Column One: Israel’s daunting task

By CAROLINE B. GLICK
04/06/2010

Iran’s nuclear weapons program is the stick it now wields to coerce the Arab wor
ld to bow to its will - and it also offers an attractive carrot.

The ferocity and speed of the current international assault on Israel has left t
he government in a daze. Statements from our leadership are marked by confusion.
This reaction is understandable. Everywhere Israel turns it is met with hostili
ty.
Turkey – which just a decade ago was Israel’s most important regional ally – has
taken a leadership position next to Iran in the Islamist and global assault aga
inst the Jewish state. Under President Barack Obama’s stewardship, the US has jo
ined the international bandwagon against Israel. Ireland – never a friend – is n
ow openly siding with Hamas against Israel. And as Prime Minister Binyamin Netan
yahu noted on Wednesday evening, Britain, France, Germany and the rest of the We
stern democracies calling for Israel to end its blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaz
a’s coast are effectively arguing that Israel should give Iran – which controls
Hamas – a seaport on the Mediterranean.
The footage of the IDF’s celebrated naval commandos falling prey to an Islamic l
ynch mob on the deck of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara on Monday morning serves a
s a perfect simile for the national mood. The commandos boarded the ship armed w
ith paintball guns expecting to be greeted by hostile but nonviolent humanitaria
n activists. Instead they were accosted by a murderous mob.
Similarly, the Israeli public feels that when we go out of our way to show our p
eaceful intentions and nature to the world, we are greeted with an international
lynch mob. Rather than listen to us, the world shouts us down with mendacious p
ropaganda in act after act of political theater.
In a situation when everything seems hopeless and futile, it is important to tak
e a step back and consider what stands behind the assault. Only by understanding
why what is happening is happening will Israel’s leaders be able to formulate a
strategy for navigating the country through the current straits.
TODAY’S GLOBAL campaign against the Jewish state is the product of three recent
developments: The waning of traditional Arab power relative to the waxing of non
-Arab Islamic states including Iran, Pakistan and Turkey; the concomitant rise o
f anti-Semitic incitement throughout the Islamic world; and the US’s attenuation
of its ties with its allies generally and the US abandonment of its support for
Israel specifically.
Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, Arab states like Egypt and
Saudi Arabia have been the widely recognized leaders of the Islamic world. Over
the past several years, their power has waned and it is now being overwhelmed by
the waxing of non-Arab Islamic states Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.
Pakistan – so far the only Islamic country with a nuclear arsenal – is the home
base of the wildly popular al-Qaida movement. Despite its nuclear and jihadist c
achet, Pakistan’s ability to challenge the power of Arab governments is limited.
Its financial dependence on Saudi Arabia, its strategic ties with the US and th
e ongoing war between its government and the Taliban/al-Qaida have all rendered
Pakistan – for now – unable to compete with the Arab world for the mantle of Isl
amic leadership.
But Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal has helped place Iran on the verge of regional do
mination. Iran’s long-held nuclear aspirations only became realistic when Pakist
an shared its nuclear and ballistic missile technologies with the mullocracy. Ir
an’s nuclear weapons program is the stick it now wields to coerce the Arab world
to bow to its will.
Iran isn’t all about threats and coercion, though. It also offers the Arab world
an attractive carrot. Since the US invasion of Iraq and even more forcefully si
nce the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah, Iran has taken the lead in fighti
ng the great enemies of the Arab world: the US and Israel.
In 2006, the Arab masses rallied to Iran’s side as Israel fought its Shi’ite Ara
b proxy to a draw in Lebanon. Hamas’s willingness to serve as Iran’s Palestinian
proxy has given Iran complete control over the most active fronts against the h
ated Jews.
Since the radical Islamic AKP party took over Turkey in 2003, its leader, Prime
Minister Recip Erdogan, has presided over the thorough brainwashing of the Turki
sh people. According to repeated polling data, the majority of Turks believe tha
t Israel and America are demonic, murderous nations that kill innocent people fo
r entertainment. Erdogan has cultivated anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism for t
wo reasons. First, doing so enables him to divert his people’s attention away fr
om his government’s economic failures. Stirred into frenzies of hatred, the Turk
s willingly rally behind their leader, who is saving them from the Jewish and Ya
nkee beasts.
Then there is Erdogan’s goal of reasserting Turkish regional dominance and recla
iming the lost power of the Ottomans as the leader of the Islamic world. His dec
ision in 2006 to be the first world leader to host Hamas terror masters on an of
ficial visit after their victory in the Palestinian elections was a clear bid to
win popularity for Turkey among the Arab masses.
Iran and Turkey understand that attacking the Jewish state is the fastest route
to the top of the Muslim world.
For decades, two things limited the salience of Jew-hatred as a political force
in the Muslim world. First, Israel’s reputation as a regional power deterred Ara
b states from attacking it. And second, the US’s Middle East policy of rewarding
states that lived at peace with Israel and spurning those that did not made att
acking Israel a less attractive option for most Muslim states. The likes of Iran
and Syria were punished for their support for terrorism and their refusal to ma
ke peace with Israel. Then, too, Turkey’s rise in prominence in the US in the 19
90s owed a great deal to its close strategic ties with Israel.
Israel’s reputation as a regional power was diminished by its 2000 withdrawal fr
om south Lebanon and its less than stellar performance in the 2006 war.
As for the US, in the year and a half since Obama took office he has fundamental
ly restructured American foreign policy in a manner that rewards US enemies at t
he expense of US allies. From Honduras and Colombia to Britain, Poland, and the
Czech Republic, to Japan and India to Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama has tr
eated US allies with contempt and hostility. At the same time, his repeated bids
to woo US adversaries have rewarded the leaders of Iran, Venezuela, Russia and
others for their aggression.
Israel, of course, is the US’s most threatened ally. And Obama’s treatment of Is
rael has been uniquely shabby and dangerous. Guided by his ideological world vie
w, which argues that US support for Israel is the root of the Arab and Islamic w
orld’s animus towards the US, Obama has advanced a policy of punishing Israel an
d wooing its worst enemies that has radically changed the Islamic power calculus
. By seeking to appease Iran and Syria for their aggressive behavior and by cour
ting an ever more radical Turkish regime, Obama has humiliated Egypt and Jordan
that signed peace treaties with Israel. In so doing, he has convinced the Arabs
that the only way to retain and expand their power is by attacking Israel.
THIS BRINGS us to Israel’s current quandary about how to respond to the internat
ional campaign against it. Israel, of course, can do nothing to change the poten
cy of Jew-hatred in the Islamic world. It can also do nothing to change American
behavior. For as long as Obama is president, US foreign policy can be expected
to remain on its current trajectory. That is, for at least the next two and a ha
lf years, the US will continue to play a destabilizing and hostile role in the r
egion.
What this means is that Israel should adopt a strategy that minimizes the intern
ational lynch mob’s ability to get close to it and maximizes Israel’s ability to
knock the mob off balance. Take for instance the UN Security Council call for a
n independent investigation of the Mavi Marmara incident. Israel rightly rejecte
d such a UN inquiry, understanding that its aim is to diminish Israel’s sovereig
n right to self-defense. On the other hand, on Thursday morning Foreign Minister
Avigdor Lieberman said that Israel could establish its own judicial inquiry and
that there was no reason for international investigators not to be members of t
he Israeli committee.
This idea is ill-advised for two reasons. First, by its very nature, a judicial
inquiry would place Israel in the role of criminal defendant. And second, given
the nature of the international assault on Israel, no international observers or
investigators can be given any role in investigating the Mavi Marmara episode.
In contrast, Israel could benefit from a domestic investigation of the operation
al and diplomatic aspects of its handling of the Turkish-Hamas flotilla. It is i
n these areas – rather than the legal areas – that Israel has failed and must le
arn the lessons of those failures. Moreover, appointing a committee would buy Is
rael time in the face of the anti-Israel campaign now sweeping the globe.
And as for that campaign, it is time for Israel to launch a counter-offensive. I
ts representatives at the UN should demand an investigation into Turkey’s illega
l sponsorship of the pro-Hamas flotilla. They should raise such protests in ever
y UN forum and continue to protest until they are thrown out of the meetings, an
d then return the next day to relaunch their protests.

