Oh well,

As some Iranians have said, and many Arab commentators have re-iterated, Israel is a "one bomb country." One bomb and it effectively ceases to exist.

So for Israel to have a credible nuclear deterrent it needs to put some of its nuclear assets to sea. That guarantees it has a "second strike" capability. It can absorb a full on attack and, in its death throes, take out its enemies along with around a third of the world's oil pumping capacity. Now may be a good time to buy a bicycle.

Israelis, of course, can hear frenzied Imams shrieking for the extermination of Jews over the airwaves every day. That and a recent Holocaust gets you a lot of paranoia and, of course, these paranoids have real enemies.

Maybe a nuclear Armageddon in the Middle-East is inevitable.

Would Israel in its death throes confine its attacks to its Muslim neighbours or would it spare a few nukes for some European cities in a final act of revenge for allowing the Holocaust to happen? We are in unknown territory here. No nuclear armed state has ever faced annihilation before.

"Would Israel in its death throes confine its attacks to its Muslim neighbours or would it spare a few nukes for some European cities in a final act of revenge for allowing the Holocaust to happen?" posits Steven.

A very interesting question indeed especially as it involves a tiny nation of racist religious zealots who have a large arsenal of nukes and will use them if push comes to shove.

Could it be that a group of people, who make up less than 2% of the world's population, could, with American support, initiate a nuclear war that would render humankind extinct?

When are the other 7 billion people who inhabit Planet Earth going to realize the danger the world is in and do something about it?

Thanks for a very good article.

Hi David G

You're slipped a decimal point old son.

We happy band of "racist religious zealots" with our large arsenal of nukes make up only 0.2% of the world's population. Not 2%. You've overstated our numbers by a factor of 10.

Will the Israeli branch of us "racist religious zealots" use the nukes if "push comes to shove"?

Only one way of settling the question. Keep pushing and shoving and see what happens.

On the other hand maybe some experiments are just too dangerous. Maybe it would be better if Israel's genocidal neighbours stopped pushing and shoving and toned down the exterminationist rhetoric a bit.

But they probably won't so I guess it's going to be ka-BOOM!

Oops, there goes Aleppo, Alexandria, Baghdad, Beirut, Cairo, Damascus, Mecca, Qom, Ryadh, Tehran, …

And maybe Berlin, Budapest, Hamburg, Paris, Warsaw,..?

I think most Israelis, and indeed most Jews, have taken Dylan Thomas' advice to heart.

"Do not go gentle into that good night
"Rage, rage against the dying of the light".

Being threatened with a second Holocaust will do that to you. It beats being led like lambs to the slaughter

>...The dream of my life has risen to become fact. Self-defense in the ghetto will have been a reality. Jewish armed resistance and revenge are facts. I have been a witness to the magnificent, heroic fighting of Jewish men in battle.>>

See The Last Letter from Mordecai Anielewicz

Warsaw Ghetto Revolt Commander*

(April 23, 1943)

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Anielewiczlet.html

C'est la guerre

Dear David,

<<a tiny nation of racist religious zealots>>

Tiny - agreed. Not just "less than 2%", but in fact about 0.1%!

Nation - so in that, besides all those Israelis who just happened to be born there and don't feel affiliated, you also count over a million Arab (Muslim/Christian) Israelis? no doubt, under a nuclear attack, they too will die.

Racist - about half of them.

Religious - Nonsense if you refer to the Jews among them: Judaism is not a religion, it's a tribal identity-group (sometimes camouflaged as a "religion", but where their concept of god has only a subsidiary role, being fawned to when he seems to promise to save the tribe and ignored otherwise).

Zealots - that's about 20% of the Israeli Jews.

Yes, by acquiring a nuclear arsenal and 2nd-strike capabilities, people that are threatened to extinction are doing the second-to right thing in their situation (second only to turning the other cheek, which honestly not too many people are capable of).

You may not like the way Israel treats Palestinians or their American connection: that's fair enough, but has nothing to do with the fact that people thus attacked and threatened have every right to obtain nuclear weapons for their self-defense. These are separate issues.

<<Would Israel in its death throes confine its attacks to its Muslim neighbours or would it spare a few nukes for some European cities in a final act of revenge for allowing the Holocaust to happen?>>

Yes, I have personally heard Israelis claim that if attacked with nuclear weapons they will go for the throats the whole world, not just the Arabs. Therefore, beware and behave nicely to my family!

Stenelmeyer,Israel has at least 200 nukes and the means to deliver them.So don't try to down play their military prowess.

The Zionists in Israel have created their own enemies by treating Palistinians and their neighbours with violence and contempt.They show no contrition and just continue to meddle in the affairs of other nations for their own advantage.