Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minster of Israel, delivered a powerful speech to Congress on Tuesday morning that made one thing abundantly clear, the leader of the free world does not reside in the White House.
Netanyahu’s speech stood in stark contrast to the irrational rhetoric the Obama administration continues to preach on a daily basis.
Such rhetoric on behalf of the adminstration insists on giving Iran the “benefit of the doubt” in regards to negotiations over a long-term nuclear deal while minimizing the actual threat such a “deal” would have on the Middle East.
Netanyahu articulated the threat posed by the “marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons”, while also establishing the moral basis upon which America, not Iran, will always be given the “benefit of the doubt”.
“America’s founding document promises life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Iran’s founding document pledges death, tyranny, and the pursuit of jihad”, stated Netanyahu. The Prime Minster then gave Washington a dose of reality declaring that “as states are collapsing across the Middle East, Iran is charging into the void to do just that”.
Netanyahu then elaborated on the threat posed by the nuclear agreement presented by the Obama administration stating that, “this deal has two major concessions: one, leaving Iran with a vast nuclear program and two, lifting the restrictions on that program in about a decade”.
He then concluded that the deal posed by Obama “doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb; it paves Iran’s path to the bomb.”
Think about that statement for a second knowing that this administration has threatened to veto future sanctions on Iran that would be imposed if the nuclear agreement fell apart.
Rather than having the fortitude and morality exhibited by Netanyahu, Barack Obama has instead bet the security of the world on the hope that Iran will change for the better as he has conceded to the notion that his “deal” essentially delays the inevitable.
In the words of the President himself, Obama admitted in an interview Monday night with Reuters, his “deal” ensures solely that “we’re able to create what we call a breakout period, a timeline where we know if they were to try to get a nuclear weapon“.
Meaning, Iran would only need to agree to maintain “the low levels of enrichment capabilities” they poses today in order “to ensure that their breakout is at least a year”, stated Obama.
This final long-term nuclear deal is predicated on the original Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) signed on November 24, 2013, that “halted” Iran’s nuclear-related activities in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
Plagued by a willingness on Obama’s behalf to concede to the Iranian’s demands though, the original JPOA has been extended twice under the auspices of reaching a long-term solution.
Yet, as noted by Omri Ceren of Commentary Magazine, the original JPOA has “allowed Iran to continue making sustained progress along its uranium and plutonium tracks, contained no restrictions on ballistic-missile development, failed to open up Iran’s atomic facilities to verification, provided sufficient economic relief to stabilize Iran’s economy, and would last for at least 18 months”.
The interim agreement has been knowingly broken by Iran on numerous occasions with the latest example happening on November, 7, 2014.
According to a report by the U.S. to the U.N. Security Council panel charged with monitoring Iranian sanctions, the U.S. informed the panel that Iranian procurement agents have been increasing their efforts to illicitly obtain equipment for the IR-40 research reactor at the Arak nuclear complex.
The Arak nuclear reactor has long been feared by American officials who believe it “could be used in the production of nuclear weapons-grade plutonium”, writes Colum Lynch of Foreign Policy.
This should come as no surprise given that three days following the initial JPOA signed in 2013, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif boasted to the world that Iran would press on with construction at Arak, despite “an agreement with the western powers to halt activity”.
The report also indicates that “foreign businesses and purchasing agents interested in doing business with Iran have been taking advantage of the improved diplomatic atmosphere to broker new deals with Iran”, notes Lynch.
Common sense would dictate that with evidence proving Iran has broken the interim agreement, all current negotiations should immediately cease and new sanctions should immediately be re-implemented.
Unfortunately with our President common sense falls to the way side as negotiations with Iran serve a purpose of legacy, not security or rationality.
In order for the President to have a foreign policy legacy that champions new “diplomatic relations” with Iran, the White House is willing to lie to the American public at the cost of our future security.
So, when the Secretary of State John Kerry announced in Vienna on November 24, 2014, that “Iran has held up its end of the bargain” in regards to its suspension of work at the Arak nuclear complex, he was deliberately deceiving the American public.
This pattern has become commonplace within the administration as officials lie to the public in order to uphold an image of a President who is steadfast and determined even though he is hollow and irresolute.
This administration has shown that it is willing to sacrifice the future for the present by ignoring Iran’s aggression in the hopes of gaining an illusory peace.
Rather than being truthful with the country, the President has subjected us into a deal with Iran that inevitably leads to two disastrous outcomes.
The first being that Israel goes to war with Iran knowing they have no choice as Iran enters the one year “break out” period alluded to by Obama.
The second outcome being a nuclear arms race in the middle east as Iran enters the “break out” period.
Both outcomes are inevitable under Obama as his deceit cannot hide the intentions of Iranian leaders like Masoud Jazayeri and Ayatollah Khamenei.
Jazayeri, the deputy chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces threatened only months ago “that aggression [on behalf of the U.S.] against the Islamic Republic of Iran would mean annihilation of Tel Aviv and the spread of war into the United States”, while Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei outlined a nine-step plan to “eliminate Israel“.
With threats such as these vowed against Israel and furthermore against the United States, it should be worrisome that this administration is willing to give Iran the “benefit of the doubt”.
This is a luxury in which Israel cannot afford, for if they are willing forgo their history in order to accept an illusory peace with Iran today, by tomorrow they will be destroyed.
I can promise you this and in the words of the leader of the free world, Bejamin Nentanyahu, “Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand.”
