Iran Edging Towards War with the World

 

The ramping is about to begin for earnest. In recent reports we find that, “Iranian President Hassan Rouhani issued an ultimatum Wednesday to the remaining signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iran nuclear deal, vowing to end all limitations on uranium enrichment if its demands are not met.” In related reports we find that the, “Islamic Republic had quadrupled its enrichment rate of low-enrichment uranium,” as well as that according to an unnamed source said who was quoted by Fars, “As the commission meeting in Vienna could not satisfy Iran’s just demands … Iran is determined to cut it commitments to the deal and the 300 kg enriched uranium limit will be soon breached.” We have our own opinions about the Iranian nuclear program, you know, the program which under the JCPOA they would monitor themselves, report to the United Nations and then the two could work together with assistance from the European Union to allow Iran to do as they please, manufacture nuclear weapons both in warheads and payloads for their several forms of delivery all while not breaking a stretched and warped JCPOA which will end up being even more porous than the original, the one President Trump withdrew from as it had insufficient restrictions and allowed Iran complete ability to become a nuclear armed nation within the decade. So, what to expect without getting lost in the minutia as that is what will be discussed, covered by the media and used as a distraction while Iran continues to arm herself.

 

Iran already had rudimentary nuclear devices which would serve as guidelines from where they could develop more powerful weapons and miniaturize them such that they would be deliverable atop their numerous ballistic missiles and especially atop their ICBM which has been in development for at least a decade. There are numerous different ballistic missiles which Iran manufactures (Pictured below). The ranges given are assuming a near maximum payload and can be increased by reducing the payload. That is why the miniaturization becomes so important, you get greater deliverable yields per pound or kilo and thus instead of their Simorgh missile being restricted to a range of 4000 to 6000 km, by decreasing the payload by 33% and the range increases to approximately 5500 to 8000 km which begins to bring some coastal areas of the United States within range from Tehran. Even fully loaded, that missile can readily strike every European capital city with ease. Add in the other means that Iran has proven to be capable of deploying, such as firing ballistic missiles from cargo-container ships which brings all but remote parts of Siberia within range as even the Shahab-3 has been fired from a cargo ship stationed in the Caspian Sea test firing over the western mountains of Iran striking a firing range in the southern end of the range in the high desert. These tests were fortunately caught and the trajectory tracked by surveillance satellites. Needless to comment, but a nuclear armed Iran places every capital city and most major metropolitan areas in the Western world and beyond within range of either their ground-based missiles or their cargo-container ship fired missiles making almost nobody safe from an Iranian threat carried out. This knowledge should be part of any calculations made concerning Iran.

 

Iranian Rocket Types and Varieties of Ranges 

 

 

Iranian Missile Trajectory of test firing from freighter cargo ship sailing out in the Caspian Sea aimed to strike in the southern end of the high desert covering a range of close to two-thousand-five-hundred kilometers. This test has been practiced with every solid rocket missiles from Iranian armories. 

 

 

This leads to the most vital question; would Iran initiate the use of nuclear weapons. One comment may provide an inside look at the Iranian outlook if war should break out. A senior Iranian parliamentarian threatened on Monday that Israel will be destroyed in half an hour if the United States attacks Iran, the semi-official Iranian Mehr news agency reported, according to this source. So, Iran is willing to provoke a war with the United States and should the United States respond, they would attack Israel, a nation which is not a party to the conflict to that point. And there is more hidden in this threat to provoke widening any conflict by attacking the Jewish State. Iran would certainly attempt to utilize any response from Israel as a reason for the Islamic world to come to their aid in this jihad now about to be waged on Israel as well as the United States. But even this is not the end of what is intimated in this threat, and that will answer our question about Iran using nuclear weapons when initiating a conflict. The same source also reports that Mojtaba Zonnour, Chairman of Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, made the remarks in an interview with the Al-Alam TV network stating, “If the US attacks us, only half an hour will remain of Israel’s lifespan.” We also should remember that other Iranian officials have referred to Israel as a one or two bomb country inferring that with as few as two bombs, Israel could be, for all intents and purposes, destroyed as a nation leaving little of her population and infrastructure. Now, we know Israel is a rather small nation, about the size and shape of New Jersey, but it would take numerous salvos of conventional explosives in order to destroy Israel. On the other hand, with a nuclear weapon were to be dropped at the southern end of the Tel Aviv metropolitan region and another between Tel Aviv and Haifa, then a goodly part of Israel would face ruination. The next question would be whether or not Iran would bomb Jerusalem, the second largest and populous city, as this too would be necessary if Israel were to actually be destroyed. Still, to destroy Israel in such a manner, the only means would be to use nuclear weapons. These leads us to believe that Iranian leadership has little compunction about using nuclear weapons, and this should trouble everybody.

