Meridor answers a question about waning U.S. support for involvement in the Middle East by making a case for why involvement is so important.

Sallai Meridor: I think that we see developments in America, and we see the public debate in America.  And it’s only natural in our western societies.  And the same happens in Israel.  There is this trend of suggesting that there is a need to find ways to put an end to the war and the like.  And I’m not dealing now with the issue of what exactly needs to be done in Iraq, and whether in the future there should be that number of soldiers or that number of soldiers.  I think that what’s important – and I hope it’s understood in America; and I hear it from candidates for presidency, not only from the President; and candidates from both parties – that America, and our values, and our life, and our lives are under threat.  And the threat is emanating from this region.  There are two leaders at the moment of this threat.  One is Iran, that is so dangerous a combination of religious fanaticism or almost messianic terror state and an ambition to have nuclear military power.  And at the same time Al-Qaeda.  And we have to face this threat and we have to confront it.  And we meet it in different theaters in the Middle East and out of the Middle East.  Yesterday it was . . . or the day before it was London.  So we have to be resolute.  We have to make our choices with regard to this tactic or that tactic, this theater or that theater.  But if we don’t fight them where they are, we will – God forbid – have to fight them where we live.