Are we on the verge of a regional war in the Middle East?
The Israeli decision to interdict the flotilla indicates the Netanyahu government's willingness to accept a full-scale regional war with Iran that could arise from even a minor incident resulting from Israel's determination to hold firm the naval blockade of the Gaza.
In May and June 2009, when I was in Israel interviewing top government leaders, including two former heads of Mossad, for "Why Israel Can't Wait: The Coming War Between Israel and Iran," I was told repeatedly that should the world not be able to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, Israel would exercise the right of self-defense to launch a pre-emptive military strike on Iran, with or without the approval of the United States.
Now, nearly a year and a half into the Obama administration, Israel has reason to doubt the White House would come to Israel's aid in a military confrontation with Iran.
From the perspective of Jerusalem, the conflict with Hamas in the Gaza is an extension of the conflict with Iran, precisely because Hamas, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, is a terrorist organization that must be understood as a surrogate of Iran.
Increasingly, Israel feels confronted by an existential threat from Iran, not only because Iran is proceeding full-speed ahead to develop nuclear weapons, but also because Iran has resupplied Hezbollah and Hamas with rockets that can hit Jerusalem as well as Tel Aviv.
Even as evidence surfaces at the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency that Syria has conducted nuclear experiments, radical Islam seems on the upsurge in Turkey, a Middle Eastern neighbor traditionally friendly to Israel, that has now decided to side with the political activists trying to push the envelope in the Gaza by sponsoring the flotilla trying to break the blockade.
With the Obama administration openly siding with the Palestinian cause and insisting that distance needs to be placed between the United States foreign policy and Israel's openly expressed national security interests, how could the Israeli government not be feeling increasingly nervous?
The Obama administration apparently fails to realize what Israel cannot afford to ignore – namely, that President Ahmadinejad may be right, despite his ranting and raving against Israel.
Since 1948, when the Jewish state was first established, Israel may be facing the most serious existential crisis ever.
Ahmadinejad has a point – the survival of Israel is by no means certain, especially if the United States is prepared to stand on the sidelines while the weight of international pressure comes down on Israel every time it takes a military step in perceived self-defense.
A regional war involving Israel, Syria and Turkey, with the active participation of Hezbollah and Hamas, would be catastrophic.
At a minimum, thousands of people, including Israeli citizens, would die; at the worst, the conflict could risk going nuclear, with Russia and China ready to enter any escalating conflict on the side of Israel's enemies.
The Obama administration did not take steps to block the United Nations Human Rights Council from engaging in an investigation of the flotilla incident.
But then, the Obama administration appears to be moving toward a Middle Eastern nuclear-weapons policy that is targeted to put pressure on Israel to abandon its nuclear arsenal, not to prevent Iran from developing one.
As the Obama administration backs away from a defense of Israel, the Netanyahu government will have no choice but to step up the defense of Israel, regardless how much the anti-Israel international community objects.
In the existential test that is shaping up, the real culprit remains Iran, but if Turkey and Syria want to join in the cause in support of Hamas and Hezbollah, the coming of a full-scale regional war looms close by on the horizon.