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Source: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/01/16/iran-goal-nuclear-disarm-israel/
Iran's Subsidiary Goal: Disarm Israel
(Commentary) Jonathan S. Tobin - An op-ed in Sunday's New York Times by Shelby Telhami and Steven Kull urges that those worried about the danger an Iranian nuke would pose to the security of the West should instead focus their efforts on getting Israel to disavow its own nuclear deterrent. But this proposal masks its inherent bias. Unlike Iran, or indeed any other country on the planet, Israel faces threats to its existence as a nation. Those who wish to give up its ultimate weapon are asking it to put its trust in the goodwill of its neighbors and the international community, a notion that contradicts the lessons of Jewish history as well as the very reason for Israel's existence. Israel's status as an unofficial nuclear power provides the state's enemies with a very convincing argument to avoid a direct challenge to its existence. Forcing Israel to divest itself of such weapons can only encourage those in the Muslim and Arab worlds who continue to dream of its destruction. Israelis rightly say that a nuclear-free Middle East must await the conclusion of a lasting peace agreement that will ensure such fantasies are impossible. Those who ask us to disarm Israel rather than preventing Iran from gaining such weapons also ignore the obvious difference between the goals of the two nuclear programs. Israel is a democracy and has no wish to obliterate its neighbors or to end their independent existence. Iran is an Islamist tyranny whose goal is the destruction of Israel. Anyone who sees these two states as morally equivalent or believes there is no real difference between them with respect to possession of nuclear weapons has either lost their moral compass or is pushing another, more sinister agenda. Diverting diplomacy aimed at persuading the ayatollahs to abandon their nukes into a discussion about Israel's weapons won't heighten the chances for Middle East peace. It will just give Tehran more time for its scientists to work on a weapon.