Israel Can’t Count on the West to Protect it. Will Israel do the unthinkable to stop the unimaginable?
by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online
The Obama administration seems peeved that almost everyone in Israel, left and right, has no use for the present Iranian–American deal to thwart Iran’s efforts to get the bomb.
Indeed, at times John Kerry has hinted darkly that Israel’s opposition to the pact might incur American wrath should the deal be tabled — even though Kerry knows that the polls show a clear majority of Americans being against the proposed agreement while remaining quite supportive of the Jewish state. President Obama, from time to time, suggests that his agreement is being sabotaged by nefarious lobbying groups, big-time check writers, and neoconservative supporters of the Iraq war — all shorthand, apparently, for pushy Jewish groups.
Obama and his negotiators seem surprised that Israelis take quite seriously Iranian leaders’ taunts over the past 35 years that they would like to liquidate the Jewish state and everyone in it. The Israelis, for some reason, remember that well before Hitler came to power, he had bragged about the idea of killing Jews en masse in his sloppily composed autobiographical Mein Kampf. Few in Germany or abroad had taken the raving young Hitler too seriously. Even in the late 1930s, when German Jews were being rounded up and haphazardly killed on German streets by state-sanctioned thugs, most observers considered such activities merely periodic excesses or outbursts from non-governmental Black- and Brownshirts.
The Obama administration, with vast oceans between Tehran and the United States, tsk-tsks over Iranian threats as revolutionary hyperbole served up for domestic consumption. The Israelis, with less than a thousand miles between themselves and Tehran, do not — and cannot. Given the 20th century’s history, Israel has good reason not to trust either the United States or Europe to ensure the security of the Jewish state. Israel has learned from the despicable anti-Semitism now prevalent at the U.N. and from the increasing thuggery directed at Jews in Europe that the world at large would shed crocodile tears over the passing of Israel on the day of its destruction, but, the next day, sigh and get right back to business in a “that was then, this is now” style.
In 1981 the Israelis took out the Iraqi nuclear reactor — sold to Saddam Hussein by France. They were ritually blasted as state terrorists and worse by major U.S. newspapers and at the United Nations — though not by Khomeini’s Iran, which earlier had failed in a preemptive bombing strike to do much damage to the Osirak reactor. Today, in retrospect, most nations are privately glad that the Israelis removed the reactor from a country that had hundreds of years’ worth of natural-gas and oil supplies and no need for nuclear power — and that is now under assault from ISIS.
In 2007, when the Israelis preempted once more, and destroyed the al-Kibar nuclear facility that was under construction in Syria, the world, after initial silence, again in Pavlovian fashion became outraged at such preemptive bombing. The global chorus claimed that there was no intelligence confirming that the North Koreans had helped to launch a Syrian uranium-enrichment plant.
Yet eight years later, most observers abroad once again privately shrug that Bashar Assad most certainly had hired the Koreans to build a nuclear processing plant — and are quietly satisfied that the Israelis took care of it. Note that the al-Kibar site lies in territory now controlled by ISIS. One can imagine a variety of terrifying contemporary scenarios had the Israelis not preempted. Most of those who condemned Israel’s attack would now be worrying about an ISIS improvised explosive device, packed with dirty uranium, that might go off in a major Western city.
In all these cases, the Israelis assumed that Western intelligence about nuclear proliferation in the Middle East was unreliable. They took for granted that Westerners automatically would blame Israelis for any preemptive attack against an Islamic nuclear site. And they likewise concluded that, privately and belatedly, Westerners would eventually be happy that the Israelis had belled the would-be nuclear cat.
But in a larger sense, the Israelis also recall the sad story of the West and the Holocaust less than 75 years ago — a horror central to the birthing of a “never again” Jewish state. By 1943, the outlines of the Nazis’ Final Solution were well known in both Washington and London; Jews were already being gassed at German death camps in Poland in an effort to kill every Jew from the Atlantic Ocean to the Volga River.
