Blogs For Victory

And this will complicate matters greatly for an American President who wants to talk to the terrorists and their Iranian sponsors:

The latest poll predicts Likud receiving 27 mandates, Kadima 23, and Labor 17 on election day, but with the Likud-led Center-Right bloc far in front of the Center-Left bloc led by Kadima and Labor. Yet Netanyahu isn’t resting easy these days as another right-wing party — Yisrael Beiteinu — led by Avigdor Lieberman, a nationalist and Russian immigrant, continues to gain on him, coming in with 17 mandates in the poll.

Indeed, on Tuesday, Netanyahu made an impromptu visit to the site of the rocket strike in Ashkelon and spoke with a nationalistic ring, averring that, “A government under my leadership will overthrow the Hamas rule in Gaza and bring about a cessation of rocket fire. The policy of blindness followed in the past years has brought us to this situation. When action was finally taken, the IDF performed wonderfully. But the Livni-Kadima government did not allow the IDF to finish the job….”

Political wrangling aside, Netanyahu and Lieberman are both doing well because the approach represented by Kadima and Labor — based on restraint in the face of terror, reliance on foreign forces and monitors (Egyptian, European, Lebanese) to look out for Israel’s security, and a diffident, apologetic mindset — no longer persuades the majority of Israelis amid ongoing attacks. Netanyahu, who has implied that Israel will go it alone against Iran if necessary, also warned Obama against relying too much on dialogue with the mullahs. Israel knows there isn’t that kind of wiggle room.

Netanyahu, as well as many others in Israel, realize that Iran’s government poses an existential threat to the lives of all Israelis. As long as the mullahs rule Iran, the Israelis will not be able to live in assurance that tomorrow they’ll still be alive. Israel’s immediate neighbors – Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – have come to the realistic conclusion that Israel’s conventional military force would be prohibitively expensive in lives and treasure to defeat in open battle and that with Israel having nuclear forces at her disposal, any attempt to build such weapons to destroy Israel at a blow would be suicidal. Iran’s government doesn’t seem to have such a rational view of things.

It must be kept in mind that Israel is a tiny country – even just two or three nuclear weapons detonated in Israel would effectively destroy the nation. Meanwhile, those who have the capability of seriously hitting the United States with nuclear weapons are rational – Chinese and Russians leaders don’t believe God is on their side and thus know that a nuclear exchange with the United States is insane. North Korea’s leaders are a bit insane, but they don’t have the actual capability of hitting us, and even if they do it would only be with one or two missiles, which can be intercepted by our SDI system. We’re pretty safe from a nuclear attack – except from some terrorists bringing nukes into America, which is something we do have to be concerned with…but, even then, one or two such nukes won’t destroy America. Its all different for Israel.

Their life – as a people, as a nation – is at stake here. And its not a matter of Iran having a nuclear weapon atop a missile in Iran capable of hitting Israel…its Iran having several nuclear weapons in southern Lebanon or in Gaza which could hit Israel in seconds, destroying the whole nation. Israel’s submarine force would then destroy Iran, but good would that do for the Israeli nation, now destroyed? Would Iran do such a thing? If you were the Prime Minister of Israel, how far would you gamble on the rationality of the mullahs?

President Obama wants to talk to Iran – presuming that contacts, dialogue and the prospect of normalized relations will lance the Iranian boil. Could be – hope it is so; but that is me, an American, sitting here safe and dry. Israel can’t be so calm and hopeful about matters – shortly will come the time of decision: does Israel place its bets on President Obama’s ability to diplomatically convince Iran to mend its ways, or does Israel place its bets on the IDF?

It is to be hope that President Obama is keenly aware that whatever time he has to make a deal with Iran, it is short – and it had better be iron-clad for Israel’s security.