JED BABBIN:CHURCHILL’S SHADE STOOD WITH NETANYAHU
http://www.epictimes.com/londoncenter/2015/03/churchills-shade-stood-with-netanyahu/2/
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a haunted man. He is haunted by the history of the Nazi Holocaust, by Iran’s threats to annihilate his tiny nation, and by the fact that Israel’s once-faithful American ally is about to ensure that Iran will possess the weapons with which it will be able to make good on that threat.
Another nation, in another time, faced an existential threat equal to that which Netanyahu and Israel face today. Echoes of that nation’s leader’s speeches – and personal courage – were heard more than once in Netanyahu’s speech. Netanyahu, a student of Winston Churchill, spoke as if the shade of Churchill were standing beside him.
When Churchill became Britain’s prime minister, war was already upon his nation. Britain had been abandoned by the isolationist United States and its European allies had been defeated. But Churchill – by virtue of his personal courage and powerful rhetoric – managed to maintain his nation’s resolve and resist demands to sue for peace.
What made Churchill’s words so powerful is not the soaring rhetoric he is remembered for, but the plain language he used to address the British people, the world, and their common enemy.
In June 1940 only the RAF and Churchill’s courage stood between civilization and Nazi conquest. In a powerful speech remembered for his promise to never surrender, Churchill said, “I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty…we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.”
Near the end of his speech, Netanyahu made the same declaration. He said, “…I can guarantee you this, the days when the Jewish people remained passive in the face of genocidal enemies, those days are over… the soldiers who defend our home have boundless courage. For the first time in 100 generations, we, the Jewish people, can defend ourselves…This is why — this is why, as a prime minister of Israel, I can promise you one more thing: Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand.”
Netanyahu knows that Iran’s mullahs have never been persuaded by diplomacy to change their behavior. They will never moderate their efforts to export Islamic revolution around the world lacks.
Netanyahu’s speech was a last resort. He had no choice but to take his case to congress and the American people because Israel – the nation most immediately threatened by Iran — has been excluded from the negotiations with Tehran.
Netanyahu’s case against the agreement was threefold. The predicate, he said, is that the agreement won’t “…block Iran’s path to the bomb; it paves Iran’s path to the bomb” by making two critical and unnecessary concessions.
The first concession is that the proposed agreement will allow the Iranians to keep a uranium enrichment infrastructure sufficient to produce a whole arsenal of nuclear weapons.
What makes this concession so dangerous is Iran’s “hide and cheat” method of reneging on past agreements. He said, “Right now, Iran could be hiding nuclear facilities that we don’t know about.” He reminded us that the former head of inspections for the IAEA said in 2013, that “If there’s no undeclared installation today in Iran, it will be the first time in 20 years that it doesn’t have one.” As a result, he said, “Iran has proven time and again that it cannot be trusted.”
Netanyahu didn’t disclose the sensitive information he – and we – have about the sophisticated and extensive defense system Iran is building around its nuclear infrastructure. Sources say that it is far along toward completion and will be impenetrable except by stealth aircraft (which the Israelis don’t have). It may soon be so deeply-buried and hardened against attack that only nuclear weapons could destroy it.
The second concession, Netanyahu said, is that the agreement will expire in ten years after which there would be no restrictions whatever on Iran’s nuclear weapons. The third aspect of Netanyahu’s case against the deal is the fact that it will not limit Iran’s intercontinental ballistic missile program, which has no peaceful purpose. The Iranians, he reminded us, refuse to discuss missiles.
On those bases, how could Israel’s best and supposedly most faithful ally make an agreement with Iran? Only if it chooses to abandon Israel, as well as its own national security.
The only question left unanswered is will America stand with Israel? The senate has the Constitutional duty to consider, debate and vote on the Iran agreement even though Obama will refuse to submit it to the ratification process. It is up to the senate, and to them alone, to determine whether this agreement will stand, or whether Israel will be left to stand alone.
Obama hasn’t – and truthfully can’t – answer Netanyahu’s criticisms of the deal. The choice isn’t between a bad deal and war: it’s between a bad deal and maintaining pressure on Iran until the regime collapses or military action becomes unavoidable.
Netanyahu’s – and Israel’s — courage should not be the only barriers to Iran’s possession of nuclear weapons. American presidents have been declaring for decades that Iran will not be permitted to obtain nuclear weapons. Now is the time to live up to their words.
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