There is only one real issue. The issue is whether or not Iran will be permitted by the world to become a military nuclear power.
Although the heat is on President Obama, the United States government has known about Iran’s nuclear plan through most of the Clinton administration and all of George W. Bush’s. This threat has grown ever since Dr. Kahn from Pakistan secretly gave post-revolution Iran help with their program in the 1980s.
Iran is a nation whose government has perpetrated international terrorism throughout the world, recklessly destabilized neighboring countries to the point of collapse, denied the Holocaust and publicly called for the destruction of the State of Israel. “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” are heard in the streets of Tehran. Yet, the world’s story is about diplomatic niceties, or getting a congressional stage to speak on.
Whether Netanyahu is able to speak in Congress or not, whether the office of the president was disrespected, whether the speaker of the house didn’t follow protocol, whether this speech is intended to give a boost to the Republicans, whether this speech is a boost for Likud — none of these considerations ultimately matter in comparison to the most vital challenge at hand.
The challenge that needs be addressed right now is how Israel and America can see eye to eye as soon as possible. Someone must swallow their pride so that the world’s greatest friends can stand shoulder to shoulder against one of the world’s greatest threats. The winner in this brinksmanship is Iran. If Washington and Jerusalem are too busy eye-balling each other — who’s watching Tehran?
We as a Jewish community cannot afford to be, or take, political bait. We are not pawns for either political party, and neither is Israel. Iran has continued uninhibited in their nuclear program under Republican and Democratic presidents and Congresses alike. But the world is running out of time.
Settlements, border issues, human rights abuses, rockets from Gaza — all of these Israeli issues are vital for a vibrant, Jewish, democratic state. But they mean virtually nothing if Iran gets the bomb. If Iran gets the bomb it affects both the U.S. and Israel forever. For Israel, it squelches the Zionist dream. For America it will mean a permanent change in the international balance of nuclear power.
Dr. Daniel Gordis wrote five years ago — only 90 days after President Obama’s election:
“Once Iran has nuclear capacity, every Israeli parent will put their children to bed at night knowing that once again, our survival and that of our children will depend not on what we do, but on what others decide our fate should be. An Iranian nuclear weapon would represent not only a failure of American deterrence, but the failure of the promise of Zionism, to create and sustain a Jewish state that could keep its citizens safe.”
Before the State of Israel, every Jew in the world lived or died because someone else’s government tolerated us. If Iran gets the bomb, we go back to that place forever. American politicians may see Iranian nuclear talks as a short-term foreign policy issue, but for the Jewish people it is a qualitative change in our history and our future.
Rabbi David M. Glickman is rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom.{/mprestriction}
