THE VEXED QUESTION OF AN
ISRAELI STRIKE AGAINST IRAN
Paul Giniewski
A nuclear Iran has become an increasingly
contentious issue. In the light of Western impotence, many Israelis
are calling for a preventive strike against a declared genocidal
intention. According to Israeli analysts, without preventive military
action production of an Iranian bomb is just a matter of time.
Moreover, the annihilationist rhetoric used by Iran’s leaders, chiefly
by President Ahmadinejad, is not a matter of sloganeering but indeed a
program, in which the destruction of Israel is indispensable for the
attainment of Iran’s manifest destiny – the “Islamization” of the
world. A quasi-consensus is emerging in Israel on the necessity of
bombing Iranian nuclear installations. The scenario is still
undefined.
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Solving the Officer Problem of the
IDF
Ran Baratz
In the previous issue of Nativ, Uri
Milstein primarily called for the establishment of a “National Center
for the Defense of Israel” and the intellectualization of military
thought by introducing an array of qualification frameworks for
military personnel in the humanities and social sciences faculties.
The present article critically examines Milstein’s proposal and
concludes that his solution is untenable from both a theoretical and
practical standpoint.
Following a general characterization of
the military profession and the strategic-vocational requirements of
the senior officer, a different solution is proposed: A modern,
updated version of the Prussian model for training the command
echelons. The original program merited consistent success in Prussia
and remains the best framework ever devised for training strategists.
Aside from the obvious – affording practical experience in warfare and
the technical knowledge required of every officer in his field – the
Prussian model places an emphasis on continuous study and research of
military history (including the great military strategists), alongside
regular drilling and practical experience, on various strategic
levels, by means of pragmatic war games that simulate realistic
strategic problems.
Since time immemorial, all the great military thinkers have contended
that the military profession is a practical craft, not a science, and
this article is premised on this contention. Like any vocation,
military officers have their own set of necessary abilities and skills
– those that are needed to wage a mental and cognitive struggle
against an adversary that is also wielding military force – which must
be upgraded and developed via experience and knowledge. Therefore, it
is imperative that both learning and exercising these capacities
receive equal billing over the course of an officer’s career. With
this in mind, a preliminary outline of a strategic exercise program
has been included in the appendix.
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WORDS
LAUNDRY:
A SHORT GUIDE TO THOSE OBSESSED WITH PEACE
Moshe Sharon
“Everybody says
that his donkey is a horse.”
“There is no tax
on words.”
(Two Arab proverbs)
On December 25,
1977,
at the very beginning of the negotiations between Israel and Egypt in
Ismailia, I had the opportunity to have a short discussion with
Muhammad Anwar Sadat the president of Egypt. “Tell your Prime
Minister, he said, that this is a bazaar; the merchandize is
expensive.” I told my Prime Minister but he failed to abide by the
rules of the bazaar similar to all the Israeli governments and the
media.
In the bazaar of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the two sides are not
discussing the same merchandise. While the Israelis wish to acquire
“peace”, the Arabs wish to annihilate the Jewish state and get rid of
the Jews.
To achieve their goal, the Arabs took to the battlefield as well as to
the bazaar diplomacy. The wisdom of the bazaar is that if you are
clever enough you can sell nothing at a price, however in the
bazaar only a foolish buyer pays for something he has never seen.
In the present situation in the Middle East and in the foreseeable
future “peace” is nothing more than an empty word. Israel should stop
speaking about “peace” and delete the word “peace” from its vocabulary
together with such phrases as “the price of peace” or “territory for
peace”. For almost a century the Jews have been ready to pay the Arabs
any price for peace. They have received nothing, because the Arabs
have no peace to sell.
Since this is the situation, Israel should openly declare that peace
does not exist as an option in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and that if
the Arabs ask for peace; they must pay for it. For
unlike the Arabs, Israel has this merchandize for sale and therefore,
Israel should be the side demanding payment for peace and fixing its
price
Therefore, if anyone asks Israel for plans, the answer should be: “No
plans, in fact no negotiations at all.” If the Arab side wants to
negotiate, let it present its plans and its “ideas”. To which the
Israeli answer should always be: “Unacceptable! Come with better
ones.”
Here are ten rules for bargaining in the Middle Eastern bazaar:
-
Never be the first to suggest anything to the
other side. Never show any eagerness “to conclude a deal”.
-
Always reject; disagree. Use the phrase: “Not
meeting the minimum demands,” and walk away, even a hundred times.
-
Don’t rush to come up with counter-offers. Let
the other side make amendments under the pressure of your total
“disappointment”.
-
Have your own plan ready in full, as detailed
as possible, with the red lines completely defined. However, never
show this or any other plan to a third party.
-
Never change your detailed plan to meet the
other side “halfway”. Remember, there is no “halfway”.
-
Never leave things unclear. Always avoid
“creative phrasing”. Remember playing with words is the Arab
national sport.
