Israelis face growing threats in Middle East
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-Pastor-Dale-Morgan-
Feb 5, 2012, 8:16:10 PM2/5/12
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Israelis face growing threats in Middle East
By Sarah Lynch, Special for USA TODAY
EILAT, Israel – Vacationers in this glittering holiday city by the Israel-Egypt border, stroll along a seaside promenade trying to forget their nation's troubles.
"We try not to think about politics too much," said Nikhama Prat, pushing her 3-year-old son in a carriage along the wood-planked walkway. "There is always something happening with Israel. We're threatened all the time."
In a country endemic with strife, there are mixed feelings among Israelis over whether growing threats from Iran, or immediate localized issues, are of greatest concern.
On Sunday, Iran said it would attack any country launching an airstrike on its nuclear sites — a warning that follows threats made by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday that the Islamic Republic of Iran would help anyone who wants to rid the world of the "cancer" of Israel in retaliation for sanctions. The country has said it would not abandon its nuclear program.
Israel's defense cabinet members recently said time is short for a peaceful way out regarding Iran's nuclear threat, and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told U.S. news media last week that there is an increasing possibility that Israel could attack Iran this spring to stop the nation from building a nuclear bomb.
The latest words from all sides are causing some Israelis concern.
"The threats that call for the elimination of Israel combined with the denial of the Holocaust has pushed the psychologically traumatized minds of Israeli families who are Holocaust survivors to the limit," said Meir Javedanfar, Iran expert at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. He says that it's now standard for his friends to greet him by asking when there's going to be war.
'Bigger and tougher' fight
Ella Binyamin, 24, a hotel receptionist in Eilat, is more worried over external security threats than she has ever been before.
"People are afraid that the day has come that Iran wants to finish Israel," Binyamin said. "The Palestinian issue is serious but with Iran, the fight would be bigger and tougher."
Israel's leaders agree.
"The mood I'm sensing is that (Israeli leadership) feels this is really the last time, the last hour, the last year, let's say, to deal with this problem," Israeli author and investigative journalist Ronen Bergman said. "It is perceived by the Israeli leadership as an existential threat."
Analysts say the option for Iran to acquire nuclear capability is not an option for Israel's leaders. This would enable Iran to be a "protector of the jihadist movement" in the Middle East, Bergman says, and diminish Israel's position when it comes to security.
"The Israeli government thinks the Iranian threat is No. 1," said Shlomo Brom, director at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. "The others pale in comparison."
A nuclear empowered Iran, analysts say, could not only seriously threaten Israel but also cause a chain reaction of nuclear proliferation in the region. But others are more concerned with local issues.
"We have security issues all the time, like every day when we drive to Jerusalem," said Moshe Prat, visiting Eilat from Ma'aleh Adumin, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, although he noted that those security concerns are not always felt.
Internal struggle is one reason some analysts say there are more immediate issues feeding apprehension. "I think the most serious threat facing Israel is the inability to solve the conflict with Palestinians," Brom said.
Since it declared independence in 1948, Israel has prevailed in several wars in which Arab nations sought to annihilate it. It has been on war footing for decades and all non-Arab citizens must serve in the military. Many live with the belief that Israel is an experiment in Jewish nationhood that could end.
"Israel is surrounded by Arab nations so we're always pushed to the limit," said Daniel Mokhana, who served in the army during the 2006 war with Lebanon and manages a kiosk in a shopping mall. "We're always in a state of war." So this, he says, is nothing new.
Fears of war in Middle East
On Israel's northern border with Lebanon, U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hezbollah has established its stronghold in southern Lebanon and has thousands of missiles at the ready, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
On Israel's south, the anti-Israel terror group Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, from which thousands of missiles have been fired into Israeli towns. Israel went to war with Hamas in 2008 and it regularly strikes targets there accused of involvement in terror attacks
Analysts say that if Israel launches an attack on Iran, the Islamic Republic could spur Hezbollah and Hamas to launch attacks against Israel.
"In this poker game with Iran, the main fears of Israelis are not of Iranian bombs … but of the day after — the inevitable effect of a strike which might include firing of rockets from Hamas in the south, Hezbollah in the north, and from Iran," Bergman said.
"There is a strong fear that an Israeli strike over nuclear sites could ignite a war in the Middle East. I think a strike could do that."
If war does break out, many feel their nation's military will squelch threats. But Iran may be different if it possesses nuclear weapons.
"When you're fighting a country, it's easier than fighting door to door battles," said Mokhana, taking a break from his mall kiosk. "It's also of less concern because with Iran - if we win, we win. And if we lose, we lose the country - and people are in denial that this could happen."
