Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Obama and the wise men of Chelm - Dr. Gabi Avital



by Dr. Gabi Avital

In the spirit of the wise men of Chelm, Obama is offering Israel a hole-ridden missile defense umbrella, instead of preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

I used to think the old fables about the wise men of Chelm were just harmless jokes and nothing more. That was until I read the reports about the military assistance the U.S. plans to provide to Israel in the wake of the nuclear deal with Iran. As part of his PR campaign to build support for the deal, President Barack Obama promised he was ready "to enhance the already intensive joint efforts underway to identify and counter the range of shared threats we face in the region, as well as increase missile defense funding so that Israel and the United States can accelerate the co-development of the Arrow-3 and David's Sling missile defense systems."

This reminds me of the story about a dangerous bridge in Chelm. Instead of fixing the hole in the bridge, the wise men of the city decided to build a hospital next to it to treat those who were injured while passing over it. 

In the spirit of the wise men of Chelm, Obama is offering Israel a hole-ridden missile defense umbrella, instead of preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Instead of striking a blow to the Iranian terror machine, the leader of the world's most powerful nation wants to "identify ways to accelerate the ongoing collaborative research and development for tunnel detection and mapping technologies to provide Israel new capabilities to detect and destroy tunnels, because they could be used to threaten Israeli civilians."

The situation is very grave. After all, Israel was only compelled to build its missile defense systems because the "free world" did not let it eliminate the terrorist threats it faces. Israel is the leading producer of interceptor missiles because it is the world's only country whose entire territory is under a tangible missile threat.

Missile defense systems do not win wars, but Israel has shown great resiliency while under prolonged missile fire during recent conflicts. However, what will the situation be when the missiles carry nuclear warheads? 

As advanced as it is, the Arrow missile defense system does not provide a hermetic shield against nuclear-tipped Iranian missiles. In the past, I repeatedly said that an Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear facilities would involve very few casualties and decisively set back Iran's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons. But during a war with a nuclear-armed Iran, any error, however small, by Israel's missile defense network would be catastrophic. 

Let us move past the contempt Obama has for the intelligence of Congress members and the American public. More than being embarrassing, Obama's proposals regarding Israel's security are truly frightening. No missile defense system will make Israel's skies an impenetrable barrier to a nuclear-tipped missile. And no tunnel detection system will compensate for the dangers posed by the abominable nuclear deal with Iran.

Regarding American promises, I remember a famous letter given to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion after the 1956 Sinai Campaign in which the U.S. vowed to reopen the Straits of Tiran immediately if Egypt ever blockaded the strategic naval passageway again. In 1967, when Egypt did again close the Straits of Tiran, Foreign Minister Abba Eban demanded that President Lyndon Johnson honor the American promise from a decade before. "We can't find the letter," Eban was told by the wise men of America at the time.


Dr. Gabi Avital

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=13579

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

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