The Nuclear Year

By Moshe Feiglin

22 Elul, 5770
September 1, '10

Translated from the Hebrew article in Makor Rishon.

As these words are being written, the door on Israel's military option to destroy the Iranian nuclear threat is being closed tight. An attack on a "hot" nuclear reactor near a crowded city is tantamount to dropping a nuclear bomb on a civilian population. It is not reasonable to think that Israel, which did not muster up the necessary courage to withstand the expected response to bombing cement and steel, will dare bomb a live nuclear reactor. If Israel does not attack Bushehr in the wee bit of time left – and clearly, it won't – we can sorrowfully say that Israel has failed miserably in dealing with this major existential challenge.

While Israeli society is busy with "life and death" issues like the reportedly forged Galant document or the trial of former president Katzav, the curtain is slowly closing on Israel's ability to prevent the modern day Hitler from equipping himself with nuclear weapons.

This does not mean immediate destruction of the State of Israel. It is much more likely that what will happen is a steady deterioration of Israel's sovereignty – a snowball that will be unstoppable using our current tools. A country that is incapable of halting an enemy that threatens to destroy it loses its deterrence and invites intensifying political and terrorist pressure. The "solution", as always, will be total retreat from Judea and Samaria, with an assortment of other solutions on the way to the final one.

This does not really surprise any Israeli. Deep down, the Nation of Israel has come to terms with this reality. The average Israeli lives his life on borrowed time, feels that reality is closing in on him and that the arena on which he lives is shrinking under his feet. The Iranian nuclear threat is one million times too big for the average citizen – no matter how intelligent he may be. In addition, Israelis receive a 24 hour a day brainwashing about Katzav, Galant and the latest reality show – and cannot begin to think about anything serious. They have no choice but to depend on Israel's political leadership.

In this seemingly impossible reality, our current leadership seems to be the best that we can hope for. Our government is exquisitely balanced between the Jewish majority - that has been totally desensitized by the media - and the leftist power elites in Israel's society. This government is being run without any major corruption scandals and maintains a high standard of living and government services for its citizens. What more can we ask for? And if this government did not manage to stop the Iranian bomb – then it must really be unstoppable.

To understand what can be done, we must understand the roots of the failure. Israel lost the battle against Iran in Gush Katif. The expulsion of the Jews and destruction of their settlements was justifiably understood by the world as an absolute admission of the justness of the "Palestinian" narrative. It "proved" that the "Palestinian" claims on the entire Land are true. A person doesn't readily volunteer to give up parts of his home. If he does so, he essentially recognizes the fact that the house belongs to the party claiming that all of it is his.

Since the Expulsion, pressure on Israel has not weakened, as the proponents of the "Disengagement" promised. On the contrary, it has intensified by leaps and bounds. The ethical backbone of those who "compromised for peace" was not strengthened. It completely disappeared. Achmadinijad lectures in the West, while Israel's ministers are wanted as international criminals.

The State of Israel that flees its Jewish identity and attempts to base itself on the values of enlightened man – in other words, on the values of the Western world – finds itself with no tools with which to deal with the international attack against its legitimate right to exist. From the Western mentality arena – enlightened, Christian, secular, seemingly practical – it is no longer possible to supply an answer to the existential threat hanging over Israel. It is amazing to see how although Israel is at its highest point ever both economically and militarily, we cannot effectively counter the most basic threat against us.

There is, though, a different mentality-arena on which we can play. At one point or another, we will have no choice but to stand upon it. No, it is not an expanded alliance with Greece or just one more maneuver on the existing, shrinking arena. It is the Jewish arena. When the State of Israel will firmly plant itself upon it, it will enjoy full justification for its existence. When Israeli society will make peace with its Jewish identity; when it will be willing to fight and make sacrifices for the values that derive from this identity - we will be able to announce our intention to bomb the nuclear reactor in Bushehr, give the civilian population ample time to evacuate – and destroy the threat.