-
Regard every detail as a vitally important
issue. Never postpone any problem “for a later occasion”. If you do
so you will lose; remember that your opponent is always looking for
a reason to avoid honoring agreements.
-
Emotion belongs neither in the marketplace nor
at the negotiating table. Friendly words as well as outbursts of
anger, holding hands and kissing, do not represent policy.
-
Beware of popular beliefs about the Arabs and
the Middle East – “Arab honor” for example. Remember, you have honor
too, but this has nothing to do with the issues under negotiation.
-
Always remember that the goal of all
negotiations is to make a profit. You should aim at making the
highest profit in real terms. Remember that every gain is an asset
for the future.
To these ten rules another one should be added:
-
You should never agree to negotiate with more
than one side. The Arabs will try to bring as many participants to
the negotiating table to put you in an inferior position. Never
agree to bring in even so called “friendly participants”. There is
no such thing.
The Arabs have been practicing negotiation tactics for more than 2,000
years. They are the masters of words, and a mine of endless patience.
In contrast, Israelis (and Westerners in general) want quick
“results”. In this part of the world there are no quick results, the
hasty one always loses.
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THE
LOST CHILDHOOD
Angela Bertz
This article deals with the abhorrent practice of enticing Palestinian
children to seek martyrdom. My aim was to show the shocking contrast
between Israeli children, who are raised in an environment that aims
to not only preserve the innocence of their childhood, but to also
motivate them to seek a future suited to the challenges of the 21st
century, and a society that strips them of these basic rights.
Israel’s children contrast to Palestinian children, who are almost
totally denied this innocence from birth, paraded in pushchairs as
suicide bombers before they can even talk, and raised with an evil
ideology that promotes hatred 24/7. If the most precious gift a parent
can give a child is their innocence, then how does one begin to
portray a society that not only teaches them that the only worthwhile
way for them to gain respect is through mass murder and senseless
death, but even more tragically, shows mothers that have seemingly
lost that most natural of instincts – to protect their child at all
costs.
To do this I have taken 19 Israeli children from birth through 18
years who have all been victims of terrorist attacks. The beauty of
these children cannot be measured in real terms to those that were
close to them, and even to those who only knew them through a short
biography on a website. One thing stands out: they loved life. To show
the vivid contrast between each of them, I have used a piece of
propaganda used by the Palestinians either in their schoolbooks, TV or
newspapers between each biography.
These words portray a society that has irreversibly lost not only this
generation of children, but unless drastic reform or action is taken,
several to come.
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GETTING
TOGETHER -
THE ISSUE OF ERETZ ISRAEL, ITS
ROOTS AND ITS SOLUTION
Tsvi Misinai
The war over control of the Land of Israel has
been going on now for many years and there is no end in sight. The
main obstacle to a peaceful solution is the Palestinian’s demand for
the right of return of their refugees to the State of Israel. This
demand reflects the Palestinian desire to control the entire country.
The obstacle is based on focusing on rights derived from the past
instead of focusing on the future. However, to effectively remove this
obstacle, a comprehensive examination of the history of the country
and its current inhabitants is required.
In order to resolve the conflict once and for
all, one has to keep an open mind and have room for a profound change
in attitude regarding the history and identity of the parties
involved:
The people of Israel are composed of two main
groups. The first was exiled from the Land of Israel after the
destruction of the Second Jewish Temple and has managed to preserve
its religion and national identity throughout time, until the Zionist
movement returned a major part of it to its homeland – the Land of
Israel. The second group consists of those who remained within the
Land of Israel, though they were forced to abandon their religion.
Over the years the latter group lost its original identity. Due to the
change in the name of the land by a Roman emperor from Judea to
Palestina, the descendants of these forced converts, together with a
small minority of others are recently called “Palestinians”. As a
result of losing its identity, this group suffered greatly and caused
many others to suffer, as well. The time is now ripe for a fresh
approach toward the real identity of the Palestinians and toward a
solution that matches this identity.
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EMBRACING OUR ENEMIES
Shlomo Sharan
Israel Jewry experiences daily the dreadful
consequences of disengagement from Gaza and of Arab disregard for
complying with the conditions of the Oslo agreement. Yet Jews and
Israel as a nation accept as inevitable the so-called Two-State
Solution that will transform Judea and Samaria into a secure base for
Al-Qa`idah, Hizbullah, the Islamic Jihad and, of
course for Hamas. The Western world does not indicate distress
at the Iranian nuclear threat that spells genocide for Israel,
although want to protect themselves against that contingency.
Moreover, no self respecting nation would negotiate with nations who
deny its right to exist and declare their intention to destroy it, as
obvious in the recent Saudi Arabian peace initiative. Only the
far-reaching use of psychological defense mechanisms that distort and
transform reality into a delusional one by Israel and by a large
number of Jews here and outside Israel, so that they can maintain
their hope of peace despite all evidence to the contrary, affords some
basis for explaining Jewry’s irrational behavior at this time. Every
measure is taken, by Israel’s governments as well as by the media and
various groups associated with the peace movement, to project our
wishful thinking about the Arabs and attribute malice and racist
motives to the Jews. These delusions will collapse in the forthcoming
conflict only to be revived once the memory of the disaster recedes,
as it inevitably will, until the next time.
