While the Syrian dilemma touches on many issues such as security, region, religion, politics and diplomacy, it is, first and foremost, a moral one. Here, in Israel, it has come into sharper focus after seeing the photos of the atrocities broadcast from Damascus and the rows upon rows of bodies shrouded in white sheets.
Israel is a nation that rose from the ashes of the Holocaust. The people in Israel are the only people in the modern era against which an explicit order of extermination was issued and partially carried out. Six million Jews were exterminated during World War II, most of whom were killed by gassing. No Israeli can remain indifferent knowing that within a 30-minute drive from the Golan Heights such horrific sights are taking place again.
When it comes to bloodshed in the Arab world, the prevailing Israeli mindset ranges from indifference to schadenfreude, sharing the spirit of the wishes the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin extended when the Iran-Iraq war broke out (“I wish both sides success”). But this attitude changes completely when it comes to gassing.
From a moral standpoint, Israel cannot stand on the sidelines. It must adopt a clear stance on this issue. Despite the fact that an American strike on Syria could very well open the gates of hell on Israel, it can neither run away nor hide. Knowing a thing or two about the regional poker game, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has already announced that he would hold Israel accountable for any strike against his country. On Aug. 26, he was joined by Iranian officials who made threats in a similar vein. Knowing also a thing or two about wars of nerves, the Iranians dispatched a member of parliament, Hussein Sheik-Hulisalam, to make these threats so in the event that these turn out to be empty, he could be disavowed. Yet based on Middle East experience, it would be well advised to listen to those who make these threats. Usually, they materialize. A chemical warhead mounted on a missile during the first act could very well explode amid a civilian population during the third act.
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