 

Thus far open warfare has been avoided, not that it has not come very close. There were the oil tankers which were attacked with mines and other means in the area around the Straits of Hormuz which did not bring any response from the United States. They could rightfully claim that they did not have conclusive evidence that the Iranians were involved. Then came the downing of the United States reconnaissance drone which was purportedly in international air space which was tied directly to Iran. President Trump initiated a response only to call off the strike and order the aircraft back to their stations on the aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea. There have been numerous discussions as to whether this made President Trump appear prudent or was a sign of weakness. Whichever appeals to you, it makes little difference until somebody acts upon such suppositions. Should Iran interpret their not being hit and the strike being called back and believe the United States is fearful of any war with Iran, then there is going to be a problem. From what we have read and feel, Iran will continue pushing until there does come a response from the United States and then they will run to the European Union and the United Nations screaming ‘Foul!’ At this point, the world will begin to take sides in this coming disaster. The initial breakdown will be evidenced by the General Assembly vote as to whether they back the Iranian complaint or side with the United States and their claims of Iranian provocations. Then things will develop as the United States, or at least President Trump, will insist on backing from the rest of NATO. We can pretty much guarantee that Turkey will claim that they are too involved in containing the Syrian violence to spare any forces. Of course, that is simply their excuse, the reality is that Turkey is no longer a supportive member of NATO and has decided to go along with the Islamic world and their eternal struggle against the nonbelievers.

 

The most frightening thing has also been commentary from Iranian leaders over the years who have stated things such as, “If the US attacks us, only half an hour will remain of Israel’s lifespan,” plus referring to the recall by President Trump of the strike force, “If they (the Americans) had predicted their attack would be successful, they would not have cancelled it and it would definitely have happened,” and lastly, the Supreme Leader has stated in the past that he would sacrifice Iran if it was required in order to destroy Israel. Once again, we have the immediate result of an Iranian first strike on Israel would destroy the nation. This kind of statement is being made with the knowledge that well over half of any initial set of missiles would be intercepted by the series of anti-missile platforms developed by Israel which include David’s Sling and the gamut of Arrow interceptors which are tied into the THAAD interceptor and over-the-horizon detection systems which President Trump ordered set up in Israel to assist with her defense against such attacks. But when Iran threatens to destroy Israel with two bombs, what they intend is they will launch some countable number of missiles, potentially nuclear tipped, and hope to get at least two through the Israeli defenses while Hezballah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad will attempt to launch as many of their over one-hundred-fifty-thousand missiles and rockets in their combined inventory and be counting on such a barrage to destroy Israel. This, too, has been made questionable due to the Israeli Iron Dome interceptors but even they would be pushed beyond breaking point with such a number of targets to down. Perhaps, once such an exchange had taken place between Hezballah in southern Lebanon and southwestern Syria aided by the Iranian IRGC forces in southern Syria probably all coordinated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad largely in Gaza with some potential for problems out of the Shomron areas of the Palestinian Authority, then Iran might launch a second series of missiles hoping that the majority of the Israeli interceptors were destroyed.

 

