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There Is Nothing Israel Can Do to End the Calls for Its Destruction

(Bloomberg) Dr. Daniel Gordis - Iran and Israel share no border, and there is no territorial dispute between the two. Yet nothing about radical Islam's appetite for Israel's destruction can be sated, and ultimately, Israelis believe, the same is true of the Palestinians as well. Abbas' recent diatribe simply confirmed that Palestinian lust for Israel's demise has not abated in 70 years. What unites Israelis is their largely shared sense that other than ceasing to exist, there is nothing that Israel can do to end the calls for its destruction and avoid periodic armed conflict. In 1923, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the father of revisionist Zionism, wrote his famous essay, "The Iron Wall," arguing that the Arabs would never accept the existence of a Jewish entity in their midst, and that to survive, Zionists would have to put up an iron wall and be willing to fight, perhaps forever. Increasing numbers of Israelis sense that Jabotinsky, sadly, may have been right. Few Israelis want a war with Iran. If war does come, however, most will see it not as a fresh conflict, but as the latest tragic battle in the now century-long conflict over whether the Jews have a right to a national home in the Middle East. The writer is senior vice president at Shalem College in Jerusalem.
2018-05-04 00:00:00
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