Israel Update for September 2009

Referring to the Iranian President's absurd Holocaust denials, Netanyahu dramatically held up two original documents: The minutes of the infamous 1942 Wannsee Nazi conference where Adolph Hitler's mass slaughter of European Jews was mapped out, and the blueprints for the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps signed by Hitler's deputy, Heinrich Himmler (the PM was given the documents in August by German officials to place in Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum). He then chastised those UN delegations that remained in the chamber when Ahmadinejad issued his fresh "anti-Semitic rants," saying "For those who stayed, I say on behalf of the Jewish people-my people and decent people everywhere-have you no shame? No decency? What a disgrace, what a mockery of the charter of the UN."

The Israeli leader then spoke directly about Iran's menacing nuclear programme, insisting it could ignite a new global conflagration. He starkly warned that "If the most primitive fanaticism can acquire the most deadly weapons, the march of history can be reversed. This is why the greatest threat facing the world today is the marriage between religious fanaticism and weapons of mass destruction.. Is the UN up to that?"

The Plot Thickens

Just one day after PM Netanyahu's dramatic speech-denounced as over the top by some Israeli commentators but enthusiastically applauded by most-President Obama announced that Western powers possess concrete evidence that Iran has been secretly building a second uranium enrichment facility in an underground mountain bunker since 2006. The hidden Iranian facility, some 100 miles southeast of Tehran, could produce enough uranium for at least two nuclear bombs per year beginning in 2010, said security experts.

More ominously, the US leader stated for the first time that the Iranian regime is apparently aiming to construct nuclear weapons. Obama again expressed his opinion that Iran "has the right for peaceful nuclear power," but added that "the size of the facility is inconsistent with a peaceful programme."

Two days later, American Defense Secretary Robert Gates told ABC News that it was his "personal opinion that the Iranians have the intention of having nuclear weapons." He characterized the hidden facility as "part of a pattern of deception and lies on the part of the Iranians from the very beginning with respect to their nuclear programme."

Ahmadinejad denounced Obama's revelation (the White House later confirmed press reports that Western leaders have possessed intelligence about the clandestine facility for several years) and bellicosely averred that his country would "cut off any hand that dares to attack us." Two week before, former Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh of the Labor Party told the Jerusalem Post that "Israel will be compelled to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if Western powers do not impose serious sanctions against Teheran by the end of 2009."

The American leader's comments were followed by even stronger remarks from British PM Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Stating that Iran has been engaging in "serial deception," Brown warned Iranian leaders that "the time has come to draw a line in the sand. We will not let this matter rest." Sarkozy said Tehran has until December to "put everything on the table" or face new economic sanctions. Russian President Medvedev called the revelation "disturbing" and even China, which receives large oil supplies from Iran and usually quietly backs the Shiite regime, said Iran must cooperate with the UN Atomic Energy Agency over its demands to inspect the hidden facility. Three days later, Iran test fired missiles said to be capable of striking Israel, and held country-wide war games.

Meanwhile Israeli leaders strongly denounced a recent UN report condemning IDF military actions during last winter's clash with Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip. The Gladstone Report, named after the South African judge who conducted the probe, focused on the contention that Israel had committed "war crimes" during the conflict, while barely mentioning the years of unprovoked Hamas rocket attacks upon Israel that sparked off the "Cast Lead" operation. Netanyahu called the report a "travesty", noting that "not one UN resolution was passed over the years condemning Hamas rocket attacks deliberately aimed at Israeli civilians." Israeli officials said if the issue is brought to the World Court in the Netherlands, as many suggest, their ability to militarily disrupt terror plots and actions could be severely hampered. This would also affect many other countries attempting to thwart terror groups operating against them, including some Islamic nations like Egypt and Indonesia.

Closer to home, Iran's main Palestinian surrogate force, the Islamic Jihad terror group, fired a series of rockets into Israeli territory during September, causing no deaths or injuries but prompting Israeli return missile strikes upon underground weapons smuggling tunnels along the Gaza border with Egypt. The Air Force intercepted and killed three Islamic Jihad members attempting to fire additional rockets on September 25. The Palestinian group vowed harsh revenge against Israeli targets, which was quickly followed by fresh violence in Jerusalem where some 150 Muslims threw stones at Jewish worshipers at the Temple Mount. The action came just hours before the onset of Judaism's holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur.

Judaism's annual autumn holy days, including the upcoming Feast of Tabernacles celebration, serve to remind Israelis that they have a God who loves and watches over them while restoring them to their ancient homeland, as He promised to do many centuries ago. "Thus says the Lord God, 'I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I shall give you the land of Israel'" (Ezekiel 11:17).