Iran should go nuclear to stop Israel

Three rounds of high level indirect talks on Iran's nuclear program have taken place in Muscat and Rome since 12 April, between America and Iran, with Oman as mediator, with the outcomes of the talks shrouded in secrecy. The background to these talks is the demand from the Trump administration that Iran dismantles its uranium enrichment program on pain of being bombed 'like hell'. To back up this threat, six B-2 bombers have been sent to Diego Garcia, an American  base in the Indian ocean that can be the launching pad for aerial bombardment using bunker buster bombs. As part of the preparation for attack on Iranian nuclear sites, another aircraft carrier has been sent to join the US naval fleet in East Mediterranean. AWACS planes for reconnaissance have been sent to American base in Iraq which has seen reinforcements of men in uniform and military hardware, some shifted from American base in Syria. Meanwhile, an attack plan by Israel, using bombers for taking out Iranian air defence system and commandos for ground operations, has been leaked inadvertently and published in New York Times. The strategy adopted by Trump administration has become clear: talk the Iranians out of their nuclear program through discussion, failing which a joint-operation will be launched by America and Israel to wipe out the nuclear sites that have reportedly enriched uranium up to 66 per cent of the degree required to make a bomb. The bolstering of numbers of American soldiers in Iraq and plan for commando operation by Israel revealed in latest news leakages indicate that the goal of the joint US-Israeli attack is not only destruction of nuclear research facilities but also a regime change in Iran, as was done in Iraq in 2002.

On paper, America appears to be inclined to a negotiated settlement which makes Iran agree to limit uranium enrichment to 3.5 per cent and to send the present stock of enriched uranium to a third country. But Israel's goal goes beyond this as it is keen to destroy all nuclear facilities underground in Iran so that it can never re-start a nuclear program. It is has been reported in New York Times that during the last visit to Washington, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, wanted to have the green signal for  attacking  Iran in May. But because of differences of opinion among his advisors, President Trump reportedly opted for negotiation first, making Netanyahu unhappy. 

Why is Israel so obsessed with the idea that Iran cannot be allowed to have not only nuclear bombs, but also nuclear research facilities that have the potential to enrich uranium? Why indeed did it destroy the nuclear bomb-making sites in Iraq and later in Syria?  These cannot be for defence of Israel because, though Israel does not admit, the whole world knows that the country has a stockpile  of 90 nuclear bombs. The only plausible reason for not allowing neighbouring countries to have nuclear bombs is to dissuade them from any military response as it pursues its occupation of Palestinian land and annexation of neighbouring territories, both for expansion of Jewish settlements. Settlements of Jews in occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are going apace since long. With right-wing Likud having a majority in Knesset (parliament) and messianic extreme right-wing parties in the coalition government for the past three years, settlement in occupied Palestine land has been accelerated. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, the idea of 'Greater Israel'  has been resurrected by the coalition government for geographical expansion of Israel to restore the kingdom of Israel that broke up in two in 931 BCE and then disappeared as Jews were driven out  by conquering powers, the last of which was the Roman empire in 63 BCE.

As the Jewish population settled in European cities, creating a diaspora and earning the moniker of 'wandering Jews', Arabs settled in Palestine under Arab conquerors. In the Middle  Ages, under the Ottoman  empire, only a handful of Jews remained in Palestine, concentrated in Jerusalem. Though the movement for Israel state began in twentieth century, the movement for Jewish people to return to the Holy Land started earlier. Unable to integrate with local population because of their clannishness and pecuniary habits, the Jews in Europe were hated and often persecuted, the worst of which happened in Russia that saw several pogroms (massacres) in various cities. With this recurring experience many Jews began to subscribe  to Zionism,  the belief that Jews should return to 'Holy Land', the Judaism-centred state. As the popularity of Zionism grew, Jews in increasing numbers migrated to Palestine in the 1880s, setting-up agricultural settlements, indicating the liberal policy of the Ottoman rulers. A decade later, Theodore Herzl, a Zionist leader, published a journal promoting the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine. Under his initiative the first Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland in 1897 and political Zionism was born.

At the turn of twentieth century, another wave of Jewish migration from east Europe took place, following acts of violence against them. Many of the immigrants were bankrolled by wealthy Jews in America and Europe. The British government offered territories in its African colonies for a Jewish state but the Jews wanted to settle in their Biblical Holy Land - Palestine. In the first half of twentieth century the Zionist movement strived to gain support from Jews and non-Jews and succeeded in both respects. In November 2, 1917, Arthur Balfour, the then British foreign secretary, declared that Britain would do everything in its power to create a Jewish state in Palestine. He made the declaration in a letter to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jews, which becomes famous 'Balfour Declaration'.  This declaration led to another wave of large Jewish migration to Palestine, still under the Ottomans.

