A Menace To The World

"Iran is a menace to the world. Why should Iran menace, tell me? What for? They are the centre of terror, they send arms, they hang people, they kill people, they provoke terror, they build a nuclear bomb. And they say that they want to bring an end to Israel. It's the only case today where one nation says they are going to destroy another nation for no reason. Give me one reason why Iran should attack us. Nobody is threatening Iran. Iran is the only country that threatens another people.

"Who is threatening them? What are they worried about? They could have entered a new world, a new age. They have able people [but] a small group [says] some irrational things.

"We were never admirers of terror, of dictators, and of bloodshed. [Assad] is a brutal dictator who kills youngsters and children and innocent people. To tell you that I would like to see dictators remain and create a bloody situation, no. But I must also admit the limitations. We cannot go into it. We are not going to intervene."
Israeli President Shimon Peres

These are the words of the oldest head of state in the world, 89-year-old Israeli President Shimon Peres. He is responding in an interview published in The Daily Telegraph to queries about the situation in Syria with its bloody revolutionary sectarian war, and the newly-elected president of Iran, a neighbour in the Middle East which has declared its intention of annihilating the State of Israel.

This Nobel Laureate speaks of an ancient Persia which acted as a protector of Jews when they were banished from Israel by the Assyrians who destroyed the First Temple of Solomon. Three thousand years ago, he said wistfully, Cyrus the Great was "the first Zionist", for urging the biblical-era Hebrews to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple.

It is that second Temple, later destroyed by the Romans, of which the only remaining feature is the Wailing Wall.

Artists rendering of Solomon's Temple

And upon the mound where the Temple Mount itself exists, a much later presence of Muslim rulers built over and upon the Temple Mount, naming it the Noble Sanctuary, in Jerusalem. Where the Dome of the Rock sits, gold-capped and illuminated in the hot Mediterranean sun. Cyrus the Great liberated the Jews from their exile in Babylon.

And his successor, the Ayatollah Khamenei, promises to liberate the ancient heritaged land of Israel from Jewish possession now, and to restore it to the geographic holdings of Islam. The election of Hassan Rowhani, a cleric trusted by the Khomeinist regime, a former nuclear negotiator and elite political confidant of the ruling Ayatollahs presages no obvious change in direction for the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cautioned the jubilant West anticipating a sea change in Iran's policies to move it into line with international expectations, to avoid "wishful thinking" over the country's nuclear program. He clarified for those interested to learn, that as far as Mr. Rowhani is concerned, he is a man who "defines the state of Israel as 'the great Zionist Satan'."

On the other hand, President Peres is an indefatigable optimist; he views the world through those proverbial rose-coloured glasses. He feels the prospect of talks between Israel and Iran is possibly something that could occur. Both countries were regional allies and friendly during the reign of the Shah Pahlevi, the former pro-Western monarch who was removed from office in 1979, during the Iranian Revolution.

But of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Peres has no illusions.

Hosting an international gathering in Jerusalem whose guests include Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev and Tony Blair, Shimon Peres had his concerns echoed by the former British prime minister and current Quartet envoy [to the Middle East] Tony Blair. Who spoke at the Presidential Conference and giving his opinion that facing the prospect of a military confrontation with Tehran represents a better option than having to confront a nuclear Iran.

The former British prime minister said in his address to the conference participants in the fifth annual gathering in Jerusalem, "We should be determined to overcome the threat from Iran. Those who have power in Iran should feel our resolve, and understand that we will not back down. Of course, every military option is something we do not want -- but a nuclear Iran is the worst thing", he declared.