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BA`DAH BA`DAH NASRALLAH:
THE PAPARAZZI AND THE LEBANON WAR (2)
David Bukay
The media in Israel played a decisive role in the inept conduct of the
War in Lebanon in several areas:
-
From the beginning, with a gradually intensifying tempo, it conducted
a crusade against the introduction of ground troops into Lebanon,
again and again mentioning the “trauma of Lebanon” and the “Lebanese
quicksand”. It thereby caused the novice political echelon and the
military echelon that was wary of the power and influence of the media
to hesitate and to refrain from taking action in accordance with
existing military programs (that had been implemented in an exercise
several weeks prior to the war!).
-
The media broadcast military activities on the battlefield,
deliberations among the military command groupings, troop movements
and entry times in real-time and in color photography and thereby
provided Hizbullah with invaluable intelligence.
-
The media weakened public morale by describing the sights of
“massive destruction” and severe damage caused to northern settlements
and forests, thereby escalating the desertion by northern residents.
The information about the abandonment transformed it into a mass
abandonment. Already in the first days the impression one received
from the media was that Kiryat Shmona and Nahariya had been destroyed
and abandoned.
-
The media frayed and frazzled the nerves of the public with
interminable hours of blather – by irrelevant “experts”, and “wise
men” who proved their proficiency with their support of the Oslo
Accords and of publicity-seeking scoundrels – that the intelligence
was substandard and the performance of the army units was abysmal.
The media considered the war as another reality program, and in the
name of the god of ratings contributed to undermining the proper
function of the various systems. It was not for naught that Hassan
Nasrallah stated that the Israeli media treated him fairly and nicely.
These processes are part of a trend over recent years in which the
media delivers clear messages that in Israel everything is corrupt,
wretched and irreparable and has caused the public to revile politics
and politicians, something which was manifest in the percentage of
eligible voters who voted in the last election and in the party for
which the young people voted. And even if there is no doubt regarding
the patriotism and the love of Israel of the decisive majority of its
members, the actions that were taken by the media necessitate a
profound soul-searching. It is untenable, as was the case after the
last war, to fire everyone in the military and political establishment
and not to look inward. That is hypocrisy. The media must examine its
actions and decide that it has long ago crossed its Rubicon of
failure, tantamount to the Israeli military’s lack of readiness for
the Yom Kippur War. Above all, the media must take responsibility, due
to its tremendous power, and treat the issues with which it deals with
extreme fairness and care, especially those issues dealing with human
lives.
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IBZ:
IRGUN BERIT ZION (UNITED ZION ORGANIZATION): GHETTO KOVNO
-
THE UNIQUE STRUGGLE OF A JEWISH COMMUNITY DURING WWII (2)
Dov Levin
IBZ (Irgun Berit Zion –
United Zion Organization) was a secret Zionist organization founded in
Kovno, Lithuania at the end of 1940. Its goal, at the time, was to
foster Jewish national culture and Zionism, which was jeopardized
after the incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union earlier
that year. The emphasis was on “general” Zionism, as the founders of
IBZ, disapproved of the proliferation of organizations in the Jewish
community at the time.
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THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ARAB
SALVATION ARMY AND THE APPOINTMENT OF FAUZI AL-QAWUQJI AS HEAD: AN
ARAB POLITICAL COMPROMISE
Limor Abunil
After the resolution to partition Palestine, the Arab League decided
to establish a volunteer force for the purpose of thwarting the
implementation of the partition and preventing the establishment of a
Jewish state in Palestine. This volunteer force, known as the
Salvation Army, was led by Fauzi al-Qawuqji. King `Abdallah demanded
the appointment of al-Qawuqji for this job. He knew al-Qawuqji from
the 1936 rebellion in Palestine and was very close to him. Therefore,
King `Abdallah assumed that al-Qawuqji would assist him to realize `Abdallah's
Greater Syria plan.
Even though this army was established on the initiative of the Arab
League, not all of the Arab states helped in its organization. Syria ,
Iraq and to a certain degree Lebanon were the main patrons of the
Salvation Army, contributing not only monetarily but also supplying
arms, munitions, and manpower.
Under the pressure of King `Abdallah, the Arab League refrained from
proclaiming the establishment of a Palestinian state in Palestine. As
a result, the Mufti, Hajj Amin al-Huseini, refused to recognize the
authority of the League or to cooperate with the Salvation Army.
Instead, the Mufti decided to create a new volunteer army, under his
own aegis, called al-Jihad al-Muqaddas. Even though these two armies
had the same aims, there was no cooperation between them; on the
contrary, there were even attempts on both sides to thwart the
political influence of the other side.
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