Blog : Ragazou

By RHONDA SPIVAK, Prairies Correspondent (CJN)

 

WINNIPEG ?  Canada should urge the UN Security Council to discuss Iranian violations of the anti-incitement clause of the Geneva Convention, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations says.

 

Dore Gold [Rhonda Spivak photo]

 

?If a country like Canada did this, it would be significant' Canada might find support from'

 

Australia, and Germany for this action,? said Dore Gold, who spoke to about 700 people at the annual Sol and Florence Kanee Distinguished Lecture of the Jewish Heritage Centre at Winnipeg's Shaarey Zedek Synagogue on April 26.

 

Gold, president of the Jerusalem Centre for Foreign Affairs, said he agrees with the initiative by Liberal MP Irwin Cotler to put Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  on trial at the International Court of Justice for incitement to genocide, for his threats to destroy Israel.

 

?Just beginning the process might give Iran pause,? Gold said.

 

He said that from 2002 ? when Iran's secret nuclear program was discovered ? until 2005, world leaders tried to give diplomacy a chance in dealing with Iran.

 

?In the Iranian Shiite tradition, there is a term called takiya' That means deception,? Gold noted, arguing that Iran was engaged in takiya with western leaders from 2002 to 2005, when negotiations failed.

 

According to Gold, when U.S. President Barack Obama spoke about the importance of policy of engagement with Iran, it was seen as weakness by Tehran.

 

Gold noted that, ironically, Iran, which produces oil but lacks the capacity to process it, has to import gasoline for its own domestic automobiles.

 

He said that the U.S. Congress was in the process of trying to adopt legislation that would place sanctions on U.S. companies that sell gasoline to Iran. But it wasn't clear whether the Obama administration wanted this legislation to go forward.

 

?They [the Obama administration] don't seem to want more crippling sanctions, but rather want more limited sanctions against the Revolutionary Guard, not ones that affect  all Iranians' It's like sanctions using tweezers.?

 

Gold said a report out of Washington in mid-2009 claimed that Iran only has liquid-fuelled, short-range missiles. ?But the very next day after the report was released, Iran tested a missile that had solid fuel and a 2,200-kilometre range,? he said.

 

Gold said that ultimately the development of Iran's nuclear capability will be a problem for the entire world.

?If all they [Iran] wanted was to hit Israel, then [a missile range of] 1,300 kilometres would be enough, but they have missiles that can reach the' 3,500-kilometre range.?

 

Gold said many people in the world are ready to accept Iran as a nuclear power, on the premise that the threat of mutual nuclear destruction would restrain Iran from using its nuclear weapons.

 

He said this is a dubious assumption.

 

?The leadership of the Revolutionary Guard is into the Mahdi Cult' The Mahdi is a 12th imam who disappeared in 873 CE' According to their belief, they can accelerate the arrival of the messianic Mahdi by creating chaos,? he said.

 

?I'm not so sure how effective deterrence is with people who believe that the end of days is near.?  

 

If Iran gets nuclear weapons, Gold argued, ?we will have a nuclear umbrella over terrorist attacks.?

 

Iran, which is the ?largest exporter of terrorism' will be able to foment more terror and victims will have to restrain their responses, for fear of triggering Iran's nuclear capability. Iran would also undermine Sunni Muslim states such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

 

Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Gold said that in any future agreement, Israel must obtain ?defensible borders.?

 

He said Israel was mistaken to leave the Philadelphi route along the Gaza-Egyptian border as part of the withdrawal from Gaza, because ?Hamas has been able to smuggle in enormous quantities of weapons.?

 

He added that in a final deal, it ?will be very important for Israel to retain control of the Jordan Valley to prevent arms smuggling into the West Bank.?