The First Human Right: To Live


(The week of Tisha B'Av returns us to the destruction of the two Temples, the tragic exiles & massacres, and the terrifying prospect of further disasters visited upon the Jewish people, chas veshalom....)

The report this Friday that the latest tests of the Israeli Arrow Missile Defence System, which took place in the USA, failed – is beyond just being worrying. The Arrow was specifically developed, as a joint Israel + USA joint venture, to counter the ballistic missile threat, primarily from Iran. Without an effective anti-ballistic missile defence umbrella, we in Israel are denuded.

I write this, located within the tiny State of Israel, and within 2000 km of the Iranian missile launchers.

That is to say, me and my family, my community and over a third of the world's Jews, are now within ballistic missile range of Iran. This conventional and severe threat has been present for several years - and it is due to increase to Armegedon proportions with the development of nuclear weapons by Iran, and the Iranian regime's stated intent to "wipe the Zionist entity off the map".

The development of a nuclear bomb by Iran is reportedly imminent - measured in months; and the mating of this technology into a ballistic missile is perilously close to fruition. Let's face it, that combined nuclear warhead plus ballistic missile technology, is now over half-a-century old. As the expression goes, hardly rocket science…

Any agendas for anti-abuse, anti-corruption and working for Civil Justice – pale in comparison with this.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/), adopted by the United Nations in 1948 states:

  • Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

A reliance upon international diplomacy to ensure the State of Israel's right to life, is utter madness – there is no rational basis that such diplomacy will, or even can, succeed in the current environment. Both China and Russia oppose appropriate levels of diplomatic pressure – and the US and other western Governments lack the will or capability to force Iran to drop its nuclear program.

So our pragmatic options for survival, in my opinion, are limited to just one. The only practical plan for ensuring the survival of the Jewish (and Palestinian, by the way) population of Israel, is for Israel to launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran. The same way we did against the Arabs in 1967 (Six Day War), and against the Iraqi Nuclear Reactor in Osirak in 1981.

It is clear that this entails risk – and unknowns. Certainly, unknowns to Joe-average, like me – those of us who rely on publicly available information. But beyond these there also Unknowables, even to the Defence Establishment and to the politicians who control it. Our US allies have made statements focusing on these risks, including to the USA itself, of Israel launching a pre-emptive attack, most recently "A senior US defense official has warned that an Israeli strike on Iran could have profoundly destabilizing consequences, and would directly affect US interests." (Jpost, 20th July 2009)

However, post-Churban, post-Holocaust, post-Hiroshima, and post-Iranian Revolution – for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime to be nuclear armed will be an assured, immediate threat to all of us in Israel. Therefore our most primary Human Right must now be asserted, without any further delay. In spite of any (unknowable) risks to the USA and even to ourselves.

It is therefore my opinion that our Fundamental "Right to Life" now necessitates a pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iran's Nuclear facilities.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why IS That Man Taking Such An Interest In My Child??

Image
[Introductory Note: There have been several cases in Bet Shemesh/RBS in recent weeks of charismatic men who have a Pied Piper influence over kids, some of whom they allegedly have molested. The kids' parents were aware of the 'specialness' of the relationship, even the peculiarity, but were not aware of the risks. I offer this article as guidance to help parents become more aware of the potential downside of these relationships. I have used males, but whereas most pedophiles are male, their child victims can be equally likely girls or boys.]   ------- If you reminisce back to your school days,   you can probably think of a specific adult who had a profound influence on you and helped you overcome your growing-up challenges.  There are some particularly gifted and wonderful people who are able to bridge an age gap, and thereby positively engage with someone who is even many years their junior. Such people can apply this talent to working with kids and youth in a profe
Read more

Marrying a Soloveitchik

Image
Mazaltov! My nephew, Gedaliah Kestenbaum married Devori Soloveitchik in Jerusalem last week. Gedaliah has married into rabbinical aristocracy .    Devori is the daughter of  Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, and the grand-daughter of Rabbi  Meshulam Dovid (Reb Dovid) Soloveitchik , who is Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Brisk (one of the two) in Jerusalem . The Soloveitchik's are a rabbinical dynasty descended from Rabbi  Yosef Dov (HaLevi) Soloveitchik (The "Beis Halevi") and his son Rabbi  Chaim Soloveitchik ("Reb Chaim Brisker"). Rav Chaim's sons Rabbi  Yitzchak Zev (Reb Velvel) Soloveitchik ("The GRIZ" The Brisker Rov) and Rabbi  Moshe Soloveitchik seem to have gone in different hashkafik directions. Whereas Reb Velvel's descendents are predominantly right wing hareidim, Rav Moshe's branch are leaders in the Modern Orthodox/National Religious hashkafa – most notably Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ("The Rav")
Read more

Hoax Letter Sent to Synagogue

Image
            (Beis Tefillah Synagogue, Ramat Beit Shemesh) The following hoax letter has been sent to members of the Beis Tefillah Synagogue board of management, as if it was written by Rabbi CM [ed. name respectfully withheld] who serves as their rabbi: I think that as long as David Morris sets policy for L.A [ed. Lema'an Achai ], and is their public face,  I will not allow L.A. to use the Shul for fundraising purposes. This will change if: 1)David M apologizes publicly for stating,and insinuating again and again(in many forums,but especially in his childish Tzedek Tzedek blog) that , as a group ,  "Rabbis" (of RBSA ) are guilty of aiding and abetting and enabling child molesters.(And that of course that leaves LA to come to the rescue of our children.) OR IF  2)LA  publicly , clearly,and unambiguously disavows such statements .They must say--we clearly,and unambiguously ,disavow  statements or blogs which say or imply that  Rabbis  of RBSA (as a group ) aid or a
Read more