Appeasement is no way to deal with Iran Howard Rotberg
Hamilton Spectator
U.S. President Donald Trump is to be praised for his withdrawal from an agreement that would pave the way for Iranian nuclear power within 15 years, and his imposition of sanctions, writes Howard Rotberg.
In 1943 to 1945, Hitler’s costly obsession with killing every last Jew in Europe took precedence over military and economic basic needs in wartime. There came a point in the course of the war, when the resources used in rounding up and murdering European Jewry could have been used to strengthen a failing military.
And now we see another evil empire, Iran, prioritizing aid to its terrorist proxies, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and others to kill civilians in Israel, when the economy is in such straits that protesters are hitting the streets. The Iranian people see huge sums of money leaving the country to assist these terrorist groups in genocide of the Jews when American sanctions over the Iranian nuclear program have caused shortages of gas and oil and even rationing.
People also must question the cost of Iran propping up Syrian leader and war-criminal Bashar al-Assad, and its mischief in Yemen.
This past week, many Iranians showed they have had enough. Gas rationing and price increases may have been the instigation of these protests, however, as we see in Hong Kong, once the people take the first steps to challenge authority, a revolution may start if the people have lost their loyalty to the state.
The government of Iran is now closing down the internet, but it is too late. Knowledge of the freedoms of other countries has already spread.
The mullahs have such an obsession against Israel that it finances large terrorist attacks against Jews elsewhere — in 1994, Iranian-supported Hezbollah in Argentina, with corrupt Argentinian politicians co-operating in the coverup, bombed the Buenos Aires Jewish Community Center, killing 85 and injuring over 300.
The Iranian takeover, through Hezbollah, of southern Lebanon and periodic attacks by Hezbollah missiles against northern Israel are not cheap. The Iranians, in full contravention of UN resolutions including a ceasefire agreement, have now supplied over 150,000 missiles to Hezbollah to use against Israeli civilians in a war that might be imminent. Other missiles go to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza to show what happens if Israel gives more territory to Arabs in a useless quest to get them to accept the presence of Jews in the Middle East.
It is clear that while at present many of the missiles are not guided so have limited accuracy, the sheer number of them launched at Israel would kill many and overwhelm Israel’s high technology Iron Dome defence system. In the future, if finances permit, Iran would be tempted to gain more precise weapons for use, which would considerably increase Israel casualties in strikes from Lebanon and Gaza.
Iranian missiles, especially the newer heavier missiles, do not come cheap. Iran, like Pakistan, is willing to let extreme poverty be less of a priority than making nuclear bombs.
U.S. President Donald Trump is to be praised for, first, his withdrawal from an agreement that would pave the way for Iranian nuclear power within 15 years, and, second, his imposition of sanctions.
Sanctions hopefully will induce the opposition to rise up and try to cast off a leadership that imposes its totalitarian will, along with depriving its citizens of elementary freedoms. The mullahs can now be blamed for causing oil and gas shortages in a country with enormous oil reserves but no refining capacity. When people cannot get enough gas to run their cars as usual, it doesn’t take long for people to end their enthusiasm for a government that has mishandled its oil revenue.
The violence of the conflict between Shia and Sunni Muslims, including the humanitarian tragedy in Yemen and the continued fighting in Syria and Iraq, is exacerbated by the actions of the leadership of the Shi’ite world, Iran.
Not only would actions in aid of a revolution give human rights to the Iranian people and remove one of the main causes of instability among Arab regimes, it would bring peace to Israel and end the rockets from Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Obama was wrong to release as part of the nuclear agreement somewhere between $50 billion and $150 billion that, in part, went to financing these terror proxies and for its hidden nuclear program.
The fact is both Iran and Germany were so evil that they acted against their own self-interest in pursuit of regional or world domination in addition to extermination of Jews.
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