It was also a matter of record that the major Western democracies — America, Britain, and prewar France — had refused sanctuary to millions of Jewish refugees who had been stripped of their property by the Third Reich and told to leave Germany and its occupied territories. In some notorious cases, shiploads of Jews were turned away after docking in Western ports and were sent back to Nazi-occupied Europe, where the passengers were disembarked and soon afterward gassed. Moreover, Israelis understand that Hitler’s Final Solution would have been far more difficult to implement without the active participation of sympathetic anti-Semites in occupied European nations, who volunteered to round up their own Jews and send them on German trains eastward to the death camps.
In the case of the United States, anti-Semitic or indifferent officials high up in the State Department and elsewhere within the Roosevelt administration went out of their way to hide data about the plight of Jewish refugees, and circumvented protocol in order to refuse entry into the United States to the vast majority of Jews fleeing the Holocaust. The British were nearly as exclusionary, and also did their best to stop Jewish refugees from fleeing to Palestine to escape the death camps.
As it happens, Fascist and Nazi-allied Japan was sometimes more sympathetic to Jews desperate to leave Europe than were the Allies. Indeed, Hitler and his Nazi top echelon constantly bragged about the fact that neither the Allied powers nor occupied European nations wanted to take Jews off Berlin’s hands — proof, in Nazi eyes, of a supportive wink-and-nod attitude to the Holocaust. Each time the Allies published a threat to the Nazi leadership that there would be an accounting and war-crime trials after the war, Hitler, Goebbels, and Himmler remembered that none of these outraged governments wanted to accept Jews themselves, and thus they must secretly still have remained indifferent to their fate. Thus the threats rang hollow to the Nazis, and the crematoria burned on.
By mid-1943 at the latest, American authorities had comprehensive knowledge — from firsthand reports by camp escapees, from photo reconnaissance, and from brave Germans who passed on detailed inside information through the neutral Swiss — of the vast scope of the Holocaust. They were constantly beseeched by international Jewish advocates to at least bomb the crematoria and gas chambers at Auschwitz, which were within range of the Allies’ four-engine heavy bombers. Indeed, an Allied bombing mission would on occasion hit one of the key German factories that surrounded Auschwitz itself — to the delight of the doomed inmates of the death camps.
Given that eventually over 10,000 Jews per day were being gassed and cremated at Auschwitz, almost every Jewish leader advocated bombing the camps to destroy the rail links, the intricate camp machinery, and the SS guards so essential to the perpetration of the Holocaust. Again, such pleas were met with both indifference and lies, once more offered up by heralded American statesmen like U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long and well-connected consigliere and future “wise man” John McCloy of the War Department. The latter falsely argued at times that the camps were not really in reach of Allied bombers, or that the numbers of Jews being slaughtered were exaggerated, or that the diversion of even one or two missions from the strategic bombing of Germany would hamper the entire Allied war effort.
After the war, with rising Cold War tensions and a need to ensure that the West German public remained firmly in the new NATO alliance, many Nazi war criminals either were let out of prison early, had their sentences commuted, or were never charged at all. For all the Western empathy about the horrific Final Solution, Jews remembered (1) that it would once have been possible to save many fleeing Jews, if only the democracies had just allowed in political refugees; (2) that many of the death camps could have been leveled by Allied bombers in their last year or two of full-bore operation, saving perhaps 2 to 3 million of the doomed; and (3) that the political expediency of the postwar Western alliance had trumped bringing Nazi war criminals to a full accounting for their horrendous acts.
The Israelis have taken to heart lots of lessons over the last 70 years. They have concluded that often the world quietly wants Israel to deal with existential threats emanating from the Middle East while loudly damning it when it does. They have learned from the experience of the Holocaust that, for good or evil, Jews are on their own and can never again trust in the world’s professed humanity to prevent another Holocaust. And they are convinced that they can also never again err on the side of the probability that national leaders, with deadly weapons in their grasp, do not really mean all the unhinged things they shout and scream about killing Jews.
Given all that, we should conclude that any deal that leads, now or in the near future, to an Iranian bomb is unacceptable to Israel — a nation that will likely soon have no choice but to consider the unthinkable in order to prevent the unimaginable.