The real problem is that we are talking about how Iran would go about destroying Israel, but why would they take on an adversary which might well be willing to utterly destroy at least Tehran and Qom. Why Qom, I hear some ask. Qom is the holy city from whence the Twelfth Imam is said to arise from through some miraculous events as he has been in hiding, presumably in this well in Qom, and he will signal the beginning of Shiite Islam rising and not only becoming the strong horse and the main sect of Islam (it currently represents about 10% of Islam with the Sunni being almost all the remainder) and soon after to ruling the world. The one thing which would be assumed should an attack of missiles be launched against Israel by Iran, namely that it would be a WMD attack of either nuclear topped missiles or warheads carrying chemical agents. Any Israeli response to a WMD attack is well known, Israel will return in kind meaning Israel will use WMDs which means nuclear missiles. The reality is that any actual Iranian missile launch from their areas in Iran, Syria or Iraq would likely be initiated with the launching of likely hundreds of missiles towards Israel. Israel cannot be expected to wait and see how many were intercepted and what were the nature of the ones which detonated within Israel before responding. Israel has about eight to ten minutes to decide whether or not to respond and exactly how Israel will respond if they decide to do so. That does not leave any time for consultations and is the kind of decision which would be laid primarily in the lap of the Prime Minister. With such a time limit before the missiles strike, one need figure that of those eight to ten minutes after detection, five would be required to order, program and launch any response. That leaves time for what would be the toughest four-minute decision in Bibi Netanyahu or any Israeli Prime Minister’s time in office. Fortunately, that decision would never be placed in our hands for the foreseeable future. Israel almost naturally must assume that any Iranian missile launch would be largely made up of WMDs, probably both nuclear and chemical agent warheads would be employed.

 

Further, Israel is not likely to be their only target launched upon as we can expect many of the Gulf States, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and potentially even Egypt. Iran has plans for their taking of the Saudi Arabian oil fields along with the Gulf States and Kuwait as well as taking control of Mecca and Medina. They believe that by doing so they will have destroyed the Saudi Royal family and much of the Sunni world’s leadership leaving the Islamic world for the taking. Despite the news coverage stressing everything Israel launched and does militarily while playing down the responses from the Saudis and their allies; President Trump will be blamed for not attacking Iran, attacking Iran too forcefully, attacking Iran too anemically, for using weapons systems which were too expensive when less measures were available, using WMDs, not using WMDs or just about anything else one can imagine. We cannot leave out the howling, wringing of hands, crocodile tears and other news anchor antics should a single United States soldier be injured or, heavens forbid, killed. We are not sure where the concept came that wars can be fought without casualties, but that is a very dangerous concept. The best bet, as the WOPR computer system from the movie “War Games” stated after doing some deep thinking, “Strange Game. The only winning move is not to play.” Well, we pray that nobody decides to initiate this strange game where the only winning move is not starting something which others are assured of completing.

 

War Games WOPR Computer 

 

Beyond the Cusp

Iranian Threats Must be Taken Deadly Seriously

 

Many in the Western World will claim that we should take threats made by Iran with a large measure of salt. Their reasoning is that no sane leader would risk such destruction upon their nation, its infrastructure and especially its people. We could not argue with this reasoning as no sane leader would risk such destruction. There are two slight problems with this reasoning as it has been applied to Iran. First is that the Ayatollahs, especially the most important Ayatollah, the Supreme Leader, do not believe that the United States would risk war with Iran because they believe they hold the same belief that President Trump is bluffing and would not risk the destruction Iran believes they could inflict upon the United States. This brings us to something which is necessary for going any further in this standoff review.

 

First, we will look at the United States and what they might be capable of inflicting upon Iran. The United States has replaced the aircraft carrier group in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, as the former group had been rotated to their home port, plus another carrier group in the eastern Mediterranean in addition to the fleet normally in the Mediterranean. Further, the United States has repositioned an entire B-52 Wing stationed in the region in the American base in Qatar. The aircraft carrier group was already scheduled for positioning and is not an additional deployment and as thus is merely part of the rotation of naval forces. The main additional threat is the B-52 Wing which provides some heavy bombers which are nuclear capable and can also carry the MOAB (Massive Ordinance Air Blast) nicknamed the Mother of all Bombs due to its size. This ordinance is a supersized Daisey Cutter and has an equivalence of eleven tons TNT forming a blast radius of one mile in every direction from the detonation point. Even using normative bombs, the B-52 specialty is performing what is called carpet bombing destroying large swaths of a region the plane overflies. The additional item is the B-52’s fly in formations in which one of the aircraft is what is called an electronics plane which specializes in jamming radars, giving false radar returns of additional B-52 Wings miles away from the actual group, diverting anti-aircraft missiles of numerous varieties and other electronic means for defending the wing. The naval forces America has within range of Iran includes a number of missile cruisers and frigates which have numerous varieties of missiles and warheads including nuclear warheads. But all of these are items the Iranians are fully aware but one has to wonder what the United States has in the region which Iran does not have when forming their equation. With any naval fleet there are some selection of submarines stationed within range of the fleet and even within the fleet to augment their abilities. There could be attack submarines which could assist with intercepting ships, including fast ships, and also could pass discreetly into the Persian Gulf. Then there is a possibility of submarines carrying missiles including what are called Boomers which carry nuclear missiles. Between the numerous assets the United States has advertised they have placed in the regions around Iran are sufficient to eradicate targets throughout Iran from specific targets to entire metropolitan regions and do so with conventional weapons. We are taking it on faith that the United States would not resort to the use of nuclear weapons except under the most serious of provocations.

