Original subtitles

Before we get to the video

of Noam Chomsky addressing if Iran is a threat to Israel.

Here are some other key points Chomsky has made.

Chomsky argues that the Iranian threat is often inflated

and used as justification for increased tensions.

Chomsky emphasizes the role of the United States in the conflict.

He believes U.S.

foreign policy, particularly its support for Israel and opposition

to the Iran nuclear deal, contributes to regional instability.

Now, after this wonderful video of Noam Chomsky.

Hi. first, thank you so much for coming.

I've learned a lot listening to what you shared with us.

My question is specifically about, Iran and the nuclear weapons

and the discussion

that you were having with regard to Iran and the international community.

I definitely understand the idea of a country

obtaining a nuclear weapon or developing one themselves

out of a form of protection, or to be on the same,

I guess, international status as other countries who are considered

superpowers are on the same level as a superpower

because they themselves have nuclear weapons.

But what do you do when a country is openly trying to develop

one or obtain one, and also open it open and openly threatening

to wipe out a country and claiming that a country shouldn't exist?

I mean, those are two really big issues that we're dealing with.

And I didn't really think you addressed that. And I was curious. That's true.

Say, well, what do you do about countries that already develop nuclear weapons

outside the framework of the Nonproliferation Treaty and our daily

violating resolutions of the Security Council

and the International Atomic Energy Agency?

that's the much more serious problem.

But that's a different situation, because that

those countries aren't openly threatening to wipe out another country.

Nor is Iran.

Just take a look at the statements.

The statements are that they don't think they said in.

They actually goes back to Khomeini.

At the time of the U.S.

Iranian alliance, the Israeli Iran alliance, and Israel didn't care about it.

Then I keep seeing repeated the statement is that,

you know, in the course of time, Israel should no longer exist.

Well, actually, I happen to agree with that, too.

In fact, so do a lot of people in Israel, the ones who think there should be

a single democratic state that's not calling for wiping anyone out.

In fact, Iran has supported the

international consensus on the two state settlement.

actually, there is there are two countries

that are not only calling for some nation

not to exist, but are destroying it, namely the U.S.

and Israel.

That's their position with regard to the Palestinians.

And they're not just saying.

I stress they're not just saying it.

They're doing it day by day.

That's the meaning of the policies that are going on right

before our eyes in Gaza and the West Bank,

which we are supporting and paying for.

So, sure, you shouldn't call for the destruction of

another nation, and you shouldn't implement that.

Actually, the official position of Israel,

backed by the United States, slightly modified it.

But back about 20 years ago, their official position,

the coalition government, labor Likud,

was that there cannot be, I'm quoting it,

an additional Palestinian state

between Jordan and Israel.

In other words, they declared, and the US supported

that there already is a Palestinian state, namely Jordan and the Palestinians.

Object.

You know, they say, oh, wait a minute, that's not our state,

but who cares about them?

We say, that's your state and there can't be an additional one.

Well, that goes well beyond calling for the destruction of another country.

I mean, it's it's analogous to saying that,

if somebody came along, suppose Ahmadinejad said

Jews don't need Israel because they already have New York.

Okay.

I mean, you know, we'd call that a revival of Nazism,

but that's the official you has been the official U.S.

Israeli position.

So there's a lot to be, incidentally, about Iran.

nobody in their right mind wants Iran to have nuclear weapons or anyone else.

But it is. Well, and it's a horrible regime.

Undoubtedly, though, there are worse ones in the region which are our allies.

but, every everyone.

And I'm not referring to Israel. I'm referring to the other Arab states.

I mean, comparison with Saudi Arabia.

Iran looks like a civil rights Paradise.

But, the, but it's awful, you know, no doubt.

and, and there's a way to deal with it,

like, for example, moving towards a nuclear weapons free zone.

But among strategic analysts, including Israeli ones, there is no real,

there's no real question

about why Iran is moving to nuclear weapons

capability, which is not the same as having nuclear weapons.

It's just being at a point where you could have them like,

most of the advanced industrial world is in that position,

you know, Japan, Italy, all sorts of countries.

the reason is very simple, actually.

It was described by, one of Israel's leading,

military analysts, very hawkish, Martin von Crayford.

A couple of years ago, after the invasion of Iraq,

he wrote an article in which he said

he doesn't know if Iran is developing nuclear weapons, and he hopes not.

But he says if they're not developing nuclear weapons, they are crazy.

That was his word.

They're not developing. They're crazy.

The United States has just announced, we're going to attack anybody.

We feel like an invader.

If we can do it with impunity.

So you better have a deterrent.

Well,

maybe they're developing a deterrent.

no. Serious analysts thinks that they could use nuclear weapons.

Mean if Iran had

nuclear weapons and missiles, which nobody saying wants them to have.

I mean, if they went as far as even loading a missile,

the country would be vaporized,

you know, instantly, even if there was any suspicion of it.

Well, you know, the clerics may be hideous people,

but they've shown no particular inclination for suicide

and destruction of everything that they own and everything they value.

same is true about leaking nuclear weapons to others.

If there was any suspicion that they were doing that,

you can say goodbye to Iran.

So chances are they're using it or, you know, probably

at the level of an asteroid hitting the Earth or something like that.

but, it's a serious problem.

In fact, if you look at the Israeli literature,

they're pretty straight about it.

They say that the, the real threat of an Iranian nuclear

weapon is not against Israel, but it's against Zionism.

That is what they're afraid of

is that if the region becomes

too dangerous, people in Israel are just going to leave,

you know, people who have the capacity to more educated, wealthier and so on

because they won't want to live in a region with that threat.

And in fact, immigration is a pretty serious crime.

Emigration of the educated and the,

you know, the trained, educated sectors.

So they don't want to face that threat.

But I don't think any serious strategic analyst at.

I've never seen one who, thinks that

there's the threat that Iran might use a nuclear weapon.

I mean, do total suicide.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Noam Chomsky advocates for a nuclear weapons

free zone in the Middle East as a solution,

which would require cooperation from all parties, including Israel.

He also criticizes Israel's possession of undeclared

nuclear weapons while opposing Iran's nuclear program.

Well, I hope you liked the video and give the channel a subscribe.

Please check out and subscribe to my other channel.

Progressive movement.

It is about progressive politicians and policies.

Now take care and bye bye.