2 No. 74 JUSTICE write these lines shortly after the conclusion of the war known as מלחמת עם כלביא , and in English as Operation “Rising Lion,” otherwise known simply as “The 12 Day War.” In the war, Israel, with help from the United States of America, attacked Iran's nuclear installations, as well as installations involved in manufacturing ballistic missiles, drones, and other weapons of destruction. The Israeli Home Front suffered serious loss of life, and substantial damage to property from Iranian missile attacks, most of which were aimed at residential areas, office buildings, and innocent civilians. Israel's attack, as an operation of last resort, sought to thwart Iran’s plan to bring about the destruction of the State of Israel by developing and manufacturing nuclear weapons and a massive arsenal of ballistic missiles and other weapons. Historically, there has not been enmity between the Persian people and the Jewish people. And there are no genuine sources of conflict between Iran and Israel, two independent states separated by a huge distance. One of the fundamental principles of the Islamic regime in Iran has been the destruction of the State of Israel. This has been the stated policy of Iran, and the regime has acted with persistence and determination for decades to achieve this aim. It has done this in several ways – from surrounding Israel with a “ring of fire” of proxy agencies, the manufacture of long-range missiles, and the development of a military nuclear program. Iran’s aim and intention is genocide – the destruction of the people in the State of Israel. This is evident from the statements of Iran’s leaders, their incitement and their actions. It is clear that among its other crimes, Iran is in breach of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. How cynical of South Africa and other states, prompted by Iran and its proxies, to initiate proceedings at the ICJ accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip, while Iran itself, through its statements and its actions, is working to bring about the destruction of the State of Israel. There are many strategies for dealing with Iran – military, economic (sanctions), diplomatic, including through treaties and international agreements, but we sense a lack of activity on the legal front, even if this is not the most important avenue. I hope that States (and not just Israel) and international bodies will make use of legal tools to thwart the nefarious intentions of Iran. It is difficult for me, as the son of Holocaust survivors, to avoid the comparison between the ideology of the Nazi regime and the ideology of Iran when it comes to the Jewish people and the State of Israel. There was never any historical enmity between the German people and the Jewish people, and there was certainly never any dispute between the German state and any political entity of the Jewish people because no such entity existed. Simply, the distorted ideology of Hitler and the Nazi regime took the destruction of the Jewish people as its central platform. Likewise with the Persian people. There was never any historical dispute, disagreement, or enmity between Iran and Israel. Yet today, central to the Islamic regime’s ideology is the destruction of the “Little Satan” – the State of Israel – without any logic or interest. I hope and pray that the nightmare of the threat from Iran is behind us, and that the historical bond between the great Persian people and the Jewish people, like the friendship that we once saw between Iran and Israel, can be restored once again, as of old. President’s Message I Meir Linzen Photo: Idan Gross
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