IRAN
Since I’m writing this on
Friday, November 21st, just 3 days before the November 24th
deadline to conclude the Iranian-P5+1 nuclear deal, and as reports from the last-minute
negotiations in Vienna at this moment do not bode well, I can only speculate as
to what may have happened on Monday to be thankful about.
Did Iran agree to a “good deal”
that will result in a complete and verifiable end to its nuclear weapons program?
Now that would certainly be a reason to celebrate and give thanks.
Was a half-baked “bad deal”
signed which would effectively leave Iran just weeks from nuclear “break-out”
capability? Then thanks…but no thanks,
nothing here to be grateful about.
Did the US and the P-5+1
negotiators agree to extend the deadline for the agreement once again – perhaps
“sweetening the pot” for the Iranians by easing even more of the sanctions in
the interim period without getting anything in return? This, of course, is the
absolutely worst case scenario in my view, as well as that of most Middle East
analysts, since it enables the Iranians to:
1. continue
to enrich Uranium,
2. complete
construction of the Arak Heavy Water nuclear reactor that will produce
weapons-grade Plutonium,
3. continue
research and development of nuclear weapons at their secret facility in
Parchin, and
4. continue
building and storing missiles capable of reaching Saudi Arabia, Israel and
Europe together with ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) capable of
hitting the US.
ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM
The Third Intifada, as I wrote in this column two weeks ago, is not
going to wind down any time soon. Last week saw a tragic escalation when two
Israeli Arabs from East Jerusalem entered a synagogue in a West Jerusalem
orthodox neighborhood with carving knives, hatchets and a gun. They butchered
to death four orthodox Jews, several of them Rabbis, and a Druze police officer
who came to their help, wounding several more. The use of cleavers, knives and
an ax is symbolic and very disturbing. The traditional battle cry in Arabic by
Islamists and terrorists to kill Jews and Israelis, heard repeatedly in
Jerusalem in the past weeks from Palestinian rioters and their leaders is:
“Itbach al-Yahud” – literally “Butcher (or “slaughter”) the Jews”. Horrific
crime scene photographs and witness reports confirm that that’s exactly what
these terrorists did. The victims were slaughtered like animals and some were
American citizens. Thankfully, the
terrorists were killed before they could hurt more people.
The office of the president of
the Palestinian authority issued a mild condemnation against “killing of
innocents on both sides” while Abu Mazen himself continued to praise the “holy
martyrs” who are defending the “sacred Al Aksa” from the Zionist Aggressors”
and called for many others to join them.
As we sit at our Thanksgiving
tables remembering the pilgrims and their leap of faith across the “pond” to
escape religious persecution and establish this great country, we should also
remember the young Jewish pioneers from the nineteenth century who also escaped
persecution in Europe and Russia, and with a dream of returning to their
ancestral homeland traveled great distances, at great risk and hardship. They,
too established an “Old-New” country, a country that has absorbed millions of
immigrants and despite attempts to this day by overwhelming forces to destroy
it, is today a modern, thriving, successful “light–unto-the- nations”.
Israelis – both Jews and
non-Jews are proud of their country, though they will frequently debate the
best ways for it to move forward.
Everyone in the world today
benefits from Israeli inventions and developments in medicine, high-tech,
sports, environment and more.
Even countries that “hate”
Israel secretly maintain ties with it and would love to mimic its success.
So, YES! There is much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.
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