Posted on 11/09/2005 6:44:01 AM PST by F14 Pilot
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent threat to “wipe Israel off the map” received massive media attention, especially in the West.
In Canada, most newspapers ran editorials denouncing Ahmadinejad; several also ran opinion pieces.
On CTV National News (Oct. 28), a 21/2-minute report by Janis Mackey Frayer showed scenes of anti-Israel fervour in Tehran. Frayer interviewed Dore Gold, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who said: “You cannot threaten to exterminate a fellow UN member and [expect that] the world will remain silent.”
Frayer concluded her report: “Refusing to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist is nothing new for Iran, but Ahmadinejad urged a new wave of Palestinian attacks.” She noted the Oct. 26 suicide bombing in Hadera, in which five Israelis were killed.
While CBC Radio News and several Newsworld programs reported on the Iranian threat in some detail, CBC’s The National devoted only 15 seconds to the story. On Oct. 28, anchor Diana Swain reported that the Iranian president’s “comment” about wiping Israel from the map “has drawn widespread criticism, including from Canada.” Why the CBC’s flagship news program decided to downplay the seriousness of the Iranian president’s tirade is an open question.
As the initial coverage of outrage subsided, a more analytical approach about Ahmadinejad and his impact on developments in Iran followed. For instance, on Nov. 2, Germany’s Der Spiegel reported: “Iran’s nuclear program may have already taken a decisive step in the direction of nuclear weapons in recent weeks. According to information obtained by Spiegel, the president has placed himself at the head of a new ‘Control Center for Nuclear Issues,’ which is managed by his friends, the Revolutionary Guards. This enables Ahmadinejad to direct all nuclear developments himself. With intelligence official Farhad Rahbar, who manages the government’s budget, as its deputy director, the organization has unlimited financial resources.”
Der Spiegel noted that Iran has the world’s second largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of oil. Its natural gas reserves are also enormous. This energy wealth provides Iran with massive income.
Iran is the principal backer of the terror group Hezbollah, which operates in Lebanon and the West Bank. Iran also supports Islamic Jihad, which took responsibility for the Oct. 26 terrorist attack in Hadera on the same day that Ahmadinejad delivered his genocidal tirade against Israel. (Samuel Segev reported in the Winnipeg Free Press on Nov.1 that Ramadan Shalah, a leader of Islamic Jihad who was in Tehran at the time, along with a leader from Hamas, “gave the order for the bombing in Hadera as a ‘gift’ to Ahmadinejad.”)
In “A pariah among nations” (National Post, Nov. 1), David Frum raised some essential questions that had been overlooked by most analysts: “[A]n emerging nuclear power, Iran, has just threatened to annihilate an existing nuclear power, Israel. Dare Israel now wait until Iran has completed its bomb to see whether President Ahmadinejad means what he says? And if Israel does not wait – if it pre-empts the Iranian bomb program – how will Iran respond?
“Presumably by intensifying its support for anti-Israel and anti-Western terrorist movements. And so Ahmadinejad has just pushed the whole region closer to a major war.”
Frum wrote: “The only way to avert war is to stop Iran’s bomb – and that is going to require stronger medicine than International Atomic Energy condemnations and [UN] Security Council resolutions.”
In 1981, when Israel destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor in a pinpoint airstrike, the whole world – including the United States – condemned it. Years later, when it became known that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had been working to redevelop nuclear weapons, much of the world belatedly commended Israel for its prescience.
With the notable exception of Russia and most Islamic and Arab countries, almost all world leaders immediately condemned Ahmadinejad for his threat to annihilate Israel. Some analysts said this may not have been because Israel was the immediate target, but because others – particularly in Western Europe – could become targets of this increasingly fanatical regime whose ballistic missiles have Europe well within its range. Media reports almost uniformly emphasized the gravity of Ahmadinejad’s threats.
What if all other efforts to rein in Iran’s nuclear program failed, and Israel believed it had no choice but to pre-empt the development of an Iranian bomb? Would the world continue to support Israel against the threat of a nuclear Iran?
Paul Michaels is communications director for the Canada-Israel Committee.
if israel does this, the world is more likely to assemble an invasion force to teach israel a lesson. btw, i think i read a story sorta like that in some really old book.
No.
they get my vote
No, but who cares. Go Isreal.
As soon as Iran has nukes, it will happily threaten to lob them into Tel Aviv. No muslim despot will tolerate the existence of the state of Israel at its doorstep. That will never change until the muslim world is democratized. And that will take a long time and cost alot in blood.
DA740
"Doesn't matter BUMP! They bombed the reactor in Iraq while the world sreamed at them, so why should now be different. We are talking about their nation's survival. BOMBS AWAY!!"
It matters very much as the playing field has drastically changed since Israel first bombed Irans reactor.
Biggest of all is Iran's allies. Needless to say that they'd have full backing of the muslim world, they now have Russia, seeking to become a superpower again, and N. Korea run by a madman, all solidly behind Iran.
This coupled with the fact that anti-semetic Europe could care a less about Israel and they all hate Israels closest allie, US.
They have never bombed Iran's reactors. You confuse Iran with Iraq unless I was asleep for several years.
If Israel attacked Iran, the riots would spread all across Europe.
Time for western civilization to fish or cut bait!
The response by diplomats in public would be "We condemn this act" but the private response would be something akin to "Thank God!" The reason is simple: most of the world is worried that a nuclear-armed Iran would not hestitate to use its weapons against Israel.
you are probably right!
gakrak, as i recall, this really old book said all the nations on earth would assemble to punish israel with vast armies, my take was that would include the usa.
Yeah. I read that book too. What was it called? Oh yeah...Revelations.
Not a chance, but I will.
Not Hardly!
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