The Last Israelis - an Apocalyptic, Military Thriller about an Israeli Submarine and a Nuclear Iran (33 page)

The dismal silence was punctuated by occasional navigational readings or captain’s orders, spoken robotically with numb precision. The crew continued in its morbid and meditative quiet for about ten minutes, until a burst of shrill noise abruptly rang through the submarine deck as Samir maniacally lunged at Yisrael, screaming at him, with his hands flying to his throat as he tried to choke him. “Why did you stop us, you asshole?! Why?! Why?!” Yisrael struggled to remove Samir’s hands from his throat. “Why?! Tell me! Why?! We have a submarine, God damn it!”

Daniel rushed over and drew his pistol, pointing it at Samir.

“Let him go, Samir!” his voice roared with all of the power underlying his command. “If you think any of this is Yisrael’s fault then you’ve completely lost your mind.”

“Yisrael stopped us,” he began. “And – ”

“There was nothing we could have done. Even had we attacked when we first learned of the news about nineteen hours ago, the Iranian nukes had already hit their targets by then. Let him go, I said!” Samir’s grip loosened a little.

“We could have done something,” Samir replied, reluctantly letting go of Yisrael. “We should have launched our missiles a few days before that.”

“No, Samir. That was not an option,” Daniel said, putting away his pistol. “We are a second-strike capability. Not a first.”

“We should have hit them first, God damn it!” He yelled, with all of his sorrow and fury pouring out. “To hell with the rules!” He seemed almost possessed with rage.

“Get a hold of yourself, Samir!” Daniel yelled at him again with the thundering authority and firmness of his commanding rank. “Control yourself or you’ll get us all killed!”

“What difference does it make now?”

“Not much. But we still have some very important work to do.”

“Like what? Mourning the dead?”

“Exercising the last bit of sovereignty left to the State of Israel, right here on this submarine. And if the collective will is to strike, then that must be done too. And then we can all die.”

Samir’s back slid down the wall until he reached the floor, where he buried his head between his knees and began sobbing. Daniel turned to Yisrael. “As for you, Yisrael, you wanted better military intelligence and more timely facts from the ground, before deciding. Well, now you have them.”

The captain turned on the intercom system and addressed the entire crew: “Crewmembers of the Dolphin, it’s time for us to make a final decision. You heard the latest report from the ground. We are the last Israelis. The last Israelis who are actually safe enough to make rational decisions. The last Israelis whom fate has chosen to write the final sentences of the final chapter of the State of Israel. Everyone else is either dead, or traumatized and on their way to dying soon. So let the last Israelis be a democratic people until their last breaths. The world apparently had the luxury of choosing to ignore the threat that brought us here. But we don’t have the luxury of ignoring the choice before us. We didn’t have the moral luck to avoid the question, so – to the five crewmembers who were undecided on the last vote, and to any who might be feeling undecided now – you don’t have the luxury of abstaining this time. This vote is not complete without you, so you must find your moral truth and choose. That is the burden of being alive with the freedom and power to act. It is a responsibility of the gravest kind, but you are not deciding alone. You are deciding with and on behalf of the Israeli society that was just annihilated. You’ve had many hours to consider the various arguments for and against attacking Iran with our nuclear missiles. You also heard the latest update from Gabriel Cohen, who provided additional details about what exactly happened to our state. So now, you can make a more informed decision. You must each decide for yourselves so that our collective will can be finalized and we can act accordingly. Please take a moment to write your vote down and bring it to me in the next five minutes.”

One by one, each submariner brought his ballot to Daniel. The ballots in favor of an attack totaled 22 and included Boutrous, Michael, Jacob, Zvi, Samir, and Bao. Those against an attack totaled 12 and included Eitan, Ambesah and Yisrael. As Daniel computed the vote tallies, he realized that without his own vote in favor of an attack, the result would be about 63% in favor and the measure would fail. With his vote for an attack, the outcome would be about 66% in favor and the resolution would pass the two-thirds majority that was required under the arrangement that he and Yisrael had agreed upon. Daniel reflected for a moment on how his vote would ultimately be the one to decide the outcome.

The captain added his ballot to the votes in favor of an attack. To avoid any controversy, Daniel brought the ballots to Yisrael and asked him to confirm the results. The deputy captain counted them sullenly and then just nodded his head to confirm that the tally was correct.

