A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

July 2, 2008- Terror Returns to the Steets of Jerusalem

      Terror returned today to the streets of Jerusalem. It was a type of terror that all the arms of the Israeli security services were helpless to stop.  No intelligence services would be able foresee an attack by a lone individual.  No preparedness plan could stop a lone hater from turning a mundane piece of construction equipment into a lethal weapon.  The terrorist had one intention... kill the Jews.

Is there anything that can be done about this hellish situation? Probably not. Since before the Hebron riots of 1929, there has been a segment of Palestinian society for which killing Jews seemed to satisfy some primordial need. Of course, when something like this happens there are always calls for retribution of one kind or another. The big question of today was whether to destroy the terrorist's home. Some say destroying the home will act as a deterrent... if a potential terrorist living East Jerusalem knows that his family may become homeless due to his actions, he may have second thoughts. Others say, that if he is willing to commit suicide to kill Jews, he is not rational anyway... so he might not care about causing his family to become homeless...and the only thing Israel does when it destroys a home is create more hatred.  And this debate, of course, just brings us back to the unsolvable problem of the chicken and egg.

However disruptive and tragic the events of today were for its victims, the tragedy did not present an existential threat to Israel's survival. As has always been the case in our "civil war" with the Palestinians, since the 1920's, their actions cause grief and mourning, but do not endanger the survival of the state of Israel. However, what is happening today in Iran does call into question Israel's long-term survival. According to all indications, Israel is only a few months away from having to decide whether or not to attack nuclear targets in Iran.