After Netanyahu presented the JCPA initiative to foreign ambassadors, Defense Minister Amir Peretz was asked if he agreed that Ahmadinejad is a war criminal. Peretz did agree. Although he hadn’t considered the issue himself, Peretz could not possibly have opposed what is obviously true and obviously an Israeli interest.
If Olmert were to be asked whether he agreed that Zionism and the notion of human freedom it embodies are superior to the ideology of jihad, Abbas’s most enthusiastic champion would, no doubt, say yes. This is so not simply because Zionism is objectively better than jihad, it’s because it would be politically foolish for Olmert to say otherwise.
Although the dangers we face mount by the day, much of the power to surmount those dangers lies in our hands as citizens of Israel and of free societies more generally. By acting privately, we can force our leaders to defend us publicly and to adopt policies based on reality that see victory rather than surrender as our best option moving forward.