“Green Line” is Fiction. “Red Line” is Real.

By EARL COX
While I’ve never heard former U. S. President George W. Bush described as a prophet, those who are able to recall his "State of the Union" address back on January 29, 2002, may believe that he did have a crystal ball at least for that one brief moment. In that address Bush declared three countries as being evil. In fact, he called them the “Axis of Evil.” Here we are fourteen years later and Bush’s words are appearing as the proverbial “handwriting on the wall.” The three countries he named have not been quiescent but rather are thriving hot beds of terrorist activities and networks.
What were the three countries he named? They were Iraq, Iran and North Korea. This “Axis of Evil” is collectively and individually a destabilizing force in the world today and a serious threat to the safety and well-being of the people of Israel and other peace-loving people living in the Middle East (although aside from Israel I'm not sure they really exist). All that’s missing for the “Axis of Evil” to fulfill its proclaimed goals of eliminating Israel followed by the United States is for them to get their hands on weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and this seems just a matter of time. But instead of the United States and other members of the P5+1 breaking the links in this chain of terror and tyranny, Iran was instead handed the golden keys to unlock the first set of doors leading to the acquisition of nuclear weapons. The threat posed by this “Axis of Evil” is right in Israel’s backyard. The rest of the world is telling Israel not to worry because there are checks and balances in place to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons but the truth of the matter is that the “mechanisms” in place to enforce these so-called “checks and balances” are weak and faulty. In fact, it’s more like the fox in charge of guarding the hen house. If you have an unstable neighbor who continually threatens your life, wisdom and prudence say you should take your neighbor seriously and plan accordingly. Will Israel be forced to act unilaterally? Perhaps. Will the United States stand with her? L-rd G-d, I pray so.
Bush declared Iran, Iraq and North Korea as a reference line “arming to threaten the peace of the world” and as active supporters of terror. Iran openly and unashamedly supports Hezbollah in Lebanon who in turn supports Hamas in Gaza. The world should be taking corrective actions against these countries instead of rewarding their renegade behavior with the lifting of sanctions and other goodies from the storehouses of hard-working taxpayers and those who have been victims of terror. Yes, Bush’s warnings have become reality. The nuclear deal with Iran and weak world leadership have empowered the "Axis of Evil" to rear and shake its ugly head in outright defiance of any terms and conditions, checks or balances, which are enforceable only on paper.
Hindsight is always 20/20. There are situations in which you win and there are situations from which you learn. Hopefully, the world learned from the invasion of Iraq which was based on faulty “intelligence” indicating WMDs would be found but were not. Precious lives were lost and valuable, irreplaceable property was destroyed. Because the United States and the world failed to plan for either occupation or exit, we therefore planned to fail … miserably. But what did we learn? For one thing we learned that Hussein’s bravado was nothing but bluster, but we wouldn’t have known this without the invasion. Also, we would not have known that Iraq was not a threat in and of itself. Unfortunately, our failure to plan paved the way for the evils of ISIL (or ISIS). However, the same is not true for Iran or North Korea. Both are serious threats to world peace and to the annihilation of Israel and her people. Do we need another attack like the World Trade Center to remind us that we are at war? We are engaged in the “War on Terror” and no country is more aware of this than Israel. The likelihood of Iran building a nuclear weapon is very high and needs to be contained. Yet, for reasons I cannot fathom, sanctions on Iran have been lifted. Why? Why? Why?
Those promoting the deal which was signed last July touted to the public that Iran would be closely monitored with the assurance of using sanctions as leverage to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions. To date, Iran has broken security agreements at least three times with the latest being a video released by the Iranian government showing a new ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile) silo that is illegal and full of unused and illegal ICBMs. At the time of this writing, no new sanctions are being considered or put into place.
North Korea detonated underground atomic bombs in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Very recently they detonated a so-called miniaturized hydrogen bomb. This is a very powerful explosive with the additional threat of being able to be fitted to an ICBM thus becoming a direct threat to all it considers as enemies. Whether or not this is actually true, it is a form of terror because of the psychological impact upon the world by threatening our sense of safety, security and well-being. Israel has been living in such a state of terror since its inception in 1948. There has not been one day that Israel’s very existence has not been threatened.
The existential status of all humankind is at risk, especially in the Middle East. Acts of terror are a diabolical strategy for changing the way people live by inflicting, or threatening to inflict, physical and psychological harm. G-d made all people with inalienable rights to enjoy the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. Any threat to this status quo is evil and should not be tolerated by the so-called civilized world.
Is there a red line whereby, once crossed, the Western world will come out against threats of evil by terrorist rogue regimes? At the moment it seems that, in the United States, there is not. We just keep rolling over. However, the G-d of Israel has a red line. The Bible tells us that at the end of times Israel will become the “whipping boy” of the entire world. Every nation will turn against her and when they do, all who stand against Israel will be guilty of crossing the "Red Line" and will be annihilated by the G-d of Israel.