Can/Will Israel Act Alone? President Obama’s credibility is not high, and his assurances that all options are on the table, he’s got your back, he doesn’t bluff, etc. are rhetorical phrases that no country would rely upon. But the current crisis is not simply a matter of the President’s personal credibility. The central premise of Zionism is Jews must ultimately rely upon themselves, and not others, in such matters -- which is why Netanyahu, and Sharon before him, constantly insist on Israel’s right to defend itself by itself. It is not in the DNA of any Israeli prime minister, much less Netanyahu, to put Israel in a position of relying at the end of the day on the word of a foreign leader for its ultimate security. Can Israel act alone against Iran? Will Israel act alone? To answer that question, you need to know a little history, and then know what Netanyahu has said about that history just a couple weeks ago. You need to understand what happened in the 1967 war and the 1973 war, and then the lessons that Netanyahu drew from those two wars, and the relationship of that lesson to the central creed of Zionism. If Israel sees itself being backed into a corner where it is about to lose the ability to protect itself, by itself, it will act before it is too late. It is a lesson of Israeli history the current prime minister not only knows but has articulated in terms that could not be clearer. As Dore Gold said a number of years ago in an appearance before Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, when he was asked if Israel could act against Iran on its own: I have no inside information, but Israel has had more than a decade to prepare for the moment.

1. CJHS Forum
November 18, 2013

2. 
Amidror: Israel has the ability to strike Iran,
and is willing to do so alone

By HERB KEINON

11/18/2013 03:33
Amid Netanyahu's warnings that Jerusalem
will not be bound by a bad agreement with
Iran, former national security adviser tells
'Financial Times' that Israel could halt Iran’s
nuclear capability “for a very long time.”


3. 
New Wave survey of 500 Jewish Israelis for Yisrael Hayom,
published November 15:

“Should Israel support or oppose the agreement being
developed with Iran?” Oppose 65.5% Support 16.2% Don't
know 18.4%

“In the event that a bad agreement, in terms of Israel, is
signed, and Iran continues to advance its nuclear program,
would you support or oppose an independent Israeli
attack?” Support 52.4% Oppose 26.8% Don't know 20.8%

Can the IDF independently attack Iran?
Yes 68.8% No 17.1% Don't know 14.1%

4. 
Foreign Minister Abba Eban meets with
President Johnson in the Oval Office

Eban’s question: “Do we fight alone or are
you with us?”

Johnson’s answer: “Israel will not be alone
unless it decides to go it alone.”

5. President Johnson to Abba Eban:
“If your Cabinet decides to do that they will
have to do it on their own. … I think it is a
necessity that Israel should never make itself
seem responsible in the eyes of America and
the world for making war. Israel will not be
alone unless it decides to go it alone.”
[Emphasis in the original].

6. 
Johnson repeated it three times: “Israel will
not be alone unless it decides to go it alone.”

Johnson handed Eban a handwritten note
from Secretary of State Dean Rusk:
“I must emphasize the necessity for Israel not to
make itself responsible for the initiation of
hostilities ... We cannot imagine that Israel will
take that decision.”

7. 

Before exiting, Eban asked one more time [if
he had Johnson’s commitment to keep the
Straits open]. Johnson responded yes, sealing
it with a shake of his hand so strong that
Eban doubted “that I would ever regain use of
it.”
The president then followed his guest down
the hall to remind him, yet again, that “Israel
will not be alone unless it decides to go it
alone.”

8. 
“Do not make war,” de Gaulle instructed Eban … Do
not be the first to shoot.”

Eban … stated that Nasser in effect already fired the
first shot by blockading the Straits, a blatant act of
war. He further reminded [him] that it was largely
on the strength of French commitments to free
passage that Israel had agreed to withdraw from
Sharm al-Sheikh in 1957.

“That was 1957,” de Gaulle retorted. “This is 1967.”

9. Britain and the United States both declared
their neutrality in the conflict, and France
embargoed further arms shipments to Israel.

10. 
Of all the activities required in the political, economic and
military fields, pre-emption is the most difficult. You can never
prove to people what the situation would be if you do not
move. . . .

All leadership exacts a cost -- because otherwise you don’t
need leaders. You just need managers . . . you just run to the
head of the herd. As it charges in one direction, you just charge
along with it.

Today what is required is leadership, leadership to change this
tide of history, leadership to confront this danger -- leadership
to act. . . .

For us the Jewish people, too many times in our history we
didn’t see danger in time, and when we did, it was too late.
Well, we see it now. . .

11. “A preemptive strike is one of the most difficult
decisions a government is required to make,
because it will never be able to show what would
happen had it not taken action.
“At the same time, the major difference between the
Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War lies first and
foremost in the fact that in the Six Day War we
initiated a preemptive strike to extricate ourselves
from the noose imposed on us by our enemies, while
in the Yom Kippur War, despite the warning signs, the
government chose to absorb the full force of the
enemy's attack.”

12. 
“If I had to pick one fundamental principle of [Ben
Gurion’s] doctrine, a principle that guides me and the
members of my government, I would choose these
words: "The fate of Zionism will be determined in
Zion". As a sovereign people, we have the right and
the duty to defend ourselves and our existence by
ourselves.

“The lesson we learned from Jewish history, especially
from the Holocaust, but not only from the Holocaust,
is that we will never again be helpless and under the
threat of destruction.”