WHAT DID NETANYAHU TELL OBAMA?

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

If there is one issue that has been identified with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu more than any other, it’s the Iranian nuclear threat. Netanyahu is the one who invented the concept of “the axis of evil.” He’s the one who turned the Iran issue into an election slogan, declaring that the nuclear crisis is top priority on his policy agenda. * Rabbi Sholom Ber Crombie, Chabad Shliach in Jerusalem and Political Analyst, discusses the recent meeting between President Barack Obama and Bibi Netanyahu.

If there is one issue that has been identified with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu more than any other, it’s the Iranian nuclear threat. Netanyahu is the one who invented the concept of “the axis of evil.” He’s the one who turned the Iran issue into an election slogan, declaring that the nuclear crisis is top priority on his policy agenda.

Now, zero hour has arrived. In recent months, discussions on the issue of attacking the reactor have reached a new phase. Well-informed commentators classified last week’s meeting between Netanyahu and Obama as one of the most critical summits that any Israeli prime minister has ever had with the President of the United States. Even without being in the conference room together with these two heads of state, everyone knows what happened there. Netanyahu tried to convince Obama that an Israeli attack on Iran is an absolute necessity. For his part, Obama claimed that we must utilize the option of internationally imposed sanctions to the fullest. However, beyond the question of whether these sanctions will work, there’s a totally different question that we must face. American policy suggests that we can live with a nuclear Iran, and there is no need to take Ahmadinejad’s threats seriously. The United States claims that the world has been living peacefully with a nuclear North Korea for years, and while its leaders have also been operating in a most illogical manner, nevertheless, they have never sought to use their nuclear weapons against the world.

In contrast, Netanyahu reminded Obama that the example of North Korea brings clear proof that there is no chance to stop an insane leader through the imposition of sanctions. Even North Korea has previously promised on more than one occasion that it will renounce its atomic weapons program in exchange for American assistance. Yet, their nuclear reactor remains active to this day.

WHAT TAKES PRIORITY: ERETZ YISROEL’S SECURITY OR OBAMA’S RE-ELECTION?

Even in Israeli circles, the argument for and against attacking the Iranian reactor continues. When Netanyahu arrived last week at the AIPAC Conference in Washington, he didn’t come alone. The speech preceding President Obama was delivered by Shimon Peres. In his speech, Peres fulfilled his official role as president of Israel, calling upon the American president to join all efforts against the Iranian regime as part of his nation’s commitment to the security of Eretz Yisroel. However, just a week earlier, Peres issued a very different declaration to the press, in which he opposed any discussion of a raid against Iran without U.S. assistance.

This is the same Shimon Peres who opposed the attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor during the days of Menachem Begin’s government. A few days before the attack, then-Opposition Leader Peres sent a clear and unambiguous message to Prime Minister Begin that if Eretz Yisroel dares to launch an attack against Iraq, it will encounter serious diplomatic problems, facing the likelihood of a dangerous war while being totally isolated at the international level. However, Begin took no heed of Peres’ threats and ordered the attack. We all know the results.

In all Israeli discussions on this matter, the nagging question persists: Are we prepared to stand alone before the world in our own defense, or do we have to wait for world approval to protect ourselves? Obama has all the reasons he needs to oppose such an attack. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate is about to launch his campaign for re-election, and according to all estimates, an Israeli attack against Iran will send fuel prices soaring and severely harm the projected recovery of the American economy – an ominous sign in the upcoming U.S. presidential campaign. This brings us to yet another question: Do we have to consider the implications upon the President’s campaign for re-election, or can we stand solid before the world as a people with a firm enough backbone to defend ourselves, particularly in the belief that “the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps?”

Netanyahu, who complains today about current world opposition to an attack, claiming that America is tying his hands behind his back, is the one who brought Eretz Yisroel to this precarious situation. He always declared that the Iranian nuclear threat is the world’s problem, not the problem of the government of Israel. Now he’s facing the harsh results from this declaration. If this is our problem, the world tells him, then we’ll deal with it as we see fit. Yet, most regrettably, no foreign government is prepared to dirty its own hands to protect us.

LEARNING FROM HISTORY

Throughout the international campaign on the nuclear issue, there have also been some rays of light. On more than one occasion, it appeared that the world would mobilize on the right side and stand behind its obligations to defend our security. The problem is that no country will jump into the turbulent waters alone if Israel will not proclaim that it will defend itself regardless of the cost, even if American fuel prices go sky high.

This is the same Shimon Peres who opposed the attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor. A few days before the attack, he sent a message to Prime Minister Begin that if Eretz Yisroel dares to launch an attack against Iraq, it will encounter serious diplomatic problems, facing the likelihood of a dangerous war while being totally isolated at the international level. However, Begin took no heed of Peres’ threats and ordered the attack. We all know the results…

Israeli government policymakers have a longstanding obligation to learn from the history of the last several decades that there’s only one way to enlist international support on the right side. It’s inconceivable that the government of Israel should speak in vacillating tones, afraid to stand up before the world on its right of self-defense, expecting other nations to do this for us. Why should President Obama be compelled to confront his own country’s economists, thereby placing his presidency at risk, if Netanyahu is unwilling to confront his country’s president and inform him that there can only be one clear position on the Iranian threat? Eretz Yisroel must attack with full force and destroy the atomic devices held by those who threaten us so savagely.

Netanyahu has been given a golden opportunity to enter the annals of history, and he can do it without causing harm to the Jewish settlers in Yehuda and Shomron or destroying a single outpost. All he has to do is practice what he always used to preach at every Likud party rally before the last elections: remove the Iranian threat over our lives. If Mr. Netanyahu is concerned over a painful military conflict, he simply has to recall the miracles that G-d did for us in all our recent wars. Our victories in the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War were also above and beyond nature. In the end, G-d always showed how He is the Master. Yet, as long as leaders act in a proper manner, even more lives can be saved and victory can be achieved more swiftly. By the same token, when our leaders wait around and try to run a war with a defeatist mentality, we end up paying for this policy in blood.

THE REBBE’S LESSON ON AMERICAN DIPLOMACY

Binyamin Netanyahu loves to quote the words the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, said to him during their joint meetings when he was Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations and later as deputy minister for foreign affairs. It would be appropriate for Netanyahu to take a lesson from what the Rebbe taught him regarding diplomatic relations with the United States. The Rebbe often explained that it is against the nature of the United States to have respect for a country that has no respect for itself…  In all his meetings with Israeli diplomats, the Rebbe stated that America only has respect for those who stand up for their beliefs, not those who say one thing and mean something else.

If Netanyahu truly wants to do the right thing and save millions of Jews in Eretz HaKodesh from the Iranian threat, he must implement what he learned from the Rebbe on American diplomacy. The prime minister must stand strong before the world and proclaim that since the citizens of Eretz Yisroel “desire life,” they will not allow any nation to threaten their existence without that nation suffering a painful price.

The prime minister must understand that Eretz Yisroel is not run according to the laws of nature. Therefore, we merely have to make the effort, and with G-d’s help, we will be victorious!