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Sean Gannon is a freelance writer and researcher on Irish and Israeli affairs, specialising in the relationship between the two countries. He is currently preparing a book on this subject and writing the chapter on Ireland for a forthcoming study on the interplay between Anti-Americanism, anti-Zionism and antisemitism in Europe since 9/11.
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By Sean Gannon
February 14, 2003
Ilan Ramon's courageous journey on the Columbia has assured him a pedestal in the pantheon of international heroes but his place in Israeli history was secure even before his NASA mission began. For his role in Operation Babylon, the destruction of Saddam's nuclear reactor at Osirak in 1981, had already shown his compatriots that men came no braver then he did. Despite being the youngest of the eight fighter pilots, he elected to fly the most dangerous position in the formation even though simulations indicated that two of the planes were unlikely to return. As he explained to his deputy commander, Amos Yadlin, "My mother came out of the Holocaust. If I can prevent another Holocaust, this is so important. I am willing to sacrifice my life."
Subsequent events have proven that he and his colleagues almost certainly did prevent another holocaust. For while the Iranians felt threatened enough to mount their own attack on Osirak just days into their war with Iraq, Saddam made it clear that his nuclear warheads were destined, not for Tehran, but Tel Aviv. If not for the bravery of Colonel Ramon, Israel might have found itself dealing in later years with a far greater danger than 39 Scuds.
In about two month's time, the Iraqi threat will be neutralized forever but this is cold comfort for Israel. For Iran is rising fast to take Iraq's place as a clear and present danger to the Jewish state. Since its foundation, the Islamic Republic has been a sworn enemy of Israel with both conservatives and reformists sharing an implacable hatred of what they term the "occupation regime of al-Quds." Ayatollah Khomeini's view that its very existence "humiliates Islam, the Quran, the government of Islam and the nation of Islam," is still espoused today even by so-called moderates such as Ali Akbar Mohtashemi. For him, Israel is "a knife in the heart of the Islamic world" which must be removed. Even Mohammed Khatami, the darling of Europe, has called for the eradication of this "parasite in the heart of the Moslem world" and while he currently favors achieving this through a process of demographic dilution, he has advocated more proactive approaches in the past.
Through the financing of Palestinian terrorism and sponsoring of Hizbullah, Iran has long endeavored to undermine Israel through proxies but its development of a sophisticated missile program makes Tehran a more direct threat today. There seems little doubt that the Shahab 3 rocket, with a range of 1,300 kms, is specifically designed to attack Israel and the fact that it can carry a nuclear payload is worrying in the extreme. That Iran is actively pursuing the means to arm it makes action by Israel imperative.
President Khatami's announcement Sunday of the "discovery" and extraction of uranium near Yadz lends a new urgency to this already serious situation. David Ivry has recalled that, given the environmental risks, the attack on the Osirak had to be executed before radioactive materials arrived on site and the same condition applies with regard to Bushehr, the Persian Gulf port city where Iran is building a nuclear reactor with Russian assistance.
The recent breakdown of relations between the United States and North Korea also raises the possibility that Pyongyang will share its nuclear know-how with Teheran. North Korea is already Iran's main supplier of missile technology.
Iran's claim that it has no interest in acquiring nuclear weapons is patently false. President Khatami spoke about "gaining access to peaceful nuclear technology" but a country in possession of the world's second largest gas reserves and third largest oil reserves hardly needs atomic power to satisfy its energy requirements. He claims that his country has signed all of the necessary treaties and that the Bushehr reactor is being built according to IAEA regulations, but Iran has refused intensive inspections and been accused of hiding behind the letter of the law. Sunday's speech would seem to bear this out. Indeed, just days beforehand, he refused Chris Patten's request for more detailed inspection of the program.
It is now abundantly clear that Bushehr is but the tip of Iran's nuclear iceberg. Mohammed ElBaradei and his inspectors are due there shortly and Khatami's admissions are doubtless an attempt to pre-empt their inevitable confirmation of the hidden nuclear projects that American and Israeli intelligence sources have long insisted exist in Iran. Some analysts argue that Bushehr is just a cover operation for such projects, diverting attention away while allowing Iranian scientists to gain valuable technical expertise which they can then apply when working at these secret unsupervised sites. The fact that Iran is mining uranium is of itself evidence of extra-curricular nuclear activities as Russia is under contract to supply Bushehr with all the fuel it needs.
What can Israel do to counter this threat? Its diplomatic attempts to stymie Iran's nuclear development have met with little success; negotiations with Russia have not checked the flow of technology and training to Tehran just as those held with France in the late 1970s failed to frustrate Saddam's nuclear ambitions. In any case, "official" Russian assistance is only part of the story; many cash-strapped veterans of the Soviet nuclear program work for Iran in a personal capacity and there is little Moscow, Tbilisi or Jerusalem can do about this.
To paraphrase President Bush, Israel must act against the emerging Iranian threat before it is fully formed. Menachem Begin proclaimed in 1981 that no enemy of Israel would be allowed to develop WMDs, a position wholeheartedly supported by then-Agriculture Minister Ariel Sharon, who argued at the time for the adoption of a policy under which the development of nuclear weapons by a hostile regional power would constitute a casus belli. The soundness of this judgment has not been eroded by time.
Of course there will be criticism of any Israeli action. Europe will be apoplectic but Israel has survived their reproaches thus far. And while President Reagan harshly condemned the attack on Osirak, George Bush identifies Iran as a direct threat to America's national interests and security and any Israeli initiative will, once the timing is right, receive the approval and support of his administration.
In 1981, Begin's main consideration was the reaction of the Arab world but this need not detain the current Prime Minister either. If they will not fight for their Iraqi or Palestinian "brothers," they will hardly do so for their Shiite neighbors. As for Iran itself, while its foreign minister has warned of a response "unimaginable to any Israeli politician," Israel's defense system is well capable of dealing with any missile threat. And any response by Hizbullah would provide a golden opportunity for Israel to rid itself of the northern menace once and for all.
Operation Babel-2 is already drawn up for "surgical strikes" against sites such as Bushehr. What Israel now needs is a Begin to authorize it and a Ramon to implement it.
Views expressed by the author do not
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