The Nuclear (and the) Holocaust: Israel, Iran, and the Shadows of Auschwitz

Abstract

The main thesis of this article is that the Holocaust is indispensable for understanding Israel’s treatment of what it perceives as the greatest current threat to its security the Iranian nuclear program. The Holocaust’s impact deviates in crucial ways from established teaching regarding balance of power in general and nuclear deterrence in particular. Mutually Assured Destruction, the distinction between capabilities and intentions, and even linkage politics all of those basic concepts are profoundly altered in the Israeli case by the (often conscious) presence of the Holocaust. The Holocaust’s influence is evident in the Israeli belief that deterring Iran might be impossible: MAD does not apply to the Iranians since, like Hitler, their regime is considered mad: its commitment to destructing the “Zionist entity” is understood as trumping any standard realpolitik calculations. This perception of Iran generates the conviction that the Iranian nuclear project must be stopped at all costs: Israel must prepare for the possibility that the Jews will once again be left alone and, if need be, launch a strike against Iran to prevent a potential second Holocaust. There will not be time for “accommodation” to the threat. This article is available in Journal of Strategic Security: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol4/iss1/4 Journal of Strategic Security Volume IV Issue 1 2011, pp. 37-56 DOI: 10.5038/1944-0472.4.1.3 Journal of Strategic Security (c) 2011 ISSN: 1944-0464 eISSN: 1944-0472 37 The Nuclear (and the) Holocaust: Israel, Iran, and the Shadows of Auschwitz Shmulik Nili University of Notre Dame snili@nd.edu