 

Now, for the Iranian side of the equation which is less well defined. There is one wild card in the Iranian equation which is totally dependent upon the current location of the fleet they claimed to have deployed for stationing in the western region of the North Atlantic Ocean specifically to situate itself along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Of course, Iran has not stated that they intend to attack the United States mainland but has threatened the American naval assets in their region. The main threat coming from the Iranians is that should they come under attack, any attack by any country, they will completely destroy Israel immediately thereafter. Their threats have included the intent to use nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction such as biological or chemical weapons. Iran would not need to launch a single missile, launch aircraft to bomb Israel, they simply can send the order to their terror forces in the region to launch all-out attacks on Israel and sit back and watch. So, what are the forces and what are their weapons they might use. The one many people are already familiar with are Islamic Jihad, a direct arm of the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), as well as Hamas to attack Israel with various rockets which are capable of striking near Jerusalem and the entirety of the Tel Aviv metropolitan region all the way to Haifa in the north and possibly bring down some of the skyscrapers in the center of Tel Aviv all from Gaza. That would likely be the Iranian opening strike in order to entangle Israel and the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) in Gaza in the south. Then, after two or three days waiting for the IDF to be forced to become fully involved with the Iranian terror extension in Gaza. Then Iran would unleash their main force in the region out of Syria and Lebanon backed by whatever IRGC forces they might have stationed in Syria, that being Hezballah. Hezballah has approximately one-hundred-fifty-thousand rockets and missiles of varying sizes and ranges. Their largest can strike all of Israel and beyond with very large warheads including biological and chemical warheads and, if they have them, nuclear warheads (see map below).

 

Hezballah Rocket & Missile Threat

 

Hezballah also has access to the entirety of the Lebanese military weapons. These weapons include numerous Russian tanks, armored vehicles and anti-tank missiles as well as American Abrams Main Battle Tanks, armored vehicles and helicopters as well as whatever Iran has been capable of smuggling to the Hezballah terrorist army, and it is an army, make no mistake about that. Additionally, Hezballah has dug an unknown number of tunnels under the Israeli border to use as an intricate part of their invasion plans in addition to the tunnels and bunkers they have spread over southern Lebanon across the entirety of Lebanon below the Litany River. Any assault by Hezballah would initially be a massive firing of rockets with the hope that when Israeli Air Force arrives to end the barrage that they will be able to use the anti-aircraft missiles they probably possess. There have been rumors that Hezballah has been equipped with the Russian S-300 anti-aircraft systems as well as shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles such as MANPADS and Stinger Missiles. At some point the Hezballah Army and the IDF would engage. The plan from Iran is that after forcing the IDF to engage with Islamic Jihad and Hamas and other terrorist groups operating in Gaza, then Israel would not have top-line elite forces left to engage their main force from in Lebanon supported out of Syria. Their thinking may or may not be valid. That may be mistaken as Israel could alter their normal division of forces and use weapons which Israel has normally deployed. Then again, Israel has not been required to engage with Gaza and Hezballah at the same time. There is one means to which Israel could resort which she normally does not use. No, we are not talking about nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction. Israel also has missiles, very accurate missiles with various warheads. What kinds of warheads? The normal answer to this question is, if we told you we would have to kill you, but that is too trite. Israel has the normal range of warheads of any first-world nations which include EMP (both nuclear and conventional), high explosive, incendiary, fuel-air (thermobaric) and various others including nuclear should such an exchange become necessary.

