(Bloomberg) Jeffrey Goldberg - Ron Rosenbaum, who is undeterred by the accusation "Holocaust-obsessed," has just published the most important essay I've read this year. A member-state of the United Nations, Iran, regularly threatens another member-state, Israel, with annihilation. It's important to bear in mind a fundamental asymmetry: Israel doesn't seek Iran's elimination. Iran seeks Israel's. Regime apologists will note that Iranian leaders talk about the elimination not of "Israel" but of the "Zionist regime." But without the "Zionist regime" - which is to say, the democratically elected government of Israel - the Jews would face immediate dispossession, and perhaps much worse. Is it obsessive for a group of people who not long ago saw a third of their number slaughtered to worry when the leaders of Iran call Israel a cancerous tumor? Or is it the natural and appropriate response of a people who, conditioned by history, choose to err on the side of caution?
2012-08-31 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive