Why Israel Can T Wait

Looks at the impact the Iranian nuclear weapons program has on relations with both Israel and the United States.

The new Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly declared that a primary foreign policy objective is to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability. Israel is a "one-bomb state," such that one atomic weapon, even a relatively low-yield bomb of the type the United States dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki in World War II, would destroy the modern Jewish state as we know it today. The Obama administration has repeatedly declared the intention of following up on the campaign promise to negotiate directly with Iran. This represents a fundamental policy shift from the Bush administration's efforts to apply international sanctions through the United Nations in an effort to force Iran to quit enriching uranium. Consistently, Iran has insisted upon the nation's right as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty to pursue the "full fuel cycle," code words for Iran's determination to advance uranium enrichment technology in Iran under Iranian control. In recent months, top Iranian government and military figures have issued warnings that the time is getting short, such that Iran might well have the capability to develop and deliver at least one nuclear weapon by the end of 2009 or the beginning of 2010. At the same time, the international community has expressed doubt that the Iranian government will make any serious concessions on their atomic program. In press conferences and speeches, President Obama has openly acknowledged the U.S. government now believes Iran is pursing a nuclear weapons program. At the end of the Bush administration, the international press credibly reported that the Olmert government in Israel was denied fly-over rights in Iran in order to launch a military strike on Iran. Known as the "Sampson Option," an Israeli first-strike on Iran's nuclear facilities becomes increasingly likely to the extent Israel feels isolated from the world community and concludes there is no chance the Obama administration will ever be able to induce Iran to stop enriching uranium, regardless how seriously the president intends to push direct negotiations as a strategy. We have already seen two wars launched by Israel against terrorist surrogates financed and supported by Iran: the 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and the 2008 war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Now, a war between Israel and Iran is on the near horizon, possibly fated to occur before the end of 2009.

How do Israelis endure in an environment where terrorist attacks can occur at any time? Why do so many Israelis express messages of hope and not despair? Waiting for Peace is a journey of intimate discovery of life in a society coping with terrorism.

Beth Lueders considers the familiar feeling that sometimes God is unwilling to respond to our needs on our time frame. We live in an age of instant gratification characterized by immediate resolution and answers on-demand. Yet that’s never been the way that God has dealt with His people. Using a wealth of illustrations from the Bible, she notes that when situations look their worst and we are weary from waiting, God steps in and proves that he is all-powerful, loving, and wise. God wants to open our near-sighted eyes to the vivid depths of his immense character.

"Once in the military system, Israelis never fully exit," writes the prizewinning journalist Patrick Tyler in the prologue to Fortress Israel. "They carry the military identity for life, not just through service in the reserves until age forty-nine . . . but through lifelong expectations of loyalty and secrecy." The military is the country to a great extent, and peace will only come, Tyler argues, when Israel's military elite adopt it as the national strategy. Fortress Israel is an epic portrayal of Israel's martial culture—of Sparta presenting itself as Athens. From Israel's founding in 1948, we see a leadership class engaged in an intense ideological struggle over whether to become the "light unto nations," as envisioned by the early Zionists, or to embrace an ideology of state militarism with the objective of expanding borders and exploiting the weaknesses of the Arabs. In his first decade as prime minister, David Ben-Gurion conceived of a militarized society, dominated by a powerful defense establishment and capable of defeating the Arabs in serial warfare over many decades. Bound by self-reliance and a stern resolve never to forget the Holocaust, Israel's military elite has prevailed in war but has also at times overpowered Israel's democracy. Tyler takes us inside the military culture of Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel Sharon, and Benjamin Netanyahu, introducing us to generals who make decisions that trump those of elected leaders and who disdain diplomacy as appeasement or surrender. Fortress Israel shows us how this martial culture envelops every family. Israeli youth go through three years of compulsory military service after high school, and acceptance into elite commando units or air force squadrons brings lasting prestige and a network for life. So ingrained is the martial outlook and identity, Tyler argues, that Israelis are missing opportunities to make peace even when it is possible to do so. "The Zionist movement had survived the onslaught of world wars, the Holocaust, and clashes of ideology," writes Tyler, "but in the modern era of statehood, Israel seemed incapable of fielding a generation of leaders who could adapt to the times, who were dedicated to ending . . . [Israel's] isolation, or to changing the paradigm of military preeminence." Based on a vast array of sources, declassified documents, personal archives, and interviews across the spectrum of Israel's ruling class, Fortress Israel is a remarkable story of character, rivalry, conflict, and the competing impulses for war and for peace in the Middle East.

James Bamford, the bestselling author of The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets, unveils a hidden cabal of foreign powers that have spied against America to reveal the incredible spygames, secrets, and cyberweapons they’ve hatched, unlocked, and stolen--and how U.S. intelligence has utterly failed to stop them. SPYFAIL is about the highly dangerous and growing capability of foreign countries to conduct large-scale espionage within the United States and how the FBI and other agencies have failed to prevent it. These covert operations involve a variety of foreign countries—North Korea, Russia, Israel, China, and others—and include cyberattacks, espionage, psychological warfare, the infiltration of presidential campaigns, the smuggling of nuclear weapons components, and other incredibly nefarious actions. With his trademark deep investigative style, James Bamford digs as deep as one can go into these clandestine invasions and attacks, uncovering who’s involved, how these spygames were carried out, and why none of this was stopped. Full of revelations, SPYFAIL includes access to previously secret and withheld documents, such as never-before-seen parts of the Mueller Report, and interviews with confidential sources. Throughout this stunning, eye-opening account, SPYFAIL demonstrates again and again how large a role politics, special interests, and corruption play in allowing these shocking foreign intrusions to continue—leaving America and its secrets vulnerable and undefended.

My name is Yakir Shlomo and I live in Jerusalem, Israel. If you spin a globe, it won't be easy to find the country where I live. Israel is barely the size of your thumbnail on most world maps. But I feel like I live in the center of the universe. Everyone's home is unique and my city and country are special to me. I know my home is a teeny, tiny dot if you think about the earth and the whole gigantic solar system. But it really can't be that small, since we have to make room for the 3.5 million people from all over the world who come to visit Israel during just one year.I am almost eight years old and I can understand why Israel has so many visitors. My country is an interesting place--and especially fun for children. I am glad my mother decided to help me write this book about Israel. My friends and I can't wait to tell you why we think it is so interesting to be Israeli. We hope that after you read this book, you might decide you'd like to come here and see for yourself.