A nuclear-armed Iran would indeed pose an existential threat to Israel. Despite the efforts of Western officials to paint Iran's religious rulers as ultimately rational, the actions of the ayatollahs over the past 30 years have shown they are on a jihad-fuelled mission.

But the threat is not to Israel alone. Sure, chances of Iran firing nuclear missiles at any nation besides Israel are incredibly small at this time, but simply allowing Iran to possess a nuclear weapon would significantly upset the regional and global balance.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu understands this.

"Everyone needs to understand that if we're worried today about rising oil prices we shall be far more worried if Iran, heaven forbid, gains control over the energy centers in the Persian Gulf," Netanyahu told Israel Radio, referencing the regional Iranian hegemony most Arab states fear should the Islamic Republic go nuclear. "Iran would be able to dictate far higher oil prices and, by so doing, choke the world economy."

Netanyahu continued by insisting that "anyone who is interested in stopping the manipulative use of oil production, its influence on world markets, the threats to the world's economies, must also for that reason enlist to stop Iran's nuclear race."

thanks to Israel Today for this invaluable information.

The Emir of Qatar on Sunday opened the International Conference for the Defense of Jerusalem, where for the next three days Arabs and Westerners, Muslims and Christians will attack Israel's position that Jerusalem is its eternal, undivided capital.

The official program calls for discussing "the legal status of Jerusalem before and after the Israeli occupation [sic], the reality and the future of Jerusalem under occupation [sic], and the status of the holy places under international law."

Arab media reported that the conference is being held amid ongoing assaults on the Muslim-controlled Temple Mount by Israelis determined to "Judaize" the city.

Michael Snyder
http://endoftheamericandream.com/ asks:

Is 2012 the year when we will see a major war in the Middle East? Will Israel strike Iran at some point in the next few months? Will the U.S. military intervene in the rapidly escalating conflict inside of Syria?

What makes war so much more likely now is that nobody has shown any signs of backing down.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has sworn that he will never step down.

U.S. President Barack Obama says that it is only a matter of time until he is forced to step down and that no other outcome is acceptable.

Iran has sworn that it will never end its nuclear program.

The United States believes that if Iran is allowed to develop a nuclear weapon it would be a fundamental threat to world security.

Israel believes that if Iran is allowed to develop a nuclear weapon it would be a fundamental threat to the very existence of the nation of Israel.

So if nobody backs down...

Calling Israel a danger to Islam, the conservative website Alef, with ties to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the opportunity must not be lost to remove “this corrupting material. It is a ‘jurisprudential justification” to kill all the Jews and annihilate Israel, and in that, the Islamic government of Iran must take the helm.”

Meanwhile, in Washington we see President Barack Hussein Obama as he pulls every trick in his repertoire to keep Israel from doing what they need to do – strike Iran’s nuclear facilities – much like watching a little child trying to shovel the driveway while the snow storm still rages. He is fighting very much a losing battle, and can only forestall the inevitable for just so long. But what it does reveal, however, is just how deep his ties and loyalties run with the Muslim nation of Iran. PM Netanyahu, who I am sure is well aware of Obama’s game by this point, is getting ready to make a ‘break from the pack’. To which we say,

‘Go Bibi, and don’t look back.’ Am Yisrael Chai

If one were to listen only to the mainstream media and Israel's many antagonists, one would be led to believe that the Jewish state is a horrible and oppressive place for Arabs to live, and that said Arabs desire nothing more than to replace Israel with their own "Palestinian" state.

But if one bothers to listen to those Arabs themselves (something the media often does its best no avoid), a completely different picture emerges.

According to the Democracy Index 2011 survey conducted recently by the Israel Democracy Institute, nearly 53 percent of Israeli Arabs are "proud to be Israelis."

Only 28.3 percent responded that they are "not at all proud" to be Israelis.

Those figures would seem in stark contrast to all the criticisms about Israel being an apartheid state that discriminates against and oppresses its Arab population.