Today’s Jerusalem Post reports on the growing argument being conducted in the Israeli mass media as to whether or not we should disregard the almost certain furious international condemnation and, more importantly, a possibly counter-reaction from Iran, should the Israeli Air Force bomb the nuclear development program being developed by the Islamic Republic.

 
International condemnation is nothing new for Israel so such a reaction is hardly a major consideration these days for the Netanyahu government, for the simple truth is that whilst many governments would publicly play to the home gallery in voicing outrage at such a devastating unilateral move, privately, (as has been revealed in many papers released by Wikileaks in the last year), many sympathise with the position that Iran’s now not-so-secret development of potential nuclear missiles is a huge danger to the whole of the Middle East and much further afield. 
 
 
Given Iranian president Ahmedinejad’s continued assertion that he wishes to remove Israel from the face of the earth, there are plenty of people with far more understanding of the situation on the ground than me, who assert
that a pre-emptive strike is the only way to neutralise what could be a potential catastrophe for the Jewish nation.

 
Benny Begin, son of the late Israeli leader Menachem Begin and a minister without portfolio from Netanyahu’s Likud party, spoke on Israel radio this very morning expressing his dismay that such a delicate and crucial matter
of state security is being discussed in detail in the full glare of the local
and international media. He cites all branches of the Israeli media as irresponsible, and is no less critical of parliamentary colleagues and respected former intelligence service personnel for publicly contributing to the debate. 
 
 
I am not well enough informed on the subject to decide whether or not such a strike would be the right or wrong thing to do, and just how credible the ranting Ahmedinejad’s claims of being very close to having nuclear capability are. What I would venture to suggest though is that if there is one
man in Israel who would be prepared to take such a decision it is undoubtedly Benjamin Netanyahu, whose disdain for international public opinion was once again demonstrated yesterday by his ordering 2000 new units to be built in the West Bank, a move that will certainly further raise the hackles of Israeli opponents and our Palestinian neighbours, whose premature and ill-judged recognition by UNESCO on Monday was the catalyst for Netanyahu’s unfortunate housing development decision.

 
Netanyahu has been convinced for more than 15 years that the greatest danger to Israel’s future lies in the Iranian threat. Back in 1997, as head of Israel’s first completely all-English language radio station, I was invited to a small press conference at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem where Netanyahu was cosily ensconced during his first term in the top job.

 
The ongoing debate in Israel at the time was the perceived threat of chemical warfare from Iraq as Saddam Hussein threatened to bomb Israel for a second time - the first having been his Scud missile barrage in the Gulf War of 1991. Netanyahu pointed out that if the Iranian nuclear threat hadn’t been ‘neutralised ‘ by the destruction of their Osirak facility in 1981 by Israel - a move that provoked outrage in international circles at the time but as it later transpired may well have averted potential nuclear war in the region – the weapons sent into Israel nine years later could have been potentially devastating and that a tyrant like Hussein would have no conscience or thought for human life if he had such a weapon available to him. In 1997, he didn’t have any such weapons, and Netanyahu asserted that the Iraqi threat was not a credible one.

 
Netanyahu did however move the question on to deliver a chilling warning that the country that posed the biggest threat to Israel’s existence was not Iraq, but Iran. There were no inspection of Iranian facilities and their leadership was  almost certainly more disposed to causing mass casualties in Israel than any other in the region. He warned those present in the room not to be deceived by the relative distraction of the drum-beating Hussein.

 
I mention this incident only because I believe it demonstrates the long-held belief of the current Israeli PM who is reportedly working shoulder-to-shoulder with former Labour party leader and current Defence Minister Ehud Barak in considering whether or not a pre-emptive strike on Iran is a gamble worth taking. An attack on Iran by Israel is a frightening thought,
and one shudders to think what the reaction in this region and beyond might be. 

 
Then again, if Israel sits back and leaves a maniac like Ahmedinejad and those above him in the Iranian echelons of power - who frighteningly consider his policies as being not tough enough against Israel - to further develop their aggressive nuclear capability, one also shudders to think again what might be the consequences on the ground of an Iranian attack on Israel.



Sombre stuff I know, but judging by the growing public and private debates over here, there is an inevitable feeing that the time is growing ever closer when a decision one way or the other on this literally ‘life and death’ matter, will inevitably be made.