{"id":55785,"date":"2015-03-23T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=55785"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:25:56","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:25:56","slug":"israels-threat-from-within","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/03\/israels-threat-from-within\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Threat from Within"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2015-03-14T150121Z_01_GAZ04_RTRIDSP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-1393\"<\/a>

A Palestinian protester argues with an Israeli soldier during a protest against Jewish settlements south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem March 14, 2015. (Mussa Issa Qawasma\/Reuters)<\/p><\/div>\n

In an appearance on CBS News\u2019s \u201cFace the Nation<\/a>\u201d soon before he was reelected as Israel\u2019s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu was asked if he was offended that the White House<\/a> tweeted<\/a> one of my columns<\/a>, pointing out that for 25 years, Bibi had been wrong in his predictions about Iran\u2019s nuclear program. \u201cIf I had to choose,\u201d Netanyahu responded, \u201cI would retweet .\u2009.\u2009. the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei\u2019s recent tweet<\/a> in which he cites nine ways and reasons that Israel should be destroyed.\u201d Netanyahu is right to draw attention to that threat, but for somewhat different reasons than he implies.<\/p>\n

Let me be clear. Iran\u2019s supreme leader is a radical, anti-Western ideologue whose Twitter feed<\/a> is filled with hate and hostility \u2014 and he means Israel only harm. But he is also a canny politician who has survived and thrived in Iran\u2019s complex political system. What is the message he is sending?<\/p>\n

Khamenei speaks often about the destruction of Israel. But he rejects doing so by means of a war<\/a>. \u201cWe recommend neither a classical war by the army of Muslim countries nor to throw migrated Jews at sea.\u201d (It\u2019s good to know that he is against drowning Jews en masse!) Akbar Ganji, Iran\u2019s best-known dissident, who was jailed for criticizing Khamenei, argues that the supreme leader has been consistent in this position for years<\/a> \u2014 no war, certainly not by Iran.<\/p>\n

What does Khamenei advocate? A \u201cpublic and organized referendum\u201d in which Muslims, Christians and Jews living in the area under Israeli jurisdiction would decide on the fate of their government and regime. Khamenei reveals his intentions by saying that recent Jewish immigrants shouldn\u2019t have a right to vote. But then why do Arabs, who may have traveled to those lands only a few decades earlier, have the right? Khamenei\u2019s language is that \u201call the original people of Palestine\u201d should vote. If by original we mean since the very beginning, that\u2019s mostly Jews.<\/p>\n

But put aside the word games. Khamenei has recognized that the greatest vulnerability for Israel is that it has legal jurisdiction over 4.5 million Arab people who have neither a state nor a vote. That condition is virtually unique in the modern world and cannot last in a democratic society.<\/p>\n

Right-wing Israeli politicians and their supporters often dismiss the plight of the Palestinians, pointing out that other ethnic groups \u2014 such as the Kurds \u2014 don\u2019t have nations. But the Kurds are citizens of the countries in which they live \u2014 Turkey, Iraq, Iran. The Chechens may want to be independent, but for now they are full-fledged Russian citizens. Palestinians are virtually unique in the world in that they have neither a state of their own nor citizenship in the country where they live.<\/p>\n

There is a historical parallel. The British would tell its colonial populations \u2014 say, the people of India \u2014 that they could not have independence yet not be citizens of Great Britain. And perhaps because many formerly colonial countries remember this history, the Palestinian dilemma is one that resonates.<\/p>\n

This is, potentially, the long-run danger that could undo the miracle that is Israel \u2014 and it is a miracle. The country is militarily far more powerful than ever, compared with its neighbors. Its defense budget is larger than Egypt\u2019s, Jordan\u2019s, Syria\u2019s and Lebanon\u2019s combined, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute<\/a>. The Wall and the Iron Dome have significantly lessened the threat from Hamas and Hezbollah. Economically, Israel is booming, having become the richest country in a sea of oil states. It is a vibrant democracy and a dynamic society.<\/p>\n

As for the Iranian nuclear program, which does not have even a single bomb, let\u2019s not forget that Israel has a large nuclear arsenal, of reportedly more than 200 weapons, many of them on submarines<\/a>. Iran\u2019s sophisticated, calculating leaders will surely take this strong deterrent into account even if, several years from now, they actually build a few nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

In a strange way, Khamenei understands the immense power of democracy \u2014 which is why he shut down the Green Movement in Iran. He recognizes that Israel\u2019s vulnerability lies in its greatest strength \u2014 its flourishing democracy. In a genuinely pluralistic country like Israel, it is very hard to keep practicing a policy of non-citizenship toward so many.<\/p>\n

To maintain the status quo, Israeli democracy is already being coarsened. In the last days of his campaign, when he thought he might lose, Netanyahu warned<\/a> the country that Israeli Arabs were beginning to vote in large numbers. The foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has flatly stated<\/a> that some Israeli Arabs shouldn\u2019t really be part of Israel.<\/p>\n

Khamenei understands that Israel can deter and respond to military threats. But it cannot, as a democracy, unendingly keep control of territories with 4.5 million people against their will. This is why he has chosen as his weapon the persistent call for a referendum. I would hope that Netanyahu takes this threat to Israel\u2019s existence seriously and has some answer to it, beyond a retweet.<\/p>\n

_____________________________<\/p>\n

Fareed Zakaria writes a foreign affairs column for <\/em>The Post. He is also the host of <\/em>CNN\u2019s Fareed Zakaria GPS and a contributing editor for <\/em>The Atlantic. <\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 washingtonpost.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Khamenei understands that Israel can deter and respond to military threats. But it cannot, as a democracy, unendingly keep control of territories with 4.5 million people against their will. This is why he has chosen as his weapon the persistent call for a referendum. I would hope that Netanyahu takes this threat to Israel\u2019s existence seriously and has some answer to it, beyond a retweet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}