Obama administration policy on Jews: Divide and conquer

The Iran Deal has revealed many divisions in the body politic. According to Haaretz, a left-wing Israeli media outlet, only one in 10 Israelis supports the deal while 50 percent of American Jews support it. Rarely is there such disparity between the two Jewish communities. Sadly, the Iran Deal has opened wounds within the America Jewish community. There is a divisiveness that is harmful to the American Jewish community and to Israel.

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As more information about the Iran Deal comes to the public square, the more dangerous it appears, and more questions are raised. Yes, there are those who say it’s this deal or war, but so many other calm voices, like Mark Dubowitz, Executive Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) have pointed out that there’s a middle ground. There can be amendments made to the treaty that will remove the sunset clauses that allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon down the road, based on the hope that by then Iran will have been reborn as a democratic nation. So far, the Arab Spring has turned into a deep freeze. Not one Muslim country in the Middle East has moved toward a functioning democracy — and that means more than “free elections.” Mahmoud Abbas from the PA was “freely” elected in 2004. There can be an amendment that will ensure that Iran doesn’t employ its own experts and equipment in the search for evidence of activities it has consistently denied — trying to develop nuclear weapons. I would write more about the right of Iran to self-inspect but I fear I’d be disrespecting my readers’ intelligence. The Obama administration not only kept the “self-inspecting” clause to itself, it didn’t admit to the fact that the administration wasn’t privy to the details worked out between the IAEA and Tehran, especially regarding the nuclear site Parchin. We, the public, only learned about Iran’s right to self-inspection because of the investigation by Associated Press journalists. Actions for which they should be proud. Actions that we should expect from true journalists. They uncovered the hidden deals. “Iran will be allowed to use its own inspectors to investigate a site it has been accused of using to develop nuclear arms, operating under a secret agreement with the U.N. agency that normally carries out such work, according to a document seen by The Associated Press.” “John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Republican senator, said, ‘Trusting Iran to inspect its own nuclear site and report to the U.N. in an open and transparent way is remarkably naive and incredibly reckless. This revelation only reinforces the deep-seated concerns the American people have about the agreement.’” This deal will open the flood gates of nuclear armament in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia will not sit by while Iran is armed. And what of Egypt, or Syria under al Assad who refuses to be removed and has no problem murdering his own people with chemical weapons. This deal will allow a country that screams “Death to America, Death to Israel,” really death to Western culture, to develop nuclear weapons that can reach America. By then Israel will be a memory. Yes, the nuclear capability comes later, with the expiration of the sunset clauses meant to keep Iran in line, but the 150 billion dollars going to Iran now gives Iran the ability to fund terror around the world-not just the Middle East. Iran has been busy in South America. There are connections between Iran and Argentina. Alberto Nisman was murdered because he was investigating Iran’s involvement in the 1994 attack against the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association of Buenos Aires in which 85 people died. There are also allegations of an alliance among Argentina, Venezuela, and Iran. In 1987 Argentina was awarded the contract to modify the Tehran Research Reactor.

The surprise revelation of Argentina’s enrichment program was one of history’s most ‘startling and dismaying failures of intelligence gathering,’ according to a report published by the U.S. Department Energy. The threat of potential similar intelligence failures in Iran is driving concern among policy makers who want to prevent a secret Iranian breakout from its commitments and a race to nuclear weapons.”

So I am left questioning how any Jew -- left, right, centre, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, egalitarian, Reconstructionist, agnostic or secular -- could ever believe that this deal is good for anyone in the West, not just Israel. I think there’s something else at play. Something more sinister that’s a throwback to the attacks against Jews over the millenia. A re-working of the Spanish Inquisition. The questioning of Jewish loyalty. Jewish Americans are being asked about their loyalty. Are you a loyal citizen to the USA or are you more loyal to Israel. I have been told that these questions are asked at the government level. Can you imagine the fear this must engender in many of our Jewish leaders? If not overtly, then somewhere deep in their psyche — memories of past interrogations, persecutions and prosecutions? It’s bad enough that Jewish students on American campuses are questioned about their ability to be on campus council. At the University of California, Rachel Beyda, a second-year economics major who wanted a position on the council’s Judicial Board (like the Supreme Court) was asked by Fabienne Roth, a member of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, Given that you are a Jewish student and very active in the Jewish community how do you see yourself being able to maintain an unbiased view?” Other council members involved in the questioning were Sofia Moreno Haq, Negeen Sadeghi-Movahed and Manjot Singh. They were all concerned her faith and affiliation with Jewish organizations, including her sorority and Hillel, would affect her ability to be impartial. Were they questioned on their ability to be bias free? While the American government is questioning the loyalty of Jews, I don’t know if they are questioning the loyalty of Muslims: Will they defend western culture or Sharia Law? Or how about Catholics? Wait, America went through that prior to the election of John F. Kennedy as President. But the Jews…well…the Jews. This question of loyalty of Jewish Americans by the American government is despicable. First of all, if there were a war between America and Israel, one of these countries would have gone over to the dark side and America would have bigger problems. More important, though, is the fact that America is the recipient of the ethic that the Jewish people brought out of the desert into the light. Now the Jewish people, finally home, legally, in their native land, are thriving despite being surrounded by barbaric tribal warfare. They are implementing the very ethic that underpins Western culture, and yet, the American administration is questioning the loyalty of Jews in America. This is anti-Semitism in one of its most vile incarnations.