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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JUNE 12, 1981
PAGE 11
The raid also did little to soothe Israel's strained relations with West
Germany. Mr. Begin, angry at a recent trip to Saudi Arabia by Chancellor
Helmut Schmidt, fired two verbal salvos at him, calling him a "Nazi of
ficer" on one occasion. Mr. Begin also said that "the wounds which the
German people caused the Jewish people will not heal even in ten genera
tions." Mr. Begin interspersed his tirades with a broadside against former
French President Giscard d'Estaing as well.
Many West Europeans find it hard to see how peace can be advanced in the
turbulent Middle East as long as Mr. Begin is around. They originally had
high hopes the acerbic prime minister would be defeated in Israel's June 30
parliamentary elections. But Mr. Begin's tough talk and tougher actions
have ?Ut him ahead in the polls over his rival, the Labor Party's Shimon
Peres. (Peres called the Iraqi raid an "election stunt.")
The raid might force radical and moderate Arab states to close ranks. But
any such "solidarity" will probably be temporary. The fact is, there are
probably not a few in the Arab world who privately applaud Israel's de
struction of Iraq's capability of producing nuclear weapons.
Backed with its nuclear might, Iraq was out to become the "big boy" in the
Arab world. The ambitions of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein were far from
appreci�ted by fellow Arab leaders.
Syria and Iraq, for example, have been enemies for years because of their
rival Ba'ath parties. If nothing else, Syria can now breathe a bit easier
with Iraq's nuclear program knocked out of commission for at least three
years.
Egypt, long the dominant power in the Arab world with its 42 million people,
certainly did not want to see Iraq take over that role because of a nuclear
capability Egypt does not yet possess.
Non-Arab but Moslem Iran, at war with Iraq, certainly gained encouragement,
if nothing else, from the raid.
The Los Angeles Times editoralized in its June 9, 1981 edition: "Israel is
and will continue taking a lot of international heat for what has happened.
The irony is that Israel, by its discomforting action, may in the end have
made the Middle East a somewhat safer place for all concerned."
Dangerous Precedent
In a strange way, Israel's bold action served another temporary purpose.
Said the Wall Street Journal, tongue-in-cheek:
"Whatever else might be
said about the Israeli attack on the Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad
Sunday, we now know that there is at least one effective anti-proliferation
policy in the world."
But at the same time, Israel may have set a very dangerous precedent. Will
India now decide to "surgically remove" archenemy Pakistan's nuclear
reactor facility leading to another full-scale war on the Indian subcon
tinent? New Delhi has only 18 months to go before her hated neighbor has
the bomb.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau