With the world riveted by protests in Syria and the uprising in Libya, everyone
seems to have forgotten the most important issue: Iran’s breathless pursuit of
nuclear weapons. But the dearth of attention in no way reflects a lessening of
the threat, as the ayatollahs march steadily closer to developing an atomic
arsenal.
We all know full well what they plan to do with such weapons
should they succeed in building them, as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
has made abundantly clear.
Indeed, just last week, in two separate
appearances, the “Tyrant of Tehran” went out of his way to rail against Israel,
labeling it “Satanic” and asserting that the Jewish state is the root of all
evil.
Some like to mock the Iranian leader, portraying him as a nut. He
most certainly is, but we must still take him at his word.
Ahmadinejad
has told us over and over again that he plans to eliminate Israel and destroy
the West.
Not content with mere talk, the would-be Hitler of Persia is
now busy devising an atomic Auschwitz designed to finish what the Nazis
began.
Like it or not, we are all in his crosshairs, and ignore him at
our peril. And that is why the time has come for Israel to tackle this threat
head-on.
The enormity of the mounting danger was underlined last month by
a chilling series of developments, all of which point toward the inescapable
conclusion that Iran is intent on obtaining the Bomb.
In early June, the
International Atomic Energy Agency listed seven “areas of concern,” indicating
that Iran may be pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program.
These
included “producing uranium metal... into components relevant to a nuclear
device” and “missile re-entry vehicle redesign activities for a new payload
assessed as being nuclear in nature.”
In other words, Tehran is
constructing nuclear weapons as well as the missiles to deliver
them.
Three weeks later, at the end of June, British Foreign Minister
William Hague told the House of Commons in London that Iran had conducted covert
tests of ballistic missiles, including “missiles capable of delivering a nuclear
payload.”
According to British intelligence, Tehran has carried out three
such tests since October.
This is in direct violation of UN Security
Council resolution 1929. Passed on June 9, 2010, it explicitly stated that “Iran
shall not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of
delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using ballistic-missile
technology.”
But just as they have done in the past, the ayatollahs
blithely ignored the world’s rebuke.
Thus far, four rounds of sanctions
against Iran have been imposed, yet Ahmadinejad is closer than ever to his goal.
Indeed, British Defense Secretary Liam Fox has suggested that Iran may have a
viable nuclear weapon as soon as next year. Others think it may take a bit
longer, but the precise timing is largely beside the point.
Can we really
risk our future and that of our children by standing idle as weapons are forged
with the aim of destroying us? THE SAD fact is that diplomacy has failed; its
only effect has been to give the Iranians more time to achieve their malicious
aims.
For more than a decade, Iran hid its nuclear program from the
international community. It has interfered with inspections of its nuclear
facilities and repeatedly defied demands to cease and desist.
Does anyone
really think another UN resolution is going to do the trick? Of course,
Ahmadinejad has always denied that his aim is to get his hands on atomic
weapons. But at a ceremony in Tehran on June 23, he said in no uncertain terms
that, “If we want to make a bomb, we are not afraid of anyone and we are not
afraid to announce it; no one can do a damn thing.”
It should be obvious
that an atomic Iran would undermine the stability of the entire region, bolster
radical anti-Western forces, and raise the possibility of terrorist groups
allied to Tehran, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, getting their hands on the most
devastating of weapons.
The bottom line is that Iran can and must be
stopped.
Like it or not, the only way to do so is with military
force.
If the US lacks the will, then Israel has no choice but to act
alone.
Sure, an attack on Iran would be logistically difficult,
diplomatically dangerous, and would have some serious consequences. But the
alternative is simply too frightening to contemplate. The alarm bells are
ringing, and we must heed their call.
Seven decades ago, the Germans
murdered six million of our people as the world remained silent. We cannot
assume it will act differently if Iran seeks to do the same.
So let’s
muster the courage to do what must be done and dismantle the Iranian Auschwitz
before it is too late.
Bomb Iran now. There is no other
choice.
The writer serves as chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org),
a Jerusalem-based organization that assists the Bnei Menashe and other lost
Jewish communities in returning to the Jewish people.