“Well, of course, Jerusalem is not spoken of directly in the noble Qur’an,” the Ayatollah said, looking weary and heavy laden with the magnitude of events now unfolding around them. “But we do see it alluded to in the blessed Night Vision, when the angel Gabriel took the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, on the winged, horselike beast for a journey unlike any other. In Sura 17, verse 1, we read, ‘Glory to God, who did take His servant for a journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose precincts we did bless, in order that we might show him some of our signs: for He is the One Who hears and sees all things.’ The ancients clearly taught that the Sacred Mosque — Al-Masjid Al-Haram — was the holy Kaaba located in Mecca, while the Farthest Mosque — Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa — was the ‘mosque in the corner,’ or the holy house in Jerusalem, where today stands the Al-Aqsa Mosque alongside the Dome of the Rock. That is the location where Muhammad, peace be upon him, knelt twice and prayed to Allah, and then he was taken up to the Seven Heavens to confer with the saints.”
“Very good,” the Mahdi said. “Continue.”
“Not all of the ancients, however, believed that the Al-Aqsa Mosque was in Jerusalem. Some said it was actually in heaven.”
“Who?”
“The Sixth Imam, Ja’far Ibn Muhammad Al-Sadiq, for one.”
“Precisely. And what did he say?”
“Well, he was once asked, ‘What about the Al-Aqsa Mosque?’ And someone said, ‘They say it is in Jerusalem.’ But his response was curious. He said the mosque in Kufa was superior to the mosque in the corner.”
“Was it superior?” the Mahdi asked.
“Only you would know, my Lord; aren’t you going to reign from Kufa? Isn’t that where we are all eventually going, not long from now?”
“Very good, my son,” the Mahdi said to Hosseini. “A very discerning answer. The rest of you would do well to learn from your brother Hamid. He is a good man and a good student. Now, I ask you, Ahmed, what are the implications of such truths?”
To Javad, the president looked petrified. He boasted of being a great scholar of Islam, but he was quaking now under the Mahdi’s tutelage.
“We are to conquer Jerusalem, are we not?” Darazi said. “Are we not to reclaim it for Islam and rule it forever?”
“No,” the Mahdi said with a vehemence that sent a chill through all of the men, Javad included. “You were not listening, Ahmed. You were not paying attention. Jerusalem means nothing to me, nor to my forebears. It was never the center of Shia Islam. It was never even the center of Sunni Islam. It is holy only to the Jews and the Christians, not to us. We conquered it once but never again. Jerusalem must be crushed, not conquered. It must be vanquished, not reclaimed. Islam was born in Mecca and Medina, but it came to full glory in Kufa in Iraq, the apple of Allah’s eye. Jerusalem has been infected forever with the stains of the Zionists. Those who have taught otherwise have been misled or were misleaders themselves. The future of Jerusalem, gentlemen, is fire and bloodshed, and now we are just hours away.”
56
An aide slipped a message to the director of the Mossad.
He glanced at the heading, then immediately handed the note to Levi Shimon, who sat back in his chair with an astonished expression.
“What is it, Levi?” the prime minister asked.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Shimon said.
“What?”
“It’s from Mordecai. It’s everything we asked for.”
“What does it say?”
Shimon read the message in its entirety, slightly less than two pages. In it, Mordecai provided precise details — including GPS coordinates — on all the warheads’ current locations and what kind of missiles they were attached to or about to be attached to. Then he begged for mercy for himself and his family, saying he did not want to end up “like the others” and that “that’s not what I signed up for.” He concluded by warning them in no uncertain terms: “I can guarantee you the warheads are where I say they are as I speak. But I can make no guarantees where they will be even a few hours from now. Events are moving rapidly here. I fear I will soon be exposed. This will be my last communiqué. I have done all that I promised, but I cannot do any more.”
Naphtali looked around the table. Every man was as stunned and sobered as he was. Most concerning was the report of two nuclear cruise missiles on some of the five Iranian vessels just off of Israel’s shores. They’d known it was a possibility but had no direct evidence of it, nor any indication from the Americans, who had far more sophisticated means to determine if a ship was carrying nuclear material. He turned to Shimon. “Levi, I need your assessment.”
“This is deeply disturbing, Mr. Prime Minister,” Shimon said, scanning the message again. “If this is disinformation planted by the Iranians, then they have to know they are inviting a preemptive attack. But I don’t believe that. Far more likely this is the real thing. It was clearly communicated by a man under extreme stress. He’s cutting off all contact, which suggests he’s either going into hiding or thinks they’re onto him. We’re not going to get another chance like this. I think it is time to go. I don’t see that we have a choice now.”
“Any dissent?” Naphtali asked the others.
He got none. They were all in agreement.
“Then this is it, gentlemen,” Naphtali said, his voice calm and firm. “We have supported American and European diplomacy toward Iran. We’ve supported multiple rounds of international economic sanctions against Iran. We’ve encouraged our allies to take covert operations against Iran’s nuclear program, and to their credit, several of them have taken significant action. We have launched multiple covert operations of our own, some of them successful, some of them less so. I think history will show we did everything we could. We forced the Iranians to take almost three decades to build the Bomb, when it took us less than eight years. We urged the world to do more to stop Iran. We especially urged the Americans, up to and including the last few days. But there comes a time in every nation’s destiny when it must act alone for its own survival. This is one of those times. I say this with neither joy nor malice. It is simply a fact. We are out of other options, and we are out of time. We must act in defense of the Jewish people and in defense of all of humanity. The world will hate us for what we are about to do, but I for one will be able to lay my head on my pillow every night in peace until I rest with my fathers, knowing I did the right thing. I hope you will too. I hereby authorize the commencement of Operation Xerxes. May the God of Israel be with us.”
“My Lord, may I say something?”
Mohsen Jazini lowered his head and did not make eye contact until he was called upon.
“Yes, of course, Mohsen,” the Mahdi said. “What is it?”
“I realize that you are not concerned about the disappearance of Tariq Khan, and of course I fully respect — and agree with — your reasons, Your Excellency,” Jazini said. “Still, until we know more, it would be safer if you were in one of the fully secure underground command centers in Tehran rather than up here.”
“You mean you would feel more secure,” the Mahdi said without expression.
“Allah is with you, without question, my Lord,” Jazini replied. “But I am concerned that we pose too great a target all together and exposed like this. It doesn’t strike me as prudent, but of course I completely defer to you, Your Excellency.”
“Isn’t the Qaleh unknown to the Zionists and the Americans?”