Not Just Israel’s Problem

The stateside narrative on the Middle East has it that those most ardently arguing a tough stance against Iran are Israeli hardliners and their American supporters. As with most international stories that America’s press corps and academic elites weigh in on, the view looks quite different on the scene.

“The Arab states are as, if not more, nervous about a nuclear Iran as Israel is,” Dore Gold, the former Israeli ambassador to the U. S. said last week. Gold, who lives with his family in Jerusalem, spoke at the bloggers briefing at the Heritage Foundation while on a Washington, D. C. visit.

“Iran is active in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and possibly Egypt,” Gold told the bloggers. Currently Gold serves as president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

In the Mid East, Iran is backing Sunnis as well as Shiites and Al Qaeda operatives, thus threatening to make a troubled region even more volatile, Gold observes. For example, Bahrain, Gold notes, has a Sunni king and a population that is 70 percent Shiite.

Gold urges dealing with Iran, “at a distance.” He is the author of the recently published The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West (Regnery).

Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.