WarSclerotic

Hatred, and not only bribery, blinds the eyes of wise men and distorts the words of the righteous. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a hated man. The instinctive and uncontrolled hatred toward him interferes with the possibility of conducting a fair and rational discussion of one of the most fateful issues regarding Israel’s future.

Both his supporters and his detractors are of the same opinion: His current visit to the United States is one of the most important – perhaps the most important – ever undertaken by a prime minister of Israel. And there is also fairly general agreement among those who hate him about defining the aim of the trip – preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

There is also no substantive difference of opinion over the general lines of the preferred modes of action: enlisting the United States and the other countries of the world to participate in painful and believable sanctions that will lead Iran to surrender without a battle. But if these fail, then the time will come for a military option under the leadership of the U.S. And only if all hope has been lost, “And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold” [Isaiah 63:5], only then would we reach the stage of “Therefore my own arm brought salvation unto me.”

Had Netanyahu made up his mind to engage in a preemptive strike, he would not have left Jerusalem. He went to Washington to bring pressure to bear and not to suffer pressure. If he succeeds, then our work, as the sit-quietly-and-don’t-act choir chants, will be done for us by others. Could one hope for a better result than that?

Since we are talking about Israel, no one anticipated that his important and consensual mission would be accompanied by the kind of applause and enthusiasm that he received from American Jewry at the AIPAC conference. But from where do these deep expectations of the failure of his mission spring? What could cause normally wise and intelligent people to place mines and roadside bombs on his path with the aim of degrading, humiliating and weakening him? To cause him to lose his self-confidence precisely on the eve of the vital meetings that were awaiting him on “the most important journey of an Israeli prime minister”? After all, his preferred goal is not substantively different from that of those who denounce him – to place the United States as the spearhead of the world’s activity against Iran.

The Iranian issue was not at the top of the American president’s international agenda. Only Netanyahu, because of his renowned determination to prevent Iran from becoming armed with nuclear weapons, was able to get President Barack Obama to change his agenda. Had a different Israeli prime minister sat before him, let’s say Shimon Peres, he would indeed have returned from Washington crowned with kudos by the Israeli media, but with zero achievements in getting the U.S. to spearhead the prevention of Iran’s nuclearization – the very objective of the Israeli media.

Benjamin Netanyahu went to Washington on a mission for the state. And, as he stated at the AIPAC conference, for the entire Jewish people. The thousands of delegates rose to their feet and cheered, and they did not fear being charged with “dual loyalties” when he said that. But above all, he wanted to placate his detractors from home, an understandable psychological reaction. The reports proved that despite the unbridled psychological warfare these opponents had waged against him, he succeeded in raising the Iranian issue to the top of the American political consciousness (perhaps even more than to the top of Israeli consciousness ) and in “entangling” Obama in presidential commitments that had not been given prior to that. Also, almost obviously, to get backing for Israel’s positions in Congress and from the Republican candidates for the presidential elections.

In return for Israeli restraint, Obama has promised to prevent Iran, in a variety of ways, from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Only a resolute and determined steadfastness will lead Israel to free itself of the ancient Jewish feeling that “of the [other] people there was none with me.” And only then will the option remain: “Therefore my own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.”