Daniel spoke on the intercom again: “Members of the Dolphin crew, the vote was 23 in favor and 12 against, so we now have a collective and democratic decision to attack Iran. The question of what we should do is behind us. We have a duty to history now. Let it not be said that the Jews were again snuffed out without a fight. Let the record show that our star shone brightly for three millennia and burned brilliantly for the 66 years when we were again masters of our own fate, with a state of our own, before going out in one last glorious blaze.”

Yisrael looked at the captain and the other crewmembers around him, desperately searching for something that he could say to stop the process that was now officially set in motion. He had tried every democratic procedure he could think of. After insisting on a two-thirds majority and persuading Daniel to accept this higher level of consensus, he had also promised not to raise any more objections. But what was a broken promise compared to the millions of innocents they were about to kill?

Nevertheless, as much as Yisrael wanted to stop Daniel, even physically if necessary, he understood that such a showdown with the captain would not end like the last one regarding his wife, Netta, did. Here, they were operating under the traditional military rules and command structure, no matter how much he tried to argue otherwise. Here, Daniel had a pistol and a majority of crewmembers passionately on his side.

Yisrael thought about somehow trying to sabotage the crew’s operation of the submarine, or otherwise blocking their ability to effect the decision they had just reached. But, he admitted to himself, doing so would be undermining the very collective will that he had so ardently insisted be respected. Was he a man of principle only when it suited him? “No,” he concluded to himself. “There’s no point in resisting any longer. I’ll just state my closing remarks on the matter.”

Yisrael stepped up to Daniel and unfastened the top buttons of his shirt. “I cannot live on an earth that allowed this to happen. But I also cannot be a part of the only response left to us,” he said, removing from around his collarbone the ball-bearing necklace to which was attached his nuclear missile launch key. “I understand it, and a part of me supports it, but I cannot be a part of it. You’ve been a good captain, Daniel. Goodbye.” Yisrael handed his missile key over to Daniel and left the area.

“Set a northwesterly course.”

“Yes, Sir,” Boutrous replied.

“Maintain speed at five knots.”

“Y…Yes, Sir,” Zvi said.

While the Dolphin continued moving in the general direction of their attack position, Daniel needed to decide on the precise targets, as this would determine exactly how much farther they had to travel to put those marks within their missile range. Once he knew the number of kilometers left, he could calculate exactly when they could begin to travel at up to four times their current speed to reach their attack destination. Because they had just replenished their air supply, there would be enough battery to power such a sprint. There was no obvious place for the Dolphin to go after its missile launch, so preserving the battery to avoid subsequently having to get more air at a dangerously crowded, high-traffic moment was no longer such a concern.

Given how democratically they had reached their decision to attack, Daniel thought it was also appropriate to have a brief discussion regarding the list of second-strike targets that the Israeli security cabinet had developed, and which had not changed in over a year. He turned the intercom back on. “If I can have your attention again, I’d like to discuss the target list with you. Like all of you, I would prefer to complete our mission with the fewest number of innocent civilian deaths.”

Bao, who was standing nearby in the combat control center, replied over the same intercom audible to the whole crew: “But how many cities do you need to nuke before you’ve delivered enough punishment for the destruction of your entire country, Sir?”

“Our purpose is not only to punish. We also want to achieve some greater good with our punishment. This way, our last act will have at least helped the world to eliminate this particular threat. Therefore, I believe that we should respect the preferred target list already determined by the Israeli security cabinet. That list requires that we fire nine nuclear missiles at nine of Iran’s nuclear facilities and one nuclear missile at Tehran, which is the location of the Iranian regime’s power center. Tehran is also home to a research nuclear reactor and the METFAZ facility, where scientists develop explosives for nuclear detonators that are tested at the Parchin site. Unfortunately, the missile targeting Tehran will probably kill hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of civilians, but the other nine strikes should kill far fewer people because the nuclear facilities are in less populated areas. Syria does not need to be attacked. That country has already self-destructed enough from civil war. And it will get plenty of the nuclear fallout from the attack on Israel because of its proximity, as will Gaza. Neighboring Lebanon also will get a huge amount of nuclear fallout and will soon be embroiled in a bloody civil war, so there’s no point in retaliating there either. So our entire arsenal of nuclear missiles will be used to hit ten Iranian targets, all of which are within 1,500 kilometers of Bandar Abbas. There are some additional sites connected to Iran’s nuclear program but we have only ten nuclear missiles. So our warheads will be used on the top ten preferred targets, and that should be enough to massively damage Iran’s nuclear capability.”

