succeeding in only inflicting damage on the proxies themselves, they are aware that Israel has them in its sites. Nevertheless Iran is too far down the path to turn around. Iran is banking on the US restraining Israel, but the point of this article is to inform Iran that this calculation is a big mistake. Netanyahu is not the kind of leader to lose his nerve.

How was Israeli expanded its borders? By handing back Sinai, pulling out of Southern Lebanon and evacuating Gaza etc..?? What a funny way of expanding one's borders.

When the Jews finally make good on their threats to start another war we'll see if Persia takes it like the unarmed women and children of Gaza. Maybe Israel's infrastructure will resemble Beirut's. We'll see. The only quacking comes from Nuttyahoo and Limburger. Salaam/Shalom

In 1948 7 Arab countries attacked us, in 67 5 Arab countries attacked us, in 73 2 Arab countries attacked us. They kept losing and lost land LIKE ANY OTHER WAR IN HISTORY, LOOSERS PAY. They lost their land because of these wars. There is nothing preemptive about that. And hey Marky, they are not going to get it back with war only if they talk peace with us. Sorry.

Assad dumbhead`s intentions and actions will only drive peace away. His stupidity and hatred is what you see now. It is the true Syria. How his actions are contributing to peace, tell me? I guess I will be waiting for a long time for you to bash him the way you bash Israel day and night.

as usual, you make up fantasies out of pure cloth. israel has never attacked iran. it is iran that has attacked israel through its proxies. your attempt to claim that iran is not a threat to the world is belied by the pre-occupation of the world community with iran. iran has been exporting its terror since the establishment of the islamic republic. many americans have lost their lives as a result of iran's terror acts. admiral mullen has said that iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons. as for syria, it is till under u.s. sanctions. those sanctions were imposed and have been maintained because of syria's terror acts against u.s. troops in iraq.

To #5 I agree with every word. Its all primitive and tribal. but mostly just sad; and in this piece, Markus is sad.

responses, they still try to threaten and cow Israel. They believe Israel of forty years ago is gone. This is far from the truth. Israel is in more jeopardy than 40 years ago because of missles, but its resolve to act is firmer than ever. People forget that a destruction of one city in Israel will result in the massive destruction of several attacking cities. Do you think Teheran will continue to exist if a missles or two hit Tel Aviv....or will Damascus exist if it sends missles to tel Aviv? The 2006 Lebanese war was just a preview.

one clock is the iranian development of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them and -- the demonstration that they are present. the other is the clock ticking for the iranian regime. the iranians actually are speeding up their demise by the pursuit of nuclear weapons, as it causes sanctions to gather steam. its a desperate game. the frightening part is whether the iranians will ignite a conflagration to stop their clock from reaching midnight. then....there is one more clock. that is the clock until the end of barack obama, which if the republicans can play their cards right, will end in november 2012. a republican might be much less afraid to hit iran. with luck, the iranians will not see this third clock. in the end, this is a good strategy by netanyahu -- there is no need to hit iran, yet. but sanctions will hasten the end of the regime and if not, then 2012 will be around the corner.

Iran will one day miscalculate.

It is a common deceit on the part of right wingers to paint their enemies as enemies of the world. This doesn't pass the laugh test, especially regarding Israel because it is Israel that is expanding outside its borders and oppressing the local Arab population. It is Israel that merits the attention of its enemies, not the world. truly though, the world is partly responsible for protesting Israels actions too gently. Israel should be isolated by the world. This will no doubt happen in time. We can clearly see the trend. Still, Yoel Marcus hasn't a bad word to say of Israels actions. He does condemn Israels victims when they raise a hand to resist. Yoel Marcus lacks all credibility except, perhaps to those who are already like minded. Who is too scared to act? We will know the answer when Iran has the bomb.

The fact is that Israel and Syria have good reason to make peace. The fact is that Israel has no current desire to negotiate with Syria and has no interest in peace with Syria. So Israel and Syria may talk big, but both are too scared to act. Yoel Marcus is guilty of the kind of faulty and malevolent journalism which any decent person would despise. There is NO advantage to either Israel OR Syria with any continuation of the state of war between them. Israel can afford to the cost of military threat to Syria, and Syria cannot afford the cost of remaining a threat to Israel. Perhaps this is the source of Yoel Marcus's perverse threat. The Israeli right might want a murderous war with Syria for sick reasons, but I see no benefit for anyone in such a perverse exercise. The Israeli right might see THEIR future in endless war, but no SANE nation can see anything but self-destruction in endless war which has nothing to do with national survival.

They come and threaten us and we are supposed to be afraid. The problem for them is we have been threatened so many times and when they eventually carry out their threats they end up the same way that they promised us.

must be talking about israel, yoel marcus is confused somebody wake him up!

'Axis of evil.' Do you still wear pinafores as well? Got any barbershop quartets? You wish. The good old days are gone. Never to return.

Iran may have adopted a launch on warning doctrine. And Israel always has it's bogus preemptive doctrine that produced an occupation of 42+ years. Neither Iran nor Israel has considered beyond the initial attack or retaliation. Neither has considered the consequences of a real war, except what they think they can do to the other side if the other side shoots first. Just for a moment consider if Iran has 10 to 15,000 conventionally armed missiles and doesn't take kindly to being attacked. Sure Israel can obliterate Iran, afterward. But what if you miscalculate? And they are ready and capable of a conventional non-nuclear response?