Thank you Dr. Hanson…very timely and very, very well-put. Here’ s hoping that Israeli leaders still take to heart what you’ve written about their resolve.
You’ve got it exactly right.
Israel will do whatever it takes to defend themselves—period.
Bravo to you for telling the truth!
Nuclear warfare approaches — within a few days of 70 years since its second and only military use — a strange kind of game. Certainly, having the weapon gives a nation a particular kind of clout (assuming it has strong military besides). But it will be, and would be, hard to use. There may be more to fear from terrorist nukes in a suitcase than its use by a nation-state. But, of course, fear it, one must. Encourage it? God Forbid!
With our current Muslim, Jihadist President in the Oval Office what does anyone expect but his desire for Israel to be destroyed.
Instead of Obama personally pulling the trigger on Israel, he will use his proxy Iran to get the job done!
Like I’ve been saying, batten down the hatches and prepare for another world war! But this time we won’t get off so easy!
With each well-researched, fact-supported, enlightening article I read on this website, my optimism for the future of the human race dims by equal measure.
The flow of cycles on the Earth. “Lady Justice” reigns supreme. The Path is earned.
Binyamin Netanyahu presents a melancholy example of a brave man and a hero who has lost his nerve in the soft and gentle times of peace and affluence which Israel has largely experienced in the past 20 years. The shape of things to come was evident four years ago – that Obama was a treacherous Muslim-loving rat who would so in Israel as soon as he could – and Netanyahu should have acted then. The situation was more difficult three years ago, but Israel should have acted then. Two years ago, worse – international “opinion” more aligned with Iran, Iranian facilities hardened, etc. – but Israel should have acted. Six months ago, the same. Last week, the same. Yesterday, the same. Every single day the situation becomes worse for Israel, worse for us in the West, more painful in terms of blood and treasure to alleviate. So now Binyamin Netanyahu is talking tough again – will anything come of it?
One thing is clear: the rat Obama has a sense of timing (as did HItler). He keeps one or two steps ahead of the Israelis. By the time it becomes evident to the meanest Israeli and American Jewish liberal that they must fight or die, the Iranians will likely have Russian antiaircraft protection (the S-300 system), and other US and UK defensive measures in place. I fear that by the time Binyamin Netanyahu sees that he has no alternative but to attack Iran, it will be very very costly for the Iranians.
We can hope – I can hope – that as I write this Israeli aircraft are in the air, heading to wreak destruction on Iran. I can hope, and I do hope.
But doubt it.
Please make that “would do in Israel”.
And … very very costly for the Israelis.” Any Israeli action almost certainly will be costly for the Iranians.
I would not be surprised if, in that first meeting between Netanyahu and Obama, Obama told Netanyahu that if Israel attacked Iran in any manner at all he would unleash the power of the USA military on Israel. Netanyahu look absolutely shaken and incredibly angry when he came out from that meeting and essentially Israel has had its hands tied behind its back ever since. We do know that Obama threatened to shoot Israeli planes down if they attacked Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, but I’m convinced the threat was far greater than that.
and don’t forget, one mysterious aspect of “the agreement” is American and European protection of Iranian “facilities.”
Very well written. The building of the semi-socialist welfare state in Israel has sapped both its energy and resources to attack hardened Iranian sites and stand up to the sanctions that would come from Obama and the rest of the world.
The last window to attack was during the 2012 election campaign when Obama wouldn’t have retaliated against Israel for fear of alienating his high dollar, clueless Jewish donors.
Ouch! Did you have to mention that the Western nations refused sanctuary to the Jews running from the Nazis? That is way too much of an uncomfortable truth regarding the latent anti-Semitism in our society. This dynamic fuels the leftwing hate machine that many liberal Jews conveniently ignore…
….and, so it is.
The then Canadian Prime Minister, was asked how many Jewish refugees Canada would be willing to take in and his reply was “None would be too many”.
Israel is on its own just as Jews have always been on their own. And if Israel has to use nuclear weapons to destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, so be it.
To also note a previous posters’ opinion yes the Israelis will certainly do what will have to be done. They absolutely and resolutely see 20/20 in their crystal clear view of the perilous landscape that they unfortunately exist in.
