Because many bad things in life that one fears never happen, so you don't take drastic, dangerous, costly and risky actions on the fear that they will happen. I think Israel is hoping we will eliminate the Iranian bomb threat while our government is maneuvering to put Israel into a position where it will feel forced to eliminate or at least push back the Iranian program.
I don't believe I've ever said in any venue that Hezbollah made that specific statement. And I've never cared. The verse of the sword is sufficient for me. Which is why I wrote the little ditty that seems to have put a twist in your shorts.
Incidently, I don't advocate war with all Muslims. I have no problem with any who clearly and forthrightly disavow the verse of the sword and a few other verses in the Koran that trouble me. Failing that they are at war with me if they tolerate among them elements attempting to carry out the intention of the verse of the sword.
Do you want Israel to be in the unenviable position to be the first nation in history to preemptively nuke a nation to prevent the Nukee from having nukes.
No. What I said was that after Iran achieves nuclear capability sufficient to destroy Israel, Israel will almost surely go to a launch on warning preemptive posture. I think that once Iran has the capability and disperses launchers and warheads the only option Israel will have will be a very bad one, bad for Iran, bad for Israel, bad for everyone.
The game is working to no one’s advantage and certainly to the world’s detriment.
Your assertion then is that the game will not be played our because it is working to no one's advantage and to the world's detriment. The playing out of WW1 and any number of other "games" argues that the assertion is questionable.
Israel’s national survival is not in the slightest guarenteed by action that could result in WW3. In fact,an Israeli Nuke attack on Iran would force the US to prevent Israel from this action simply because WW3 is an existential threat to the US. There are a number of better options that guarantee the survival of the Jewish people. There is no government on Earth that is so important that its survival requires a Nuclear War. Period
1. I never said Israel's survival could be "guaranteed." The survival of none of us can be "guaranteed."
2. The U.S. could tell Israel not to attack, and it could apply harsh sanctions after an attack; but it could not stop Israel from attacking by surprise - except by attacking by surprise. . .
3. I suspect that in such a situation Israelis would be less concerned about "the survival of the Jewish people" than they would be about the survival of the people in Israel.
4. There is indeed "no government on Earth that is so important that its survival requires a Nuclear War" except when it's the only government with the power to stand between you and annihilation.
And, I think you make a wrong assumption when you suppose that any and all nuclear wars must escalate into "WW3." Herman Kahn certainly thought so and he thought pretty deeply about the subject.
Plus, the only "defense" against nuclear weapons is dispersal of population and shelter building. Following Iranian acquisition of those weapons I would expect Israel to be very tempted by a greater Israel option including the entire West Bank and Gaza and the Sinai so as to disperse the Jewish population and put more of it in smaller centers with good shelters close to Muslim populations without the means to build shelters or perhaps even forbidden to build shelters.
(2)FORCED??? Who’s Forcing Israel with their 200 Nukes
Iran will probably only have a few kiloton range nuclear weapons for some time; but Israel is small enough and has few enough concentrated population centers for its very existence to be endangered by that number. So, of necessity, Israel will have to go to a counterforce first strike policy if Iran fields deliverable nuclear weapons. Disarming Iran would be very hard and perhaps impossible for Israel with conventional weapons. Disarming Iran with the megaton range nuclear weapons Israel probably has would not be a challenge.
Plus, it's not inconceivable that the existence of a nuclear threat from Iran would both hollow out Israel and make its polity less moderate by prompting the emigration of those Israelis who can most easily emigrate. I suspect those Israelis (dual citizenship holders, technical elites, the wealthy, etc.) tend to be thse most likely to be influenced by world opinion.
So, down the road not very far from Iranian nuclear capability you have a besieged Israel whose leaders know that a hair trigger nuclear offense is the only (semi)guarantee of national survival answering to a polity dominated by holdouts.
Counting the angels on the head of a pin,
Tends to be silly, but it isn’t a sin,
Parsing the intentions of Islamist thugs,
May not be a sin, but it won’t get you hugs,
Among other things it may get you wings,
And a harp you can play when the fat lady sings.
When people avow that their God has said,
And further attest that their Prophet has writ,
That they may not rest until you are dead,
Unless you bow, and scrape and submit. . .
Believe them.
Counting the angels on the head of a pin,
May be quite silly, but it isn't a sin,
Parsing the intentions of Islamist thugs,
May not be a sin, but it won't get you hugs,
Among other things it may get you wings,
And a harp you can play when the fat lady sings.
