Several articles follow warning of Israel’s plans to execute a pre-emptive strike against Iran with the diplomatic assistance of the United States, the sort of plan-to-fail diplomacy that constructed trap-doors only in its attempts to gain international approval of the immoral, illegal invasion of Iraq.
James Petras in Iran in the Crosshairs provides details of the plans for a unilateral attack on Iran by Israel and the United States’ manoeuvrings, despite officials in Israel’s military, intelligence and Labor Party essentially agreeing with the opinion of IDF Chief of Staff Daniel Halutz who “categorically denied that Iran represents an immediate nuclear threat to Israel, let alone the United States.” [Update: peacepalestine has an unabridged copy of Petras’ article here.]
Jorge Hirsch in Nuking Iran With the UN’s Blessing further examines the legal framework comparing it to the charade that heralded Iraq as an imminent threat only minutes away from dispersing mushroom clouds across the United States. Here is Hirsch’s verbatim reproduction of Iran’s NYT ad since he was unable to find a copy of it anywhere on the web.
Gordon Prather in ElBaradei Isn’t Perfect highlights suggestions made by ElBaradei in his Nobel Prize lecture, defines the actual authourity of the IAEA, and subtracts the difference. For instance:
ElBaradei wants international control over operations producing nuclear material that could be used in weapons.
“I am hoping that we can make these operations multinational – so that no one country can have exclusive control over any such operation.
“My plan is to begin by setting up a reserve fuel bank, under IAEA control, so that every country will be assured that it will get the fuel needed for its bona fide peaceful nuclear activities.
“This assurance of supply will remove the incentive – and the justification – for each country to develop its own fuel cycle.”
Oh yeah?
Since 1975, Iran has been a partner in EURODIF, an international uranium-enrichment consortium, but has yet to receive either enriched uranium or the return of its billion-dollar investment.
Bill and Kathleen Christison in Let’s Stop a US/Israeli War on Iran provide a regional analysis in support of their argument that a nuclear-armed Iran is preferable to a pre-emptive strike waged against it by the U.S. and Israel. They urge antiwar activists globally to get in crisis mode. “Nothing else more dangerous to the world, to the Middle East, to the oppressed Palestinians, or to the true interests of the United States is happening today — anywhere.”
Excerpted from FOR’s Friendship Delegation to Iran: December 2005
Report 4: A Tehran synagogue, students and women activists
Inside the synagogue, we met with Morris Mottaned, who is in his second term as the Jewish representative to the Iranian parliament. According to Mr. Mottaned, Iran has the second oldest Jewish community after Israel, with Jews having lived in Iran for 2,700 years. There is a mausoleum for Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan, and for Daniel in Susa.
Before the Iranian revolution, there were more than 100,000 Jews living in Iran, but there are only about 25,000 left. Mr. Mottaned promised that the Jewish community in Iran would never disappear because they have such deep roots there.
We talked with Mr. Mottaned for nearly two hours. He made the following points during our discussion:
There are many misconceptions in the West concerning the lives and status of Jews in Iran. As of two years ago, equality under the law was established for religious minorities, for example in inheritance. For the first time in the history of Islam, there are funds budgeted for religious minorities. Now there is equal opportunity for employment The Iranian authorities no long question Jewish Iranians when they travel abroad. There are Jewish elementary and high schools, and parents can choose whether to send children there or to Iranian schools. About 40% of Jewish parents choose the Jewish schools. The 60% who attend state schools can also attend Hebrew school once a week. Iranian Jews serve in the military, and may ask to be posted close to home so that they can have access to kosher food and attend services. Becoming a rabbi in Iran was traditionally something handed from father to son. However, in the last 50 years, Iranian rabbis have studied in the United States, England and Israel. There are three rabbis in Iran now, 20 synagogues in Tehran, and others in more than 15 cities.
How does Israel believe the lives and status of Jews in Iran will be improved by this pre-emptive strike, or doesn’t it matter? A status, by the way, that is more progressive than the one Israel affords their counterparts.