Each relishes its perception as a menacing thorn in the side of both Israel and the US.
As recently as January 2020, Iran’s parliament passed a bill with a contingency of consequences should the European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal not provide prompt economic relief from the effects of the 2018 oil and banking sanctions. In essence: UN inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities will cease, uranium enrichment processing will boost to 20% and additional centrifuges will come online. After the bill passed, the IRNA official news agency reported chanting “death to America!” and “death to Israel!”
Biden ultimately must distinguish himself on a number of fronts to minimize a likely confrontation with a nuclear capable and intercontinental ballistic missile enabled Iran. The ultimate question being: does Iran value the lives of its people more than achieving its professed goal of annihilating Israel and minimizing the US?
To further complicate the situation, Iran has seemingly garnered indirect support from diverse political elements within the UN and the US.
Hate-inspired propaganda is concurrently being spewed from components of the Palestinian Authority, in addition to the regional terror usual suspects. This seemingly knows no boundaries and is amplified by Zionophobes from within the halls of Congress, ranks of private organizations, radical religious leaders and other hostile segments of American society.
Even within the ranks of social justice movement are found peddlers of what appears as antisemitic garble; this while clamoring for fairness and respect toward black, brown, Asian, and Native Americans. To promote divisiveness and misdirect the angry, Jews are made to appear at fault for the sin of overcoming obstacles and their resultant hard-earned success.
To that end, Jews and Israel must not be targeted as being a convenient scapegoat for others’ failures and misfortunes. We are not and must never be viewed as an expendable population. History may well record no greater example of pure racism, aside from the Holocaust, than unopposed, and excused decimation of the indigenous Jews residing within present day Israel.
Iranian development of nuclear weapons capable of mass destruction, is not a matter of if, but rather of when. Israel, better than most, fully grasps the budding lethal consequences of what the Middle East may soon be facing. To ensure its own survival, Israel has been preparing options to deal with a nuclear Iran, since neutralizing Iraq and Syria’s brief but bold venture into the nuclear arena.
For Israel, there is no exaggerated paranoia as Iran openly proclaims its animus toward the so-labeled Jewish/Zionist entity at every opportunity afforded. Its strong dictum to reestablish without deviation from the original 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action purposely denies Israel’s input, even as its fate is directly tied to the outcome.
Iran does not feel the need to offer any corroboration of goodwill including disengagement from its alleged role as terror and militia underwriter in Lebanon, Gaza and Syria; its hostage taking or curtailing its provocative strategic ballistic missile development. Unabated, each brings to the table a specter of regional war concerns.
Allowing for the best of the US’ 2015 intentions, the aftermath of the Barack Obama-promoted JCPOA, at best, fell short of hoped for expectations.
At worst, US dollars flowed into Iran without necessary oversight. This brings to question if any of those funds inadvertently found their way to subsidize long range ballistic missile technology, to Hamas in Gaza, to Hezbollah in Lebanon or to militia activity in Iraq and Syria. Additional apprehensions include unintended financing for the “Pay to Slay” Palestinian terrorist reward program, the UN Relief and Works Agency Palestinian refugee children’s hate-abetting educational programs or the anti-Israel organizations found on college campuses across the US.
The potential for sinister use of our own money against us, or our ally Israel, clearly commands US attention and must never be allowed to become an issue, again.
So as to not recreate the mistakes of the past US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Special Envoy to Iran Robert Malley are well advised to incorporate in upcoming discussions input from Israel and her new (Sunni) nation friends, combined with our pre-established common interest forces. Together a practical message that regional destabilization will not be tolerated may serve as the optimal starting point for effective nuclear negotiations to follow.
The writer is the author of the geopolitical thriller Saturday People and is a published op-ed contributor to The Miami Herald, Washington Examiner, International Jerusalem Post and other media sources.