After the First World War, the British government got control of Palestine as a mandatory state. The British government consecutively decided that Palestine would be partitioned to create two states, one for the Jews and the other for Palestinian Arabs. In 1937, the Peel Commission, set up by the British government, recommended for the partition of the mandatory state of Palestine. In a letter to his son later that year, David Ben-Gurion, the future first prime minister of Israel, wrote: "The partition would be acceptable but as a first step. This increase in possession of land is of consequence not only in itself, but because through it we increase   our strength and every increase in strength help in the possession of land as a whole. The establishment of a state ,even if on a portion  of  the land, is the maximal reinforcement  of our strength at present time and a powerful   boost to our  historical  endeavour to  liberate the entire country." He was not the only Jewish leader who would harboured expansionism as a state ideology.

The British controlled Palestine as a mandatory state after the Peace Treaty in 1918 for several decades. In 1948, on a proposal from the British government the UN divided Palestine in to the state of Israel and the Palestine state, leaving demarcation of boundaries to be decided later. But Israel declared independence without waiting for demarcation of borders. Jewish settlers and militias drove Palestinian Arabs away from Haifa and other   towns and villages, grabbing land, right and left. Their victory against the Arab countries that followed the declaration of independence left only the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and Sinai under the control of Jordan and Egypt. Thus the new state of Israel came to have de facto borders since its establishment. Legally speaking, the whole of Israel is in unlawful occupation but with the support of Western countries this legalese has been sidestepped and Israel is recognised as a member state of the UN.

After the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Israel occupied Gaza, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Sinai and the Golan Heights. Though Sinai was given back to Egypt under the 1993 peace treaty, the rest of the conquered   territory has remained under Israeli occupation. The Golan Heights and East Jerusalem have been annexed and shown as part of Israel.

After the Hamas incursion on 7 October, 2023, and subsequent Israeli onslaught against Palestinians in Gaza with full support of its Western allies, Benjamin Netanyahu not only vowed to destroy Hamas but also declared that Israel would change the map of Middle-East. The last part of his declaration reveals the Zionist design to carve out a greater Israel, harking back to the Biblical time. Unlike the Labour party, the Likud party (to which Netanyahu belongs) has always subscribed to the Zionist vision of greater Israel that includes West Bank and Gaza. In the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Jewish settlers have long been financed and their settlements on Palestinian lands given official recognition. During the on-going genocide in Gaza, Palestinians in the West Bank are being systematically displaced to make room for more settlers. It is only a matter of time after  which Israel is going to annex the whole of the West Bank, squeezing Palestinians in an ever narrowing  space. That the war in Gaza against Hamas is actually a blatant and cruel act of ethnic cleansing has become obvious to all. President Trump's quip about turning Gaza into a Mediterranean Riviera is only a twist of the same macabre design.

The Biblical Greater Israel in the imagination of the Zionist Israelis, is not confined to Palestine alone. It includes Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, eastern  part of Egypt, northern Saudi Arabia and Syria. The map of greater Israel that of late has gone viral in YouTube shows the borders of Israel stretching from 'brook of Egypt to Euphrates', with Saudi Arabia in the middle. It may appear as unreal and an exercise in fantasy. But Israel has already started changing the map of the region to fit into the vision of Zionists. Taking advantage of the political turmoil in post-Assad Syria, Israel has promptly occupied more of Syrian territory beyond the Golan Heights. In Lebanon, it continues to hold land in the south with loud thinking heard by all who cares to know that it plans to settle Israelis as a buffer zone. But for Turkey, Israel would have gobbled Syria up under the pretext of security with the blessing of America.

Israel is not in a hurry to resurrect greater Israel as described in Genesis, Exodus and Numbers in Old Testament. The right-wing Zionists, who are now at the helm of affairs, know that time is on their side. The Arab states are politically shaky, economically stagnant  and militarily weak. What is more important for Israel, the Arab states lack unity and solidarity. The  countries that posed a military threat to its supremacy, Iraq and Libya, have been rendered  impotent. Syria, with the help of Russia and Iran, caused headache but its military assets have now been reduced to rubbles and ashes with carpet bombing after the overthrow of Assad.

Only one country remains to challenge Israel's territorial expansionism and military supremacy in the region and that is Iran. If it develops a nuclear arsenal, Israel's ambition to lord it over as the only super power in the Middle-East will be dashed to the ground. Its dream of recreating greater Israel, as promised in Torah, will remain unfulfilled. The only way the obstacle raised by Iran is to deny it nuclear bombs. Hence all the frantic preparations for  bombing  the nuclear sites  in  collaboration with its staunchest ally, America. Knowing this, Iran must not balk at doing whatever is needed to level up with the rogue state in military might or give in to threats by its warmongering ally. The Arab countries should stand, shoulder to shoulder, with Iran. It is the only country now that can stand up to a bully like Donald Trump and a convicted war criminal like Netanyahu.

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