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In Israel, Iran's Threat of Doomsday Feels More Palpable

[Miami Herald] Frida Ghitis - I have traveled in the Middle East for decades and always found Israelis living full lives, with a thriving cultural scene, ebullient political discourse, and an almost compulsive need to enjoy themselves. Still, I always sensed a state of low-grade national anxiety, perhaps unavoidable considering the daily headlines quoting enemies vowing to destroy Israel. Yet, something is different this time. The threat of doomsday feels more palpable. The source of Israel's national middle-of-the-night cold sweat, of course, is Iran. While the rest of the world sees the Iranian regime's nuclear ambitions as a political, diplomatic, even an academic problem, Israelis sense the bull's eye on their backs. Israelis know from experience that when a nation's leader says they should be destroyed, his words cannot be ignored. Here, Ahmadinejad's words have a 1930s German accent. Israelis take Iran's threats more seriously than any country on Earth, because they believe that a misstep could spell catastrophe for every family. Israelis want the world to understand this is not just their problem, that Iran already has the capability to hit Europe and could spread dangerous weapons to terrorists anywhere in the world while it triggers a devastating new regional arms race. Most here call the war with Hizballah the ''Second Lebanon War,'' because they fought another one there in the 1980s. But some now call the latest war ''The First Iran-Israel War,'' a label foretelling a future that makes the age of suicide bombers seem placid by comparison.
2006-09-29 01:00:00
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