Just a point regarding Western ‘help’ against their enemies. Could Israel perhaps have a faint recollection of ’56 when Russian tanks and troops invaded Hungarian territory and the West simply watched and did not render any aid for the fighters? It was asked but not given. The result was destruction of the country and its people as the West looked on. It’s tough to think that Israel has to make a choice on perhaps going it alone.
But really the handling of past events arguably can’t engender too much confidence for Israel as they note what happens at times with the backbone of the West when the chips are down. I think they have learned to make sure they can be DIYers…. that’s Do It Yourselfers’.
I agree with your thesis, but if I was an Iranian and knowing that the Pakistanis had the bomb, I would want one too.
I had never heard any of this about the Allies’ indifference to the extermination of the Jews during WW2. Can anyone recommend a book that tells more about it?
The irony is that the Iranian people are probably less anti-Semitic than most or all of their neighbors. If Iran were changed to a democracy, I think the threat of nuclear annihilation would cease, but there would be a new threat affecting maybe 10% of Israelis: the threat of economic competition.
The Iranians are incredibly smart and hard-working, and they love beauty. Much of the revitalization of Beverly Hills over the past 30 years is due to Iranian-Americans. They have a head start of more than 2,000 years on us European-Americans. Cyrus the Great proclaimed religious freedom 500 years before the birth of Christ, and he enabled his Jewish subjects to shake off the Babylonian captivity, go back to Jerusalem, and rebuild the temple.
Probably 90% of Israelis would benefit if the Islamic sector of Iran became primus inter pares in Iranian politics, instead of having a monopoly. The parliament could have more than one Jewish member and more than two Christian members for the first time in history.
But 10% of Israelis might suffer some economic losses in the form of increased competition from Iranian businesses, particularly in software and telecommunications. The question is whether this 10% can bear to tolerate such losses for the good of the other 90%. I don’t know, but I hope the answer is yes.
No mention is made of the originally secret provision in the “arrangement” with Iran that commits the U.S. to defend all of Tehran’s nuclear sites from attack, rendering any reasoned calculus about how and why Israel should destroy these sites, and the ICBMs needed to deliver such weapons to their targets in the Jewish state, moot. I wish Professor Hanson had addressed this critical point, since it would now appear that even if Israel decides its only option is one or more preemptive nuclear strike(s) of its own it will have to confront two enemies- on the one hand Iran’s proxies on the ground- Hezbollah and Hamas to begin with- and the US Air Force on the other. Such has been the treachery of Barack Obama that, while professing to support and buttress Israel’s security for the past six and a half years, he has worked methodically behind-the-scenes to bring about its eventual destruction as a nation-state.
The Israeli perspective is and must be that Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon be destroyed. Their days are numbered otherwise.
Once iran has a bomb, regional nuclear war rests on an iranian whim.
If Iran waits till they have a missile-capable bomb, Iran’s proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas will unleash a haphazard bombardment of rockets to exhaust Iron Dome, then launch missiles. Their bombardment of Israel last year could have been a set-dressing for such a move. Win, lose or draw, Israel is destroyed. They can take the better part of civilized iran with them, but they’re still gone.
This discounts low-tech ways of delivering even a bulky prototype bomb to Israel: Tramp freighter or even just a standard shipping container. If Tel Aviv goes up in a nuclear blast, will enough israelis stay in the country to keep it going?
The sanctions were working. The Iranian economy was on its way to fomenting a social revolution. Show me a country in economic turmoil and I’ll show you a government about to change. But instead, the President was selfish. He wanted and pursued a treaty at all costs. Israel and “we” Jews are one. Anti-semitism remains from biblical times. Nothing changes, including God’s care for his “chosen” people. BUT before someone misinterprets that characterization, the Jews were chosen for only one reason: to deliver God’s laws. Period. It does not mean we were chosen to be special or richer or smarter. We were chosen and will always carry the Torak – God’s teachings to the world. It is the same antisemtici world that killed Jesus; conducted the Christian Crusades; the Spanish Inquisition; Nazi Germany — so Israel will do what is in God’s plan. The basis for an attack will clearly be pre-preemptive, with supportive pictures and intelligence to support the decision. Yet, the world will condemn Israel. And so it goes. Being a Jew is a privilege, knowing and sharing God’s words. With it comes responsibility. There is evil in the world and courageous, committed people will fight it forever. Having non-Jews work together with Israel strengthens any possibility of peace on earth.