Israelis face growing threats in Middle East
By Sarah Lynch, Special for USA TODAY
EILAT, Israel – Vacationers in this glittering holiday city by the Israel-Egypt border, stroll along a seaside promenade trying to forget their nation's troubles.
"We try not to think about politics too much," said Nikhama Prat, pushing her 3-year-old son in a carriage along the wood-planked walkway. "There is always something happening with Israel. We're threatened all the time."
In a country endemic with strife, there are mixed feelings among Israelis over whether growing threats from Iran, or immediate localized issues, are of greatest concern.
On Sunday, Iran said it would attack any country launching an airstrike on its nuclear sites — a warning that follows threats made by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday that the Islamic Republic of Iran would help anyone who wants to rid the world of the "cancer" of Israel in retaliation for sanctions. The country has said it would not abandon its nuclear program.
Israel's defense cabinet members recently said time is short for a peaceful way out regarding Iran's nuclear threat, and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told U.S. news media last week that there is an increasing possibility that Israel could attack Iran this spring to stop the nation from building a nuclear bomb.
The latest words from all sides are causing some Israelis concern.
"The threats that call for the elimination of Israel combined with the denial of the Holocaust has pushed the psychologically traumatized minds of Israeli families who are Holocaust survivors to the limit," said Meir Javedanfar, Iran expert at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. He says that it's now standard for his friends to greet him by asking when there's going to be war.
'Bigger and tougher' fight
Ella Binyamin, 24, a hotel receptionist in Eilat, is more worried over external security threats than she has ever been before.
"People are afraid that the day has come that Iran wants to finish Israel," Binyamin said. "The Palestinian issue is serious but with Iran, the fight would be bigger and tougher."
Israel's leaders agree.
"The mood I'm sensing is that (Israeli leadership) feels this is really the last time, the last hour, the last year, let's say, to deal with this problem," Israeli author and investigative journalist Ronen Bergman said. "It is perceived by the Israeli leadership as an existential threat."
Analysts say the option for Iran to acquire nuclear capability is not an option for Israel's leaders. This would enable Iran to be a "protector of the jihadist movement" in the Middle East, Bergman says, and diminish Israel's position when it comes to security.
"The Israeli government thinks the Iranian threat is No. 1," said Shlomo Brom, director at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. "The others pale in comparison."
A nuclear empowered Iran, analysts say, could not only seriously threaten Israel but also cause a chain reaction of nuclear proliferation in the region. But others are more concerned with local issues.
"We have security issues all the time, like every day when we drive to Jerusalem," said Moshe Prat, visiting Eilat from Ma'aleh Adumin, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, although he noted that those security concerns are not always felt.
Internal struggle is one reason some analysts say there are more immediate issues feeding apprehension. "I think the most serious threat facing Israel is the inability to solve the conflict with Palestinians," Brom said.
Since it declared independence in 1948, Israel has prevailed in several wars in which Arab nations sought to annihilate it. It has been on war footing for decades and all non-Arab citizens must serve in the military. Many live with the belief that Israel is an experiment in Jewish nationhood that could end.
"Israel is surrounded by Arab nations so we're always pushed to the limit," said Daniel Mokhana, who served in the army during the 2006 war with Lebanon and manages a kiosk in a shopping mall. "We're always in a state of war." So this, he says, is nothing new.
Fears of war in Middle East
On Israel's northern border with Lebanon, U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hezbollah has established its stronghold in southern Lebanon and has thousands of missiles at the ready, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
On Israel's south, the anti-Israel terror group Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, from which thousands of missiles have been fired into Israeli towns. Israel went to war with Hamas in 2008 and it regularly strikes targets there accused of involvement in terror attacks
Analysts say that if Israel launches an attack on Iran, the Islamic Republic could spur Hezbollah and Hamas to launch attacks against Israel.
"In this poker game with Iran, the main fears of Israelis are not of Iranian bombs … but of the day after — the inevitable effect of a strike which might include firing of rockets from Hamas in the south, Hezbollah in the north, and from Iran," Bergman said.
"There is a strong fear that an Israeli strike over nuclear sites could ignite a war in the Middle East. I think a strike could do that."
If war does break out, many feel their nation's military will squelch threats. But Iran may be different if it possesses nuclear weapons.
"When you're fighting a country, it's easier than fighting door to door battles," said Mokhana, taking a break from his mall kiosk. "It's also of less concern because with Iran - if we win, we win. And if we lose, we lose the country - and people are in denial that this could happen."
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