 

But what else would such an attack cause? Israel has stated that should Hezballah attack that Iran would not be spared. Iran definitely has S-300 and potentially has S-400 Russian anti-aircraft and missile systems. How sophisticated are the Israeli missiles? We know they are accurate and that they include advanced cruise missiles but the cruise missiles would require being launched from aircraft or naval vessels closer to Iran to be within their range. Israeli aircraft are almost exclusively fighter jets whose range would not permit any extended time over targets in order to reach Iran unless they were granted landing rights from a nation between Israel and Iran. Releasing the name of any Arab or Islamic nation which might have agreed to give Israeli fighters landing rights if necessary was the method by which President Obama kept Israel from inhibiting the Iranian production of nuclear weapons. Things have changed, or so we are led to believe. That will remain to be seen as time reveals what will become history.

 

What is frightening for Israelis, Iranians and potentially far beyond even to the United States is what follows a war between the United States and Iran in the Middle East. Such a war would immediately escalate to include Israel almost immediately. The entirety of the Israeli anti-missile systems would be tested to or beyond its ability, we can merely pray that it is up to the task as Iran has intimated that she would launch as many nuclear tipped missiles as it would take to get at least two of them through the Israeli defenses as they believe that would be sufficient to completely wipe Israel from the map. This begs the question as to exactly what it would take to prove that Iran had launched a nuclear tipped missile at Israel simply from the remains of the successful interception of such a missile. Would sufficient crucial pieces remain which could be used to prove such a case? Would anybody actually believe any proof Israel provided? What would result from such an exchange?

 

Well, the answer is that nothing would change and Iran would not be decimated while Israel might remain. So, for argument’s sake we will assume Israel also survives any such conflict. The very first thing would be the condemnation of the United Nations General Assembly of Israel demanding that Israel cease their hostile and unprovoked attacks. Then would come the various agencies of the United Nations followed by a litany of nations largely from the Group of 77, the coalition of one-hundred-thirty-four developing nations which have mostly followed the Arab and Muslim worlds blindly and thus will gleefully condemn Israel and exonerate Iran and turn on the United States if given any chance to do so. The chance that such a conflict would widen into a greater conflagration is actually small. There exists a possible path should Russia get involved and side with Iran. First thing is that Russia and Iran (Persia) have a long and violent history of ill wills. Russia is favorable to Israel as first, there are a large number of Russians in Israel, second, they admire what Israel has accomplished and third, Russia wants no part of a conflict with any nuclear capable nation with advanced missiles and pinpoint guidance systems. Fortunately, the majority of the Arab world being Sunni Muslims and untrusting of Persian, especially when they are Shiite, will simply wait any war involving Iran out unless attacked by Iran. We can assume that any nation which may end up fighting Iran will not be concerned with engaging the Arabs world as well. So, as long as Russia stands aside there will be little chance of this war widening beyond Iran, the United States and Israel. Nobody else wishes to have a dog in this fight and to be honest, Israel would love nothing more than to sit any and all future wars out.

 

 

The best solution to this would be the United States and Iran talking and making a new deal, but there has been some bad blood from the United States withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) and demanding a renegotiation in which the terms would be far less advantageous for Iran. The Ayatollahs, specifically Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei who is the one who believes he got sand kicked into his face by President Donald Trump. This is something that Supreme Leaders, Kings, Emperors and other dictators take very badly and tend to react violently. We may find the answer as to whether the Supreme Leader Khamenei was serious about sacrificing the people and nation of Iran in order to destroy Israel and the United States or was he blowing smoke to try and appear more powerful. Iran is rated as the fourteenth most powerful military with Israel two spaces behind at sixteenth. Of course, Russia is rates second, China third and the United States was first, of course. The pivotal individual in this entire imbroglio is the Iranian Supreme Leader and those with influence in his decision-making processes. This includes the Council of Experts, a group of senior Imams, Ayatollahs, who are responsible for appointing Supreme Leaders and advising them, the Iranian President and their Parliament, though the elected individuals have far less input than the Ayatollahs as they are merely elected by the people, even though the Assembly of Experts also decide who is permitted to run for office. In the end, it will be the top Ayatollahs who will be more likely to simply agree with whatever the Supreme Leader decides. The problem is he is the one who likely feels he has been insulted directly by President Trump. There may be an attack upon the United States naval forces which will lead to a serious conflagration which we can only hope never does include nuclear weapons, no matter whose weapons they may be. In the end, it will be what Iran desires, peace or war.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Israel – Sometimes You Have to be the Majority of One