Daniel then read from a printout that listed the nine preferred targets other than Tehran, and what the role of each was in Iran’s nuclear program: “Arak – heavy water plant, Bushehr – nuclear power station, Isfahan – uranium conversion plant, Natanz – uranium enrichment plant, Parchin – nuclear weapons development facility, Fordo – uranium enrichment plant, Gachin – uranium mine, Ramsar – research nuclear reactor, and Bonab – development of nuclear weapon delivery systems.”

Daniel looked up from the list and surveyed his crew to see if anyone had any objections or comments. “Let me know if you would like to make any comment about the target list before it is finalized.”

“Sir, I would like to comment,” Boutrous said into the intercom. “They destroyed Jerusalem – the holiest city in the world to Jews and Christians for the last two thousand years. So now, there is no more Church of the Holy Sepulchre for over a billion Christians. And no more Temple Mount for the seven million remaining Jews. So maybe we should destroy Mecca, the city holiest to Muslims, as part of our retribution. Maybe that will also benefit the world by putting an end to radical Islam.”

Ambesah came on the intercom: “I disagree, Sir. There will always be extremists, from every religion, and in support of every cause. Mecca is definitely not the cause of Islamic fundamentalism, and destroying that holy city will probably only promote more extremism.”

Daniel responded by intercom: “Agreed. The vast majority of Muslims are not violent extremists and Mecca gives their lives more spiritual meaning. The billion Muslims of the world had nothing to do with the decisions of the Iranian regime, so why should we punish them? And remember that Jerusalem is the third holiest city in Islam, so the Muslim world has already lost something precious because of the fanatical regime in Iran. Lastly, don’t forget that Mecca is in Saudi Arabia, a country that hasn’t attacked Israel since 1948. Your request is denied, Boutrous. The target list is now finalized and we will proceed towards our attack point at full speed. Set a course to Bandar Abbas.”

“Yes, Sir,” Boutrous replied.

“Increase speed to twenty knots.”

“Y…Yes, Sir,” Zvi said.

Chapter 39: The Nightmare

About two-and-a-half hours later, Boutrous updated Daniel: “Sir, in about ten minutes we’ll reach our attack position of 27 degrees 09 minutes North, 56 degrees 26 minutes East.”

“Bao, prepare the weapons team for a nuclear missile launch. Yisrael will not be participating. I have his key to unlock the nuclear missile arsenal, so I will assume his duties as well, so that you and I together will handle all officer steps involved in the launch sequence.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Meanwhile, by the crew’s quarters, Yisrael went into his private storage bin and removed three items: the printout of his grandfather’s diary, a bucket, and a noose that he had prepared from some rope on the submarine. The deputy captain took these things with him to the bathroom. Yisrael placed his grandfather’s diary by the sink and washed his hands thoroughly. He took a moment to reread a short passage that he had underlined: “When I was reduced to skin spread on bones, a dazed fugitive hounded by the dogs of evil, and my unlikely existence continued only because of the humanity of kind strangers, I realized that our humanity is all we have and all that illuminates an otherwise dark world.”

The deputy captain then placed the bucket under the showerhead. He stepped onto the bucket and tied the noose to the showerhead. Yisrael placed the noose around his neck and then, with his left foot, pushed the bucket to the side so that it no longer supported his weight. His body dangled lifelessly, but his hands were clean.

In the combat control center, Bao spoke to his team in order to prepare them psychologically for the final steps: “Once Daniel and I have unlocked the nuclear missile arsenal with the three keys, and Daniel gives the final launch order, ‘Fire and Forget’ is the only way for you to do it. No hesitation. Just go through the launch sequence as if you were firing any other kind of torpedo. If you feel any qualms holding you back, remember that we were just attacked with nuclear and chemical warheads from Iran and Syria, and with countless conventional warheads from Iran, Syria, and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran-backed Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Six to seven million Israelis are dead and we have no more country. After a long debate, the crew voted to retaliate. Daniel selected the preferred targets. These targets were already carefully chosen by the security cabinet of the last democratically elected Israeli government. They focus on eliminating Iran’s nuclear threat rather than on maximizing civilian casualties. So that’s what we’re doing, and there’s no going back now. Understood?”