To the editor: Would you please correct my spelling mistake of the word “Torah” above. It is misspelled Torak above: ” …. will always carry the Torak”. Correct spelling = Torah
Leaving my mistake would offend many people. Thank you for your help.
Despite the horrific nature of the events in Germany, one should never forget the more grave communist and Bolshevik atrocities, nor those who were an instrumental part of them.
I also might care more about the fate of Israel if my Christian Bourgeois past was not under endless attack under the dishonest guise of everything representing pre-facism. Not sure I can forgive this attack.
A pre – emptive strike from Israel is not likely, or even possible at this time.
The window of opportunity has closed, at least while a Democrat is in the White House.
The Israeli’s cannot complete a strike without our knowing about in in time to stop it by shooting down their planes.
The Russians will be making information obtained from their intelligence services available to Iran, and are probably already flying reconnaissance missions around the clock to keep an eye on Israeli activities.
For Israel to be successful they would have to outwit both Russian and American intelligence.
Too late;
So sad
I suspect strongly that in the meetings between the Saudis and Israelis how the Saudis would alleviate the sanctions that will be placed Israel by the west after they takeout the Iranian nuke sites. That concern may be the only thing holding up an attack.
Odd is it not, that the defense of the free world is in the hands of a tiny nation who will be condemned for it.
Hello Victor,
First, let me express my condolences regarding your daughter. Every time I read your column (pretty much every day) I think of you, your family, and she. Glad to see you’re back in the saddle, but it’s got to be challenging. Hang in there.
Regarding Israel, I’ve always counted on three things 1) Iran wants the bomb and wants it in order to annihilate Israel, 2) Israel will NOT let Iran take the first shot, and 3) If necessary, Israel will not let the United States get in the way of number 2.
I hope that numbers 2 and 3 are still true. I read articles (yours and others) that make me think that #3 is in jeapardy. I hope that Bibi Netanyahu has the resolve (I know he’s got the character) to press this home, and not let statesmanship get in the way of simple logic. We’ve all been saying “Iran’s just months away from having the bomb and a way to deliver it” for ten years now, so I suspect that between their own ingenuity and the assistance of Russia and Korea, they can launch any time they want.
There may be a price to pay for pre-emptory strikes, but it’s a price worth paying.
I am afraid there is nothing pre-emptive here. Iran has been repeatedly declaring war on Israel and the US shouting “death to ….”. At the same time they are supplying and supporting various groups that actually kill Israelis and Americans. I see a war going on. Only it has been a very slow war, low intensity, low casualty rates.
For Israel I would not expect an immediate nuclear threat. However, as during the Cold War or on the Crimea, nuclear arms deter a disproportionate response to a conventional attack. Let me illustrate this. When the Serbs slaughterd people in Bosnia and Kosovo the US simply bombed Belgrad as a disproportionate reaction rather than sending infantry to stop the slaughter where it happened. Translated to Israel-Gaza for example Israel would find it hard to even use their air-force effectively as a reaction to amateur missiles fired across the border. Iran on the other hand could intensify the attacks from Gaza and re-vitalize the attacks from South Lebanon. As Israel is a small country which can be overrun it depends on disproportionate options of response.
In short, nuclear arms in the hands of Iran give them the power to change the rules of conflict. They will change the rules of conflict in a way so that other parties get the advantage over Israel.
An accurate contribution. However the IAF can’t take out the deepest bunkers containing the critical technology, the IAF has only the GBU 28, a shallow penetrator, the GBU 57 is not in Israeli hands.
Superficial delaying damage can be done but that’s all. To destroy the deep bunkers requires troops to take them. Never happen, the logistics prevent it.
Israel cannot prevent Iran developing nuc weapons. The best it can hope for is a MAD stalemate.
