Please do not disturb Israel – it’s busy fighting with Iran. The fight is to prevent Iran’s nuclearization, but no less than that it serves Israel in other realms. And so Israel will keep on fighting, will not stop trying to move heaven and earth, will not give up, even when the chances of success are nil, in the face of the agreement now being formulated.
And so Prime Minister Yair Lapid is acting the same way former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did, with vociferous and uncompromising opposition to the agreement. On this level as well, there is no difference in their conduct. And that is because over the years the struggle itself has become fruitful for Israel, no less than the declared goal. The first to identify this was of course Netanyahu, the father of the war against the Iranian nuclear project.
This is a war against the acquisition by a country openly threatening Israel with a doomsday weapon, but at the same time it’s also a campaign to lift what Israel considers no less of a threat – global opposition to the occupation.
Since Israel began the fight against the Iranian nuclear program, it has managed to turn the content of global discourse on its head. If before that, every diplomatic encounter dealt with the solution to the conflict, now it’s been pushed aside – with lip service and a photo op at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah – and conversation moves to the really important matter: the Iranian nuclear program. Don’t bother Israel right now with international law and with apartheid – can’t you see it’s busy with Iran?
The Iran issue allows Israel to go back to its favorite position – the eternal victim, with an entity seeking its destruction; and when Israel shouts “destruction” who will not come to its defense? When the existence of Israel is threatened by another country, it can’t be bothered with the minutiae of the occupation, the settlers and human rights. And the world gives in easily. In any case it has no particular interest in solving the Palestinian problem, it has more urgent and resolvable issues. And so the conversation about Iran serves almost everyone.
For yearsת it was Palestinian terror that served Israel – of course you can’t trust airplane hijackers and bus bombers. Hamas also played into Israel’s hands: After all, you can’t give in to the local branch of Al-Qaida and the Islamic State. Iran rose in the east; a great miracle was wrought.
Iran not only obviated the Palestinian issue; it also helped unify the ranks at home: An external threat and a fearmongering campaign are always good for those who rule, anyone who rules. And there’s no threat like the Iranian one to enrich the defense establishment with more and more funding and magnify its importance. Danger, war.
Iran also allows Israel to continue its starring role on the global stage: The Iranian nuclear project is a global matter, and Israel is playing the leading role, as the prime potential victim. All this is not to say that Iran does not constitute a strategic threat and that Israel is not a potential victim. Of course it is, but Israel knows how to squeeze the most out of every threat.
The most reasonable agreement possible to achieve is now being formulated – and Israel is already sounding the alarm and clamoring, at least to receive proper compensation from the United States. They’re already talking about more military aid in exchange for an agreement that will be good for Israel.
No matter how we present it, Israel benefits. We should supposedly be proud of a policy that benefits Israel and also protects it as much as possible. However, as in every deal, the Iranian deal also comes at the expense of something else. And that something else is the end of the occupation.
Iran certainly didn’t intend this, and neither did Israel, but in recent years nothing has served the Israeli occupation so much and so efficiently as the Iranian threat. Now all that’s left is only to hope that the agreement with Iran doesn’t take the matter off the agenda, perish the thought. Israel needs it like air to breathe.