 

There has been a fair amount of talk, of discussions, a few arguments and much unnecessary bending of the truth about the future of relations between Israel, the United States and the whole of the Western World. This reached a boiling point recently over the allegations recently stated and tweeted by Ilhan Omar claiming that the Jews buy the support for Israel when she tweeted that support for Israel in the United States was “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” and, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel,” and after demands were given from Democrat Party leadership, she made a unimpassioned apology. Unfortunately, Ilhan Omar is not the problem, she is but the very tip of an ever-growing iceberg throwing frigid cold on support for Israel on the far left. With the drift of American politics inexorably shifting leftward for over a century, what is on the far left today will be a centrist view within a decade or two at the most. We have seen how Europe has drifted away from Israel as fully on display at every United Nations vote to sanction or condemn Israel, an unfortunate reality all too often on display. As for the remainder of the world, the Group of 77 (a bloc of 134 developing nations) just unanimously chose Palestine and its dictatorial president, Mahmoud Abbas, to lead the group for 2019. On January 15, 2019, Mahmoud Abbas addressed the group at the handover ceremony where he stated in his acceptance speech, “Terrorism takes place worldwide on a daily basis. It is an epidemic and I therefore call on all countries of the world to cooperate, to put an end to terrorism, to uproot it.” This coming from the arch-terrorist who authorizes payments to terrorists and their families commensurate to the number of Israelis they murdered and maimed, who implores his people to murder Israelis in the name of Allah and whose entire government is designed around the support of terrorism. Abbas was the man who arranged and transferred monies which paid for the Munich Olympics terror attack on the Israeli Olympic Team. The belief that terrorism is a joke and something which can benefit one with great wealth and all commemorations for the victims of terrorism is just an event which is just so amusing one must grin as the Cheshire Cat from the adventures of Alice down the rabbit hole. We know you demand proof of such a defaming, or in his own admissions, credit, attack on the integrity of Mahmoud Abbas, so below is a picture of him at the memorial rally for the murdered of Charlie Hebdo as well as those at the Hypercacher kosher supermarket. The only item on the mind of Mahmoud Abbas at the memorial march was getting camera time and expressing his glee that he was permitted to participate in this event as it simply would play well in the media. The smirk on his face tell the whole story of this terrorist in a suit.

 

Mahmoud Abbas smirking while at remembrance rally for Charlie Hebdo in Paris after terror slaughter of a dozen writers and cartoonists for the satirical magazine.

 

But Mahmoud Abbas, like his predecessor Yasser Arafat, is all about terrorism and the drive to destroy Israel. The fact he has been awarded the semi-prestigious position heading the Group of 77 is more a commentary on the sad state of world affairs than it is about Abbas. This is a club representing the majority of the nations of our little planet. This singling out of Israel, the world’s sole Jewish majority nation, while many other nations with more serious problems affecting the world is, at the very least, problematic. What is seldom reported are the times Israel has gone literally around to the other side of the globe to assist people they have little if any relationship with simply because they were suffering after a natural emergency. We have a YouTube video below of a CNN reporter who was in Haiti to report on the desperation the Haitians faced after their devastating earthquake made all the more treacherous by their brick and mortar structures which largely collapsed. What she found and was pointed to by her initial interviews was the Israeli field hospital. She gives a very brief view of the Israeli station, something which has been edited and drastically cut since its original posting, we are unable to find the original, but the one nurse states plainly that if not for the Israeli field hospital, they would have lost numerous more patients. This is far from a single episode as the IDF has units in one command which are expressly trained and equipped to handle natural and other emergencies and they often respond and are on site and operating within twenty-four hours of the event. The Israeli searchers were the first to reach Nepal and the last group to leave after their earthquake. They visited a small village while assisting in the Philippines after a severe typhoon ravaged the islands which had never received any assistance or even seen a representative of the Philippine government, let alone anyone else before the Israelis arrived. The Israelis left behind a fully stocked health clinic with monitors and other equipment and sent people back to train the villagers on the use of the technology. The Israeli disaster teams often leave the structures they erect fully stocked and often with equipment and later return with personnel who train the physicians, nurses, technicians and the leaders and more educated people of small villages where medical personnel is barely a step above a medicine-man. Below the video is a map depicting the locations of IDF Field Hospitals throughout the world up through the first half of 2015. For additional inspiration, if required, Israel 21 provides an interactive world map which can be set to show the different varieties of aid and the locations receiving aid and the reason if needed which is honestly jaw-dropping. But the world acts as if Israel is the problem.