And look at the people in North America who actually aid Israels‘ enemies, such as the Victoria BC activist who goes on ships trying to get through Israel’s blockade of Gaza, and people in Victoria who are his friends. (He ignores that Israel ensures that enough food and supplies to fill the needs are ensured, but not extra.)
I agree with the former civil rights activist who said „The failure to surrender to their victorious opponents [supporters of capitalism, the successful economic system that does more for people] has led tattered “socialist” parties like the NDP and their leftist members and supporters to mindlessly, recklessly and uncritically support cruel, feudal, racist and terrorist regimes and movements as long as those villains are also anti-American.
The reason: The United States is simply the symbol of the failure of their life’s work and dreams. Defeat and resentment have rendered these formerly idealistic individuals and organizations vulnerable to new and pernicious forms of anti-Semitism and other political foolishness.”
The fate of Israel is in the hands of The All Mighty God. It is not in the hands of the nations.
What is not discussed is whether Israel has the technical capabilities needed to knock out the Iranian nuclear facilities. A strike would require relatively long range bombing and likely refueling the aircraft at some point in the mission. Is this possible without US help or at least acquiescence ? And what would they use to knock out the nuclear sites? We know Israel has nukes but it’s doubtful they would be used for this purpose. What about bunker buster bombs like the US has? Does Israel have them? I don’t know, but without help from the US this would be a tough mission which might be difficult for Israel to carry out on its own.
It is sad that so many Jews were murdered and it is sad and unforgivable that America did not open its doors to the fleeing Jews who would have contributed so much to American society as well as to the world’s. Israel should attack Iran’s facilities with nuclear weapons; they cannot reach Iran’s sites with conventional weapons. Logistically they cannot attack on the ground because they are too small. Only America can but America is fraught with feckless irresponsible leaders and perhaps they are to a degree anti-Semitic (Obama). What should America do? First, the real Americans (demographically) should revolt as they did in 1776 and re-establish America as a constitutional Republic, not a rule by majority. Second build its military. Third, secure its borders. Fourth, go to the Middle East with a very big stick. All other world problems will resolve themselves.
And look at the people in North America who actually aid Israels‘ enemies, such as the Victoria BC activist who goes on ships trying to get through Israel’s blockade of Gaza, and people in Victoria who say they are his friends. (He ignores that Israel ensures that enough food and supplies to fill the needs are ensured, but not extra.)
I agree with the former civil rights activist who said „The failure to surrender to their victorious opponents [supporters of capitalism, the successful economic system that does more for people] has led tattered “socialist” parties like the NDP and their leftist members and supporters to mindlessly, recklessly and uncritically support cruel, feudal, racist and terrorist regimes and movements as long as those villains are also anti-American.
The reason: The United States is simply the symbol of the failure of their life’s work and dreams. Defeat and resentment have rendered these formerly idealistic individuals and organizations vulnerable to new and pernicious forms of anti-Semitism and other political foolishness.”
Thank you Dr. Hanson for that sobering, thought-provoking essay. And thanks again for providing your valuable history lessons to us free of charge on your website. Have you ever considered publishing a compilation of your best essays?
After reading your analyses, I always learn something new about events that I thought I had had a pretty good knowledge and understanding of. For example, from the description you gave I had no idea that both the U.S. and Britain had actively ignored the plight of European Jews during the Holocaust and had refused to help them when it was well within their grasp to do so. I knew a little about our stange Nazi bedfellows from a school teacher who once mention that the CIA had actively recruited former Nazi intelligence officers to fight against Stalin in the Cold War. He justified this by citing Machiavelli’s view that the World is a dirty rotten place and sometimes you have to be dirty and rotten to succeed in it. This might be practical and expedient, but it’s also morally dubious. I think Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Mother Night touched on this as well.
I hope with a future administration we can once again assure the Israeli people by word and deed that we have their back and will never let another Holocaust happen. I’m encouraged by Sen. Schumer’s recent public refusal to support the Obama administration’s, ahem, peace agreement with Iran. Maybe in a year and half we can finally put this dangerously