Posted on 11/17/2013 6:01:43 PM PST by Ari Bussel
Lonely at the Top By Ari Bussel
I remember the look of then Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu at an underground command and control center in a city in Southern Israel crammed with foreign correspondents, when I introduced myself before asking my question, “Ari Bussel, Muslim World Today.”
For those who know me, I am White Caucasian, and I look very much Western (some would say slightly “Middle Eastern”), although the most notable character is likely my unidentifiable, thick accent.
But I definitely do not look like the representative of California-based Muslim World Today and Pakistan World Today.
The readers of Norma Zager’s and my Postcards series would burst out laughing and say: He is the Propaganda Minister of the Zionist Entity, what is he doing writing for a Muslim paper? We have also been compared to much worse, all as a compliment to our unapologetic stand for and on behalf of the Jewish People and the State of Israel.
I was one of three foreign correspondents at that gathering, during Operation Cast Lead some five years ago, who was pre-chosen to ask a question. How did I earn that privilege, as MWT is neither on most peoples’ radar nor is it the same level as USA Today, CNN, CBS and other industry leaders, all respectably represented there that day? That is a story for another day.
Netanyahu of course looked me straight in the eye, as only two Israelis can, those who feel, without the need to speak, they can count on each other (a camaraderie usually only found in the battle field), and knew he could trust me.
Since that time, Netanyahu became the prime minister, and he is now the longest serving PM in the history of the modern country. For Israel this is an extraordinary achievement. His detractors say he is a master maneuverer, holding his seat so tightly and doing nothing that might risk his hold. But this, clearly, is not the case. Netanyahu was entrusted, as the pages of history will show, to lead Israel at its most precarious time, a period of advancement and flourishing, a time when WWIII began.
Netanyahu does not need to hold anything anymore. It is all of us who need to hold him, provide a solid base, as he is our leader for better and worse. At this time, when our very existence is at stake, every decision he makes will either ensure our survival or hasten our demise.
For years we in the West have talked about Iran, while Iran has raced to become a global nuclear power, a position that will enable it to realize its expansionary goals for the Global Islamic Caliphate. Once not too long ago another country had similar ideas, the establishment of a Thousand Year Reich, and humanity paid to the tune of tens of millions of people. Once again such grandiose ideas are cultivated, and once again we behave as if there are no lessons in the past.
“Peace in our lifetime” announced British Prime Minister Chamberlain on the last day of September 1938. Now 75 short years later, one can hear the chant in the corridors of the White House: Peace with Iran is imminent. The drumbeats become louder with each passing day: The President has already received one Nobel Prize. Another is forthcoming!
The annals of history will have a different story to tell, a footnote forever to be remembered that it was yet another US President who changed the face of the world. The first was Carter in 1978 with the Shah of Iran. The second catastrophe was Obama in 2013 with the Mullahs of Iran.
The sanctions are being lifted. Money frozen for decades is being thawed. Obama and the Mullahs are becoming “buddy-buddies,” at least in the way the situation is being portrayed by the White House’s slick and sophisticated PR machine.
But the Iranians are in a race to achieve dominance and force it down the world’s throat. There will be no escape, whether they use bombs or just utilize the threat of making them available. They are focused, determined, talented and capable; while we build castles in the sandbox.
The United States of America will do nothing, exactly as it has done nothing in Syria. First, the President does not want to get involved, and he will draw a red line, then another, then change his mind and finally provide excuses and blame someone else. He even actively ushered in the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Second, we do not have the will or resolve to go and fight yet again. Iraq, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda – failure after failure. We live the good life. We are isolated. We are indivisible, all-powerful. We are Americans! Why even bother?
So Israel is alone. There are other members of the Coalition-of-the-Willing, including Saudi Arabia and some other Muslim Arab countries, but they alone cannot do a thing; Iran is too powerful and realistic a threat.
How many times can Israeli ingenuity work? First there was the Stuxnet virus, but although it proved (and continues to be) most effective, Iran is now aware and has taken necessary steps to overcome and prevent similar occurrences from affecting its facilities and nuclear, satellite and other programs in the future.
