I have been a loyal American and friend of Israel for as long as I can remember. Although the two are not mutually exclusive, they are not a contradiction in terms, either. In our current environment of conveniently blaming Israel and, by extension, Jews for everything bad that occurs at any time or any place in the world, we must keep in mind that Jews seek justice in order to survive; whereas its enemies seek fabrications to justify their lies, defamations and curses, all the while motivating their children to kill.
The tactics of repeating false accusations over and over at every opportune moment appears to be successfully gaining converts. Even from within the Jewish community, some members of the tribe succumb to the scurrilous beliefs being promoted. Some hate promoters employ misdirection, double standards and outrageous slander and libel to achieve their goals. For too many non-Jews, it appears easier to just join their ranks than extend the effort and thinking skills to appreciate the flaws in their baseless war of words, which identify Israel as an ethnic-cleansing, Apartheid, Nazi-like agent who massacred Palestinians with the May, 1948 rebirth of State of Israel and episodically thereafter.
Such nonsense has been enabled since the traditionally Jewish/Israel supporting US Democratic Party swung its influence towards “new” underdogs favored by progressive US Reps including Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and Rashid Tliab (D-Michigan), among others. No matter what they do, there appears to be no consequential actions forthcoming from their immediate boss, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-California) or from her boss, US President Joe Biden. So they escape unscathed.
My parents, both loyal Democrats, reminded me on many occasions, especially when they were targets of antisemitism that bullies do what they do because they can. Carrying this sad state of affairs forward; Americans find themselves confronting racism, while putting the other equally offensive ‘ism,’ antisemitism, on the back burner as it lacks sufficient popular willingness to initiate legislative means to effectively combat it whenever and wherever it raises its ugly head.
On the world stage, anti-Israel acts and antisemitism are indirectly being alluded to in Vienna, Austria as the “re-upping” of the original Obama advocated 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Iran nuclear accords/protocols are being discussed. Unfortunately its nuclear enrichment and ballistic missile development limits were dismissed by the principal signatory, Iran.
This led to financial and other sanctions being levied by former President Trump’s administration to bring Iran into line. It didn’t work.
Even with total visibility, the consequences for regional destabilization and existential threats to Israel fell upon an enemy that does not appear to respect Israel or the United States. This being most especially so, when we recall chants emanating from within Iran threatening, “death to Israel’’ and “death to America.”
President Biden’s actions may eventually be judged by future generations not so much for what he did, but rather for what he should have done to assure Israel and our American constitutional way of life, its permanence in the face of an angry, unswerving Iran.
Iran makes indelible demands seemingly to intimidate others, rather than to launch legitimate negotiations. It shows no willingness to concede positions on pivotal issues including: 1) perceived proxy based terrorism; 2) perceived human rights abuses; including hostage taking; 3) perceived destabilizing militia sponsorships; 4) intercontinental ballistic missile development and testing; 5) removal of sophisticated, strategically located missiles throughout Lebanon, as well as rockets housed within Gaza; each presumably intended to challenge its avowed enemy, Israel; and 6) its inhibiting of monitoring International Atomic Energy Agency nuclear inspectors, accessing all Iranian nuclear sites; operational and those in development.
The Vienna attending nations including, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, China, Russia, the European Union and the US must wisely determine, before adjourning if; 1) Iran is more reliable now than it was in 2015? 2) America can be safeguarded from adversarial use of its contributed money ($10b. demanded by Iran as an initial show of good will), as well as expected sanction relief flowing funds; being used against itself or our ally Israel? This potential commands oversight; and 3) Biden can be counted upon to keep his pivotal promise to assure Israel’s solidness. “The United States will… never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.”
The answers to the following may likely not be known unless and until Iran assumes a wartime footing. They include: is Iran developing terrorist infrastructures in Syria, Gaza, Judea and Samaria, while transferring strategic weapons to Hezbollah?; Has Iran put into place infrastructure so as to facilitate attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets abroad?; Besides Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces, are Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi movement in Yemen, agents in Iraq, militias in Syria, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the PA and Hamas on active alert to engage suspected enemy forces?
Were ostensibly menacing circumstances reported by a number of news sources on March 21 and 22; that allege potential threats sourced to Iran to target Fort McNair, a US Army post in Washington, as well as alleged threats to the army’s vice chief of staff, on base proven credible?
If so, Iran should not be rewarded with its demanded incentives. It needs to prove itself as something other than an active threat to America and its only proven ally in the Middle East - Israel.
The stakes are too high and the risks too great to ignore or minimize Iran’s budding capabilities, which the US can ill afford; since the relatively recent debacle of seemingly abandoning the citizenry of Afghanistan to the Taliban.
The writer is author of the geopolitical thriller First the ‘Saturday People’ and Then the... and an op-ed contributor to The Miami Herald, The Washington Examiner, The Jerusalem Post, American Thinker and other media resources.