The Justice Ministry should issue international arrest warrants against the flot
illa’s organizers and participants and prepare indictments against them for tria
l in Israeli courts. Israel’s embassies throughout the world should call for the
ir host governments to outlaw organizations involved in the Gaza flotilla moveme
nt.
No, these Israeli efforts will not change anyone’s vote in any UN forum. But the
y will place these wholly corrupt institutions on the defensive. For decades Isr
ael has taken for granted that the UN is hopelessly hostile, and left things at
that. Israel’s willingness to declare defeat has emboldened UN officials. By put
ting them on the defensive, Israel will force them to devote time to staving off
Israeli attacks and so have less time available for initiating new assaults aga
inst Israel.
In Los Angeles on Monday, a crowd of Muslims carrying signs calling for Israel’s
destruction gathered outside the Israeli Consulate. As they shouted Allahu Akhb
ar, a lone Jewish high school student carrying an Israeli flag appeared on the s
cene. Suddenly, the protesters forgot that they were supposed to be demonstratin
g against the State of Israel and began threatening this single Jewish boy who h
eld his head high and waved the Israeli flag.
As they converged around him, a cordon of policemen headed them off and surround
ed the young Jewish boy who refused to be intimidated. Speaking to reporters cle
arly moved by his courage, the boy said, “I came out because I want to defend Is
rael.” Asked if he was affiliated with any group, he responded, “Just Judaism an
d Israel.”
Israel’s task is daunting and the stakes couldn’t be higher. But our cause is gr
eat and it is far from lost.
caroline@carolineglick.com