There's no need to find the original statement. Simply look for a more recent official statement by Hezbollah that unequivocally condemns the meaning of the original statement.
@ Rex Caruthers:
Because many bad things in life that one fears never happen, so you don't take drastic, dangerous, costly and risky actions on the fear that they will happen. I think Israel is hoping we will eliminate the Iranian bomb threat while our government is maneuvering to put Israel into a position where it will feel forced to eliminate or at least push back the Iranian program.
@ CK MacLeod:
I don't believe I've ever said in any venue that Hezbollah made that specific statement. And I've never cared. The verse of the sword is sufficient for me. Which is why I wrote the little ditty that seems to have put a twist in your shorts.
Incidently, I don't advocate war with all Muslims. I have no problem with any who clearly and forthrightly disavow the verse of the sword and a few other verses in the Koran that trouble me. Failing that they are at war with me if they tolerate among them elements attempting to carry out the intention of the verse of the sword.
@ Rex Caruthers:
No. What I said was that after Iran achieves nuclear capability sufficient to destroy Israel, Israel will almost surely go to a launch on warning preemptive posture. I think that once Iran has the capability and disperses launchers and warheads the only option Israel will have will be a very bad one, bad for Iran, bad for Israel, bad for everyone.
@ fertiziling treefrog:
Your assertion then is that the game will not be played our because it is working to no one's advantage and to the world's detriment. The playing out of WW1 and any number of other "games" argues that the assertion is questionable.
@ CK MacLeod:
What false witness and lies to you believe I have borne or passed on?
@ fertiziling treefrog:
You mock; but the old saw that "the best defense is a good offense" is an old saw because it has withstood test in many places and times.
@ Rex Caruthers:
1. I never said Israel's survival could be "guaranteed." The survival of none of us can be "guaranteed."
2. The U.S. could tell Israel not to attack, and it could apply harsh sanctions after an attack; but it could not stop Israel from attacking by surprise - except by attacking by surprise. . .
3. I suspect that in such a situation Israelis would be less concerned about "the survival of the Jewish people" than they would be about the survival of the people in Israel.
4. There is indeed "no government on Earth that is so important that its survival requires a Nuclear War" except when it's the only government with the power to stand between you and annihilation.
And, I think you make a wrong assumption when you suppose that any and all nuclear wars must escalate into "WW3." Herman Kahn certainly thought so and he thought pretty deeply about the subject.
Plus, the only "defense" against nuclear weapons is dispersal of population and shelter building. Following Iranian acquisition of those weapons I would expect Israel to be very tempted by a greater Israel option including the entire West Bank and Gaza and the Sinai so as to disperse the Jewish population and put more of it in smaller centers with good shelters close to Muslim populations without the means to build shelters or perhaps even forbidden to build shelters.
@ Rex Caruthers:
Iran will probably only have a few kiloton range nuclear weapons for some time; but Israel is small enough and has few enough concentrated population centers for its very existence to be endangered by that number. So, of necessity, Israel will have to go to a counterforce first strike policy if Iran fields deliverable nuclear weapons. Disarming Iran would be very hard and perhaps impossible for Israel with conventional weapons. Disarming Iran with the megaton range nuclear weapons Israel probably has would not be a challenge.
Plus, it's not inconceivable that the existence of a nuclear threat from Iran would both hollow out Israel and make its polity less moderate by prompting the emigration of those Israelis who can most easily emigrate. I suspect those Israelis (dual citizenship holders, technical elites, the wealthy, etc.) tend to be thse most likely to be influenced by world opinion.
So, down the road not very far from Iranian nuclear capability you have a besieged Israel whose leaders know that a hair trigger nuclear offense is the only (semi)guarantee of national survival answering to a polity dominated by holdouts.
Counting the angels on the head of a pin,
Tends to be silly, but it isn’t a sin,
Parsing the intentions of Islamist thugs,
May not be a sin, but it won’t get you hugs,
Among other things it may get you wings,
And a harp you can play when the fat lady sings.
When people avow that their God has said,
And further attest that their Prophet has writ,
That they may not rest until you are dead,
Unless you bow, and scrape and submit. . .
Believe them.
Counting the angels on the head of a pin,
May be quite silly, but it isn't a sin,
Parsing the intentions of Islamist thugs,
May not be a sin, but it won't get you hugs,
Among other things it may get you wings,
And a harp you can play when the fat lady sings.
@ CK MacLeod:
There's no need to find the original statement. Simply look for a more recent official statement by Hezbollah that unequivocally condemns the meaning of the original statement.