As the game plays out, with Russia overseeing the action behind the scenes, the USA role of playing the superpower is no longer. Others are now analyzing their positions and realizing how little they can actually do and how they must not – and cannot – trust the US-of-A. All rests on the shoulders of one person – Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu also has a country to run, and dealing with Jewish people is never easy. Six point eight million of them, of which six point eight (less a handful) are generals, presidents and prime ministers.
Netanyahu has teams of very capable advisors, a whole security network – both visible and invisible – and even some other surprises up his sleeve. But all in all, the decisions rest on his shoulders and on him alone.
He must be very lonely, surrounded with all the eitzes-gibbers (advice-givers) who know it all. He must feel the enormity of the moment of history, when he, and he alone, will either raise his hand for war or a white flag in surrender, the latter signaling the cessation of the Zionist Dream, the end of the Jewish People on this earth.
Clearly, the choices are both frightening. What’s worse, he has no time. No one else will enter the fray; then one by one countries will fall, faster and faster like dominos, like offerings at an altar.
Wrong are Netanyahu’s detractors who say he is holding on to his seat for some momentary gratification. He is holding on to life, with every ounce of energy, with all the will power he can master. He must not let go, for if he does the fate of the entire world and humanity as we know it will suffer.
Netanyahu is the hope and future of the State of Israel and the Jewish People. And since Israel is the last fort standing to obstruct the advancement of the Iranians toward global dominance, Netanyahu is responsible for the world.
Possibly this is why my Rabbi chooses every Shabbat to say an extra prayer for the Government, leaders and advisors of the State of Israel followed by an additional prayer for the soldiers of Israel, on the land, in the air and on the sea, who stand alert and ready on the walls of Zion Jerusalem to be victorious.
While I live my daily life, busy with the mundane, my Rabbi sees and understands something I cannot even begin to fathom. He does not attempt to tell us the future, just to correctly read the present.
May wisdom guide Netanyahu’s every step, and may the light within radiating from Zion Jerusalem be his lighthouse as he tries to navigate Israel safely to shore and the world to a sane and bearable tomorrow.
Ari Bussel and Norma Zager collaborate both in writing and on the air in a point-counter-point discussion of all things Israel-related.
Zager and Bussel are based in Los Angeles. Zager is an award winning investigative journalist, journalism professor and author. Bussel is a foreign correspondent in Israel.
Together, they have dedicated the past decade to promoting Israel.
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I really don’t know what to say. The abomination in the White House is only one part of the story. It is again fashionable to be anti Semitic. The very existence of a people should not be subject to fashion.
Thank you for posting. I am appalled at the Obama administration’s lack of respect for Netanyahu and the fact that they cannot see that he is right on Iran.
I appreciate your writing and point of view. Thank you again.
"Right on Iran" is a relative term.
It depends on whether one is, say, a Jew -- as is Netanyahu. Or an anti-Israel Muslim sympathizer, like Obama.
Well done, and thanks from one of us in the nations. Most folks out here who try to write about the future today don’t have much to say that makes good sense. Reading some of the material written long ago by the best of good men, though, becomes more interesting and exciting in time. I want peace, personally, but I pray that whatever should happen will happen soon.
How I WISH Netanyahu had been born in America. I acknowledge Israel needs him, but he would have made a good President for us.
>>they cannot see that he is right on Iran
People will almost always forgive you for being wrong. But almost never for being right.
On occasion when discussing the task Israel is facing, it’s important to remember they’d be our fourth largest metropolitan area, about the size of Dallas-Ft Worth-Arlington. If you count only the Jewish population, about the size of Philadelphia-Camden-Wilington. Worth considering what sort of military action either Dallas or Philadelphia could mount. Confronting Iran, Hizbollah and Hamas is quite a task.
Confronting Iran, Hizbollah and Hamas is quite a task.
Yes. I know you remember '48, '67 and '73. Whole bunch of enemies. Armed by the Soviets.
[Sidebar: KGB Col. Putin. I believe Beirut station chief at one time.]
Imho, The Lord of Hosts keeps Israel safe. Well, plus the IDF, IAF, Mossad, etc..
The Biblical clock is ticking...
5.56mm
Yes, that is who it will depend on.
Thanks Ari Bussel.
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