 

 

Locations of IDF Field Hospitals throughout the world up through the first half of 2015

 

Israel aids nations and areas which are distressed, including the United States after Katrina and Sandy, a pair of particularly damaging hurricanes. So, many nations send aid all over the world. The difference is that Israel is quite a bit smaller than most of the other nations. The only means of depicting such is a comparative map which we made comparing Israel depicted to size compared to Great Britain, the United States, Australia and India (see below). We have learned through comments and even some insults, such as Israel has taken over much of the Middle East, an outrageous a statement as one could imagine, that there are many people who believe that Israel is the size of America or at least larger than most European nations. That is about as preposterous and plain wrong as one can be. The fact that Israel often manages to perform tasks and leave her mark in such an obvious and unmistakable impression that people are led to see Israel as much larger and populous than she really is. According to United Nations statistics, Israel is the one-hundredth largest nation by population and the one-hundred-forty-ninth largest nation by area while having approximately thirty-fifth highest GDP per capita and is considered to be the eleventh happiest nation in the world. Those figures hopefully give a more balanced view of Israel, the not quite super-power nation. We understand the fact that Israel has repulsed attacks by several Arab nations who were attacking her in coordinated fashion and that this has led to a warped view of Israel as being larger and far more potent militarily and otherwise than she actually measures when done scientifically. Further, the numbers of developments, medicines, treatments, agricultural advances and other scientific and economic accomplishments also add to this image, but Israel is actually a tiny nation geographically. Even should Israel retain all of the Shomron (disputed territories formerly illegally occupied by Jordan from 1949 until the June 1967 Six Day War) Israel would still only be approximately fifty miles in width.

 

Exactly How Small is Israel
A Comparison Against Four
Well Known Countries

 

The IDF has estimated that it would take an invading aircraft a mere few minutes after crossing into Israel proving ill intentions before they would be overflying Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest metropolitan region, and would reach Jerusalem in half that time and Jericho in seconds. Another reason Israel feels she has to retain control of the Jordan River Valley and the cliffs overlooking this natural geographical defensive position against ground assault is made obvious in the image below depicting this barrier. Further, the cliffs above would provide Israel with positions for RADAR systems used as an early warning system of aircraft approaching from the east. The arguments for annexing the Golan Heights, which Israel officially did on December 14, 1981 are virtually identical to those for the Jordan River Valley and overlooking cliffs plus as a defensive measure to prevent Syrian snipers from shooting at farmers in the Galilee valley and other agricultural regions near the Syrian border. What the world refuses to consider is that Israel, except for the Judean Hills, which are part of the disputed territories, and Golan Heights is mostly flat coastal plains. Without the disputed territories, Israel around the Tel Aviv metropolitan area would be a mere nine to twelve miles wide, less than the width of Washington D.C. which is barely over fourteen miles. This is part of the reason finding an agreeable position which balances the Israeli military and land use concerns with the Arab demand that Israel be erased from being ruled by Jews and become an Arab majority nation after the influx of over five-million ‘so-called refugees’ who are spread throughout the Palestinian ruled areas and the surrounding Arab nations is necessary.

 

Cutaway View of Tactical Advantage and Necessity
of the Jordan Valley and Judean Hills for Defending
Coastal Plains and Israel Alongside the Mediterranean Sea

 

