A message to Ahmedinejad

Dear President Ahmedinejad,

You don't know me, and the chances of us meeting are not great. I live in Jerusalem, a Jewish citizen of the State of Israel. I was born in Britain, which I understand figures pretty high on your list of Satanic nations. I am also a Reform rabbi, an exponent of a religious philosophy which espouses moderation and modernization. So it's fair to say that you and I mix in different circles, or perhaps that should be centrifuges.

Mahmoud (you can call me Michael if you choose to reply), I get the feeling we need to talk. Apart from the unpromising start (British-born Zionist liberal Jew Beelzebub), you ought to know that there are many things against the State of Israel you could say which I would agree with. In our regime here such opposition is allowed, indeed it's even encouraged. I am profoundly concerned about the way in which we distribute our resources here, and I fear that our approach to the Palestinian people has been tragically in error. I also think it's time to wrest authority from the hands of religious politicians who have done a disservice both to politics and to religion. (Come to think of it, we may not have so much in common on that last point.)

We've just had a big day here in Israel and around the Jewish world (I think you call it the international industrial-financial insidious cabal). I am sure you have received satellite imagery of sudden and intensive cycling and skateboard activity, and before you misinterpret this as a military maneuver or sinister escalation, I ought to explain. In some ways, you would have approved of the scene - millions of Jews reflecting on what they have done wrong and resolving to do better. I'm sure you would have been happy to offer many suggestions in this regard.

It was quite a scene here - religious and secular (I'll explain that another time) spending a day removed from their workaday lives trying to think through the meaning of life and the nature of their relations with others. Some exploited the almost complete absence of cars on the road to set loose their children on self-propelled wheeled conveyances of every imaginable kind.

I spent a good part of the day thinking about my personal pitfalls and shortcomings, and also about the challenges facing my people and my country. I won't bore you with the personal stuff - I guess much of it would sound familiar to many of your countrymen, since the human condition transcends political and ideological boundaries. On the wider social level, I have been increasingly alarmed about the increasing chauvinism and insensitivity on display here. I also pray fervently that we will have the courage to face up to those in our nation who combine messianic fervor with political fanaticism. We have a lot of work to do.

Why am I telling you all this? If you read any of our newspapers (it's a shame there's no Persian language edition of the major titles, but I am sure you have assistants with good Ulpan Hebrew) you'll know that my views are shared by many in Israel. The point of all this, then, is not to leak you information you would not otherwise have received. Instead, I want you to know that by your utterances and actions you have made all the differences between moderates and extremists in my country dissolve into irrelevance. By choosing to repeat the old Big Lie, and by raising the specter of our annihilation, you may have done more for Jewish unity than anyone else I know.

I love my country, and I often despair for its future. I am not always convinced that our policies and actions are in the finest tradition of our people. But when you tell me that I am part of an enormous conspiracy, and that my relatives didn't perish in the Holocaust but were instead relaxing on an extended ski trip in the Alps, and when you say all this as your nuclear potential mushrooms (it seemed an appropriate verb), you make it much harder for me to think and act as a liberal and as a moderate.

It would be wrong to blame you for the collapse of the Israeli Left. It managed to self-destruct without any help from you. But you should be aware that many, many Israelis are ready to take significant steps to promote justice and allow for co-existence in this region. They are prepared to do this not because they share your assessment that Israel is a withered tree and a repressive regime (did you mean that as a compliment?), but rather out of a belief that the way ahead should be a way of peace and co-existence.

Mr. President, you need to think again. Combining medieval blood libels with nuclear stockpiles spells Armageddon for all of us. I also want you to know that despite the temptation to ignore Israel's failings and rally against the threat you pose us, I will continue to make noise about our misdeeds and missed opportunities. If I thought you were really motivated by a pure sense of solidarity with your Palestinian brothers, I might respect you a little more. As it is, it seems to me that you are using us here in Israel and Palestine as a diversion from some pressing problems closer to home. It would be a great idea for you to take a good look at your own shortcomings from time to time. I'm sure you could come up with something if you really put your mind to it, an I believe there are millions in your country who would love a real opportunity to tell you how they feel on this subject.

Please stop rattling all those swords, and remind yourself that there is a rich and noble history of strong relations between our peoples and our nations. We go back a long way, and we could build a strong partnership in the future. Co-operation could serve us all far better than proliferation.

You should also know this: if you do come after us, we will not be intimidated. Concerned, certainly. Terrified, quite probably. But not intimidated. We have been working at this people-hood project for three millennia and we are just beginning to get the hang of it. The Jewish people have survived many attempts to blot us out from history, and we plan to survive this one too.

Getting to know us makes more sense than planning to nuke us. And if that's too much to ask, ignoring us is also a perfectly valid option. If you really want to cause us difficulties, leave us alone for a while and see what a bad job we make of getting on with each other. Now that would be an unconventional weapon.