One of the things this accusation implies is that Saddam Hussein was a threat to Israel. While its true that Saddam was no friend of Israel, he was nothing compared to the threat posed to them by Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. Sure Saddam funded Palestinian terrorists, but so did most other Arab countries in the region. Iran has openly called for the destruction of the state of Israel. Both Syria and Saudi Arabia actively fund and train Palestinian terrorist groups. So lets say Israel had the capability to make the U.S. invade any Arab/Muslim country it wanted, it would probably choose Syria, Iran, or Saudi Arabia or some country that REALLY posed a threat to them. They would not single out Saddam. What benefit would Israel get from removing Saddam? Whatever money he was giving to the terrorists would easily be replaced by the other Arab/Muslim countries (as it has).
The next inaccurate assumption people with this accusation make is that Israel was Saddam's only enemy. Israel was AN enemy of Saddam, but not the only enemy. Saddam was hated by Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, and even his own people. Have you ever heard of anyone blaming the Kuwaitis for the Iraq war? Or the Iranians? Or the Iraqi dissidents, which gave us a lot of the phony intelligence on the WMD? No. Only Israel gets singled out, even though many other countries were even happier to see him overthrown. There was more cheering on the streets of Kuwait after Sadaam's government fell, then there was in the streets of Israel. In fact, at times Israel seemed to oppose the U.S. led war in Iraq since they were afraid of a repeat of the 1991 scud missiles attack, in which Saddam launched scud missiles at Israel..
If Israel wanted Iraq to be attacked they would have done it themselves, just like they did in 1981 when Israel attacked an Iraqi nuclear reactor. The U.S. had no knowledge of the attack and was in no way involved. Israel did not try to "bribe" the president or congress to attack, they attacked themselves. And lets remember Israel has 100+ nuclear weapons. So the idea that someone like Saddam Hussein, with almost no weapons, was a threat to nuclear armed Israel is laughable. Israel has one of the most powerful armies in the world, while, as we saw during the war, Saddam had one of the weakest armies in the world.
In fact some can even argue that Iraq, the only secular Arab nation, was in many ways a friend of Israel, since it prevented Islamic unification and a vast unified Islamic army from being formed in the middle east. A unified Islamic army would be a true threat to Israel. So it can even be concluded that this war with Iraq could have actually damaged Israel's security.
Some even go so far as pointing to the drop in suicide bombings against Israel since Saddam was captured, and saying "see, the Iraq war benefited Israel". It is true that Saddam regularly funded Palestinian terrorist groups. But like I said, after Saddam was removed, the surrounding Arab/Muslim countries were more than happy to make up for the lost terror funding. The reason the attacks against Israel have decreased in recent months is because of Arafat's death and the construction of the security barrier. Since Arafat's death, the new Palestinian leadership, under Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), has finally started reining in the terrorist groups. At the same time Israel's security barrier has kept the terrorists from entering Israel. Up to this date not one terrorist attack has occurred anywhere in which the construction of the wall has been completed. The decrease in terrorist attacks against Israel had nothing to do with Saddam being removed from power and everything to do with the death of Arafat and the construction of Israel's security barrier.
Another thing to look at when people make accusations like this: Is Hamas really motivated by money? People say Israel wanted Saddam removed because he provided aid to Palestinian terrorist groups. Members of Hamas, and other Palestinian terror groups are motivated by spiritual beliefs, not by money. Hamas (and their followers) believe they will go to heaven for every non-Muslim they kill. This is what motivates them to do what they do, not money from Saddam, or other Arab/Muslim countries.
Now, probably the biggest proof of all that Israel was not behind this war with Iraq: If this was a war for Israel, why would the U.S. replace Saddam with someone who is actually more anti-Israel? After Saddam was overthrown, and after the governing council was dissolved, the U.S. appointed Iyad Allawi as Iraq's Prime Minister. Allawi is a strong opponent of Israel, and pushed forcefully to prevent Iraq from making peace with Israel. Allawi has even jailed members of his own government for visiting Israel. So it wouldn't make sense for Israel to replace an enemy with another enemy.
For those who claim that the war in Iraq was launched to help Israel expand and conquer the middle east, why is it that since the Iraq war took place, Israel has been giving up more land and giving the Palestinians more autonomy? If Israel truly wanted to conquer the middle east why would they give back land? Israel has recently withdrawn from the Gaza Strip after 37 years of occupation. This decision to withdraw was made AFTER the Iraq war. There is no way one can truly argue that the Iraq war was to help Israel expand in the middle east.
I think I have made more then enough points here that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Israel was not behind this war against Iraq. Sadly, there are still many out there that want to scapegoat Israel for what they perceive is a failed war. Lets remember that the people that are blaming Israel for the war in Iraq, are the same people blaming Israel for 9/11, SARS, the Vietnam war, the tsunami, and many other world events. This only shows the credibility that these people have when it comes to Israel.
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Comment:
There is a very interesting point made here. Truly, Israel really did not benefit from this war as Saudi Arabia or Kuwait did. Wish more people can see this article.
