Dear Editor,
The Washington Post article, "How Israel complicates efforts against Iran" [May 4, 2010] really moved me. It moved me to say how the author should be ashamed of himself for writing it. He knows full well that Israel must retain military superiority to survive in that violent region of the world, faced with Arab nations and terrorist groups who openly state their determination to eliminate what they call the Zionist entity.
Israel was created because other countries of the world could not be trusted to harbor their Jewish citizens safely - Jews were murdered, persecuted, and expelled for centuries. And in their hour of greatest need the countries of the world (including America) refused even to let Jews in. Jews learned that they cannot depend on the rest of the world for their safety; they must take care of themselves.
Israel has been a member of the "nuclear club" for 50 years, and is the member most in need of such a deterrent. Israel has long demonstrated its responsibility and determination to use it only in defense, and only as a last resort. To take away this weapon is to invite the destruction of the only Jewish nation in the world.
Michael Berenhaus
