Iran is a real problem for the world and a real problem for Israel. The close relations between the two states ended with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s revolution in 1979, and since then Israel has been depicted by the ayatollah regime as an illegitimate entity that must disappear from the earth. The regime demands nothing from Israel, doesn’t offer compromises, talks, or the like. Israel’s fate is clear, and what is said by one member of the United Nations against another, is indeed hair-raising. So are also Iran’s activities through its various arms — Hezbollah, the Islamic Jihad and other terror groups that harm Israelis and non-Israeli Jews around the world. Thus Iran, in its desire to create nuclear bombs despite its denials, is a threat to Israel even if its threats are always tied to the statement that it would use force against Israel if Israel attacks it or its representatives. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as much as it doesn’t concern the leaders of the Iranian regime from morning to night, is an excuse to foster hate toward Israel.
This was the reason that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in the 1992 election campaign, had a slogan that promised an agreement with the Palestinians “within six to nine months.” I can still hear his voice repeating this. He didn’t hide his view and explained that he wanted to reach such an agreement before Iran succeeds in creating an atom bomb.