Despite Israel’s lack of size and being greatly outnumbered by the surrounding Arab World, Israel has never requested for any other nation to fight with her in any of the wars she has been forced to fight. The United States did provide, at their insistence, crews to operate the wide-band over-the-horizon RADAR System they loaned Israel, but that was to prevent Israel getting too close to the advanced technology provided by the United States. Apparently, the technology transfers, including military technology such as the complete schematics and programs for the Iron Dome Systems, only flow in one direction for the most part. That was fine as Israel developed such a system. Israel even gave the United States an upgrade for the F-16, rear-view mirrors. On the military and defensive front, Israel prevented Saddam Hussein and Iraq from producing nuclear weapons by destroying the French provided Osiris-class nuclear reactor on June 7, 1981, which would have permitted Iraq to have had nuclear weapons before the First Gulf War, something which then President George H. W. Bush thanked Israel. Israel was condemned by President Ronald Reagan after the attack as the State Department and Intelligence Agencies had assured the President that Saddam Hussein was not pursuing nuclear weapons. Israeli intelligence services disagreed with that conclusion which was more based on promises by Saddam Hussein. Israel performed a similar raid preventing Syria from developing nuclear weapons when Israel bombed the Al Kibar site on September 6, 2007 preventing them from producing nuclear weapons. This was a North Korean designed and built reactor which the United States refused to act claiming the building was not a nuclear reactor. North Korea condemned the Israeli action as ten North Korean nuclear scientists were allegedly killed, but it was not a nuclear reactor, really, it wasn’t, RIGHT! Israel also managed to remove half a ton of secret nuclear documents from central Tehran in under six and a half hours detailing the entirety of the Iranian nuclear programs including likely vital information of which many of these were the sole record thus sending the Iranian nuclear scientists scrambling to recollect and do the math for configurations and other specifics from the program. Israel would be very hard pressed to actually perform a similar strike to prevent the Iranian or North Korean nuclear programs, though STUXNET computer virus did destroy a fairly large number of the Iranian advanced centrifuges. But a military strike would be problematic, but surprises are one thing Israeli has been very adept at performing, but some things might be that one-step too far.

 

F16 with After Modification Rear-view Mirrors

 

These and the many inventions, assistances provided, emergency service in times of disaster around the world, preventing nuclear proliferation, providing intelligence to the United States and others who are incapable of accessing Middle Eastern nations and in almost countless other areas and ways, Israel is the majority of one. We described a number of areas where Israel has produced benefits which she has given to the developing world, many of the nations being members of the Group of 77 mentioned earlier. They were included in our article Were Israel Ignored by the World where we included a plethora of links. Israel could be referred to as the little nation that could, and then did. Israel realizes that she will often be that singled-out nation if for no other reason than she is the State of the Jewish People. Israel is the only nation in the world with a Jewish population that is above five-percent, and actually is majority Jewish. Israel is the only nation in our region where the people enjoy freedom of religion, freedom of speech, equality under the law, freedom to work in any profession in which you are trained, universal voting rights for her citizens, political freedom and a host of other freedoms, rights and liberties. The Palestinian Arabs are not suffering because of Israel as the ones in the Shomron are ruled by the Palestinian Authority and Mahmoud Abbas who has refused to hold elections for a decade and a half, and ruled by Hamas in Gaza where they don’t need no stinkin’ elections as Hamas knows best who should be in charge. Those are the real and truthful reasons that the Palestinians have not voted in an election. They do not vote in Israeli elections for a very simple reason, they are not Israelis nor are they ruled by Israelis. Germans do not vote in the elections in the United States, Britain, Russia, China or anywhere other than Germany. If Angela Markel were to declare herself Chancellor of Germany for life, then Germans would no longer vote either. That is kind of what Mahmoud Abbas has done making himself President of the Palestinian Authority for life, Chairman of the PLO for life, Chairman of Fatah for life, President of the Popular Resistance Committees for life, Head of the Palestinian Central Council for life, President of Palestine for life and who knows how many other posts he holds for life. Palestinian Central Council recently recognized Mahmoud Abbas basically as President for life officially, so not all of these are made tongue-in-cheek, they are serious. Israel, on the other hand, is a parliamentary democracy which operates under the rule of law where all are equal under the law. Despite this, Israel is constantly called-out for presumably having a double-standard with two classes of people, Jews and often it is just Arabs and other times it is Jews and everybody else. All Israelis, Jews, Arabs, Druze, Bedouin, Muslims, Christians, Baha’I and any others all have the same rights, period. But Israel will always be singled out until the world finally realized that Israel is a blessing and is unlike other nations in so many wonderful ways, which makes her a majority of one as far as we are concerned, and hope you get a chance to visit and you will very likely reach the same conclusion.

 

Beyond the Cusp