Blind Eye to Islamist Axis: Israel Depending on US, Ignoring Military Situation …

Column One: The Rise of the Islamist Axis

Excerpts;

On Monday, Russia’s Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported that part of Ukraine’s Soviet-era nuclear arsenal may well have found its way to Iran. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainians agreed to transfer the Soviet nuclear arsenal that remained in Ukraine after its independence to Russia. According to Novaya Gazeta, some 250 nuclear warheads never made it to Russia and are thought to have been sent to Iran instead. The report further noted that the warheads will remain operational until 2010.

Responding to the report, Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, Russia’s deputy defense minister and the chief of General Staff, said, “Russia’s General Staff has no information about whether Ukraine has given 250 nuclear warheads to Iran or not.”

Unfortunately – with all due respect to the IDF – our enemies, who know that the IDF is wholly subordinate to the political leadership, no longer take its signals seriously. From Gaza to Teheran our enemies are acutely aware of the weakness of our political leadership and its unwillingness to contend with them. Today, the policy of the government is to take no account of any events occurring beyond our indefensible pre-Six Day War boundaries and to defame anyone who suggests they bear examination.

FOR MORE than two years, the Israeli government and media have told the public that no matter how our enemies threaten us, they can do us no harm because America is protecting us. Protected by America, Israelis are told that we have no reason to fear the consequences of IDF retreats and the transfer of vacated lands to Hamas.

Sadly, this promise is largely untrue. The Bush administration today is bogged down in a swamp of strategic paralysis and political distress that prevent it from designing clear policies regarding the war against global jihad.

American policy towards the Palestinians is case in point: One day the Bush administration announces that it is cutting its ties with the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority and the next day it demands that Israel keep the borders with Gaza open and promises to find a way to give direct aid to the Palestinians that somehow will not strengthen Hamas.

As to Syria, the stubborn stance the administration maintained towards Damascus during the months of Detlev Mehlis’s investigation of Hariri’s murder has been replaced by no stance. Aside from finger pointing at Damascus, Washington offers no plan for ending Syrian support for terrorists in Lebanon, the PA and Iraq.

All of these recent developments demonstrate that the members of the Iran-led Islamist axis are actively pursuing and indeed progressing in their quest to encircle Israel and entrap the US. This they accomplish – both separately and together – while Israel and the US insist on doing everything they can to prevent any possibility of effectively meeting the rising threats. There is no doubt that the political leadership of at least one of these states has to snap out of its policy fog immediately. Our enemies have no consideration for our desire to ignore them.

Commentary;

Israel seemingly has abdicated it’s ability to seriously fight to protect her populace
from her avowed enemies. And what Ehud Olmert said in September, 2005 bears repeating for insight as to Israelis complete dependence on the US and lack of assertiveness, “We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies, we want that we will be able to live in an entirely different environment of relations with our enemies. We want them to be our friends, our partners, our good neighbors.”

Also worthy of repetition is the apparent model for text of the Olmert speech, Ehud Barak’s letter to bereaved families on Yom HaZicharon, 2000 where he said; “Heavy, maybe too heavy, is the price we bear for our independence and building the 52 years of the State of Israel.” MB