Conference Call with NETANYAHU
As I am learning is the case with these conference calls, it may take a post or two or three to get all my impressions and thoughts out into words.
Here's the story. Rick Richman of Jewish Current Issues initiated and organized this call with Benjamin Netanyahu (who was in his car at the time). There were six blogs represented in addition to JCI and yours truly; they were The American Thinker, Atlas Shrugs, In Context, Mere Rhetoric, Power Line (wow- has already posted) and Soccer Dad. I was honored to be among such a group of deeply concerned and highly talented bloggers, and their astute contributions -one and all- made me very proud of the pro-Israel corner of the blogosphere.
Now then ...
From the former prime minister's perspective (according to my understanding), Israel is on the front lines of a global war, indeed a religious war, the likes of which we have not seen for hundreds of years. Iran is making a concerted bid primarily to resurrect an Islamic empire and secondarily, for Shiite supremacy within that empire. Netanyahu repeatedly stressed that we should keep our eyes on this big picture and not be deluded into thinking that the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is merely between two Middle Eastern tribes, the Israeli Jews on the one hand and the fundamentalist Islamic HezBullies on the other. He was very clear that he believes that the entire world is in peril, including each and every American and European.
The intense fighting between Hezbollah and the IDF of the last month was only the first salvo, the first round, in what he believes will be a protracted battle. Netanyahu defined Hezbollah and Hamas as two tentacles of Iran, with the (Sunni) Hamas attacking Israel from the south and the (Shiite) Hezbollah attacking from the north. He pointed out that though a conflict may begin in Jew-hatred, it never remains limited to that. (Witness how suicide bombings were once thought to be solely an Israeli problem but have since spread to threaten many more places throughout the world.)
People should realize, too, that the core of this particular conflict has nothing to do with territory; Israel occupies no territory in either Lebanon nor Gaza from whence they are being attacked. Both withdrawals have been perceived by the Arabs as weakness, and both territories are now being used by them to create forward bases in an effort to destroy Israel.
The present ceasefire is nothing more than a lull in open warfare, during which Netanyahu asserts the enemy is "feverishly" re-arming. He said that Resolution 1701 has no teeth, and that 1559 was a better Resolution (but was not enforced). He made the excellent point that what matters is not a resolution itself, but whatever power and purpose is behind it. It is all ultimately decided by those who are willing to fight and die, and no one else.
Netanyahu sees the division of labor as Israel fighting Hezbollah, and the US (or perhaps an international coalition) stopping Iran, which "heads the charge" against the free world. The enemy's disadvantage is in weaponry; therefore, Iran must not be allowed nuclear capability. Netanyahu has no doubt that Pres. Bush will take some sort of action to respond to Iran's aggression during the next (and last) two years of his term.
Netanyahu reminded us that he represents the LOYAL opposition party, and while Israeli lives are at risk in Lebanon he would not answer much in terms of internal politics nor address criticisms of the Olmert government. He did admit that there are many big issues in contention, including the disengagement, but those debates be pursued as yet.
When asked why the present government had been so hesitant in the past month's war, Netanyahu answered, "I don't know."
That's it for the highlights, folks. There will be more later when I've had a chance to sift through my notes more carefully. Stay tuned to BtB for another conference call this afternoon, with an Israeli military expert.
My deep thanks once again to Rick Richman for such an awesome opportunity. The blogosphere is growing in more ways than one.
Posted by: Smooth | Wednesday, 16 August 2006 at 07:05 PM