The JT fears that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned address to Congress in March “has turned broad-based support of Israel into a partisan issue” (“The Fallout from Dermergate,” Feb. 6). In emphasizing partisanship, the JT seriously underestimates the urgency of the need to counter Iran’s imperialistic designs.
There is much more to the Iranian threat than its attempt to obtain a nuclear weapon, as grave as that is. The Iranians have marched virtually unopposed through Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, encircling Israel and its Arab neighbors. While the Obama administration prefers to ignore the danger, the United States itself has been in the crosshairs for years. Ever since the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979, the U.S. military has suffered thousands of casualties at the hands of the Iranians and their proxies throughout the Middle East.
Obama and his advisers choose to see no evil, hear no evil nor speak of the evil that emanates from the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Netanyahu has repeatedly warned, the Obama administration is making a historic mistake of epic proportions by appeasing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The government of Iran has proven by word and deed that it is an uncompromising enemy of both Israel and the U.S. Yet, our present commander-in-chief is AWOL.
Under these circumstances, it is essential that Congress do whatever it can, in a bipartisan manner, to counter the feckless foreign policy of this administration. Is it any wonder that Netanyahu and Ambassador Ron Dermer apparently have concluded that political considerations pale in comparison to the urgent need to inform Congress of the clear and present danger posed by Iran? Unless the JT has very good reasons to second-guess Netanyahu on questions relating to existential threats facing Israel and the national security of the United States, it should give the prime minister of
Israel the benefit of the doubt.
