[Assam] The Region: India and Israel: The parallels - Jerusalem

[Ram Sarangapani]

Highlights are mine. The article is interesting & hawkish to a degree, but
the article does offer some thoghts for India
--Ram

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702377288&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The Region: India and Israel: The parallels
 Nov. 30, 2008
Barry Rubin , THE JERUSALEM POST

For years, India has been subjected to periodic terrorist attacks throughout
the country. But what happened in Mumbai is something new and different: a
full-scale terrorist war.

This is the kind of threat and problem Israel has been facing for decades.
What are the lessons for India from Israel's experience?

First, India needs and has the right to expect international sympathy and
help. It will get sympathy but will it get help? Once it is clear that other
countries must actually do something, incur some costs, possibly take some
risks, everything changes.

If the terrorists came from bases or training camps in Pakistan, India would
want international action to be taken. Pakistan must be pressured to close
such camps, stop helping terrorists and provide information possessed by
Pakistani intelligence agencies.

But will Western countries make a real effort? Are they going to impose
sanctions on Pakistan or even denounce it? Will they make public the results
of their own investigations about responsibility for the terror campaign
against India?

NOT LIKELY. After all, such acts would cost them money and involve potential
risks, perhaps even of the terrorists targeting them. Moreover, they need
Pakistan, especially to cooperate on keeping down other Islamist terrorist
threats, not spread around nuclear weapons technology too much and cooperate
on maintaining some stability in Afghanistan.

This parallels Israel's situation with Syria, Lebanon and Iran. For decades,
the US and some European countries have talked to the Syrian government
about closing down terrorist headquarters in Damascus. The Syrians merely
say no (though sometimes they have just lied and said the offices were
closed). The US even did impose some sanctions. But by being intransigent,
pretending moderation and hinting help on other issues, Syria has gotten out
of its isolation.

So, despite all the pious talk about fighting terrorism, in real terms,
India - like Israel - is largely on its own in defending itself from
terrorism.

ANOTHER PROBLEM India faces, like Israel in the case of Lebanon, is that it
is dealing with a country that lacks an effective government. Pakistan is in
real terms a state of anarchy. Even within the intelligence apparatus,
factions simply do as they please in inciting terrorism. Given popular
opinion and Pakistan's Islamic framework, even a well-intentioned government
would be hard put to crack down.

In Israel's case, the whole rationale for regimes such as those in Iran and
Syria is radical ideology. So pervasive is the daily supply of lies and
incitement to hatred that popular opinion supports the most murderous
terrorism. Murder of Israeli civilians brings celebrations in the Arab
world. Appeals to law and order, holding governments responsible for their
actions, shaming them or going over their heads to turn to the masses on
humanitarian grounds simply don't work.

*So what's a country to do? It might consider cross-border raids against
terrorist camps or retaliation to pressure the terrorist sponsor to desist.
Sometimes it will actually take such action. But can India depend on
international support for such self-defense measures or will it then be
labeled an aggressor? How much is India willing to risk war with Pakistan
even though it has a legitimate casus belli due to covert aggression against
it by that neighbor country?* And let's not forget that Pakistan has nuclear
weapons, a situation which Israel may soon face in regard to Iran.

Now we can see the logic of terrorism as a strategy by radical groups and
countries pursuing aggression by covert means. Their victims are not only
put on the defensive but have to make tough decisions about self-defense.

*FINALLY, THERE is the dangerous "root cause" argument. Many Western
intellectuals and journalists - as well as some governments - are ready to
blame the victim of terrorism. In Israel's case, despite desperate efforts
to promote peace - concessions, territorial withdrawals and the offer of a
Palestinian state - it is said to be the villain for not giving the
Palestinians enough. *

*The terrorists and their sponsors use this situation to their advantage. By
being intransigent - demanding so much and offering so little - they keep
the conflict going and are able to pose as victims simultaneously. *

*Will some suggest that if India merely gives up Kashmir and makes various
concessions, the problem will go away? This might not happen but it is worth
keeping an eye on such a trend. *

The Indian government is thus going to have some very tough decisions to
make. How will it mobilize real international strategic support and not just
expressions of sympathy for the deaths and destruction? How can it destroy
terrorist groups, including installations outside its borders, and deter
their sponsors?

Israel's experience offers some lessons: Depend on yourself, be willing to
face unfair criticism to engage in self-defense, take counterterrorism very
seriously, mobilize your citizens as an active warning system and decide
when and where to retaliate.

*Defending yourself against terrorism is not easy. Unfortunately, even in an
era of "war against terrorism" those truly willing to help in the battle are
few and far between*.

Since radical Islamists really believe their own propaganda, however, they
tend to minimize their allies and maximize their enemies. You don't want to
make 900 million Hindus and additional other Indians, in South Asia and
elsewhere, mad at you. There are about as many Hindus and Sikhs as there are
Muslims and, as one Indian reader put it, "There is a Hindi saying: One and
one makes 11. It is time for India and Israel to become allies. It is a
jihad we are both facing."

*The writer is director of Global Research in International Affairs Center
and editor of the* Middle East Review of International Affairs Journal.

*www.gloriacenter.org*