Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s called for Israel to be wiped off the map

From looking at the various governments that have condemned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s called for Israel to be wiped off the map, you would think that his statement was unexpected. The surprise wasn’t his statement, after all, the Arab world has been calling for Israel’s total destruction since it's birth in 1948, and Iran has been calling for Israel's demise ever since Ayatullah Khomeini led a coup that deposed the Shan of Iran back in 1978. Ever since then, the Iranian government has been waging a low level war against Israel, through it’s surrogates in Syria and Lebanon, directly via Iranian revolutionary guards based in Lebanon, and through various Palestinian terrorist groups. What was surprising was his honesty, his willingness to not continue playing the game of diplomatic duplicity. The Muslim world wants Israel destroyed. How can anyone mis-understand that statement? In a world where leftist drum-beating pacifists are willing to believe any lie as long as it agrees with their point of view, it must have been a sobering wake-up call.

Now that Ahmadinejad has removed the mask of Arab moderation and revealed the face of Iran's hate to the world, Israel should act under the well-established customary prerogative of “Anticipatory Self-Defense” under International law. Iran’s clandestine development of a nuclear weapons program, and Ahmadinejad’s overt threat make Iran the single most urgent danger to Israel’s existence.

Israel has always lived in a neighborhood where enemy Arab (and Iranian) states and their non-state surrogates have used whatever means they could to destroy tiny Israel. There are 22 Arab (plus Iran) countries lined up against Israel. Under the likes of Iran’s Ahmadinejad, the possibility of him turning Iran into an irrational nuclear suicide state - just to rid the world of Israel is not inconceivable, and it is a risk that Israel cannot allow to exist. Losing one Arab state may be a price worth paying in the Arab world if it means ridding the Mideast of Israel.

Israel, however has options, none of which are particularly good: They have to prevent - for as long as possible - their enemies from acquiring WMD, and they have to make it clear to their enemies that if attacked with non-conventional weapons, Israel will make sure that none of them will be left unscathed.

Hopefully, the day will come when Israel is accepted by the Arab world. Until then, Israel has a duty to protect itself. Thanks to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s called for Israel to be wiped off the map, maybe the world will understand Israel's distrust of Muslim intentions. After all, of the countries that protested Ahmadinejad’s comments, not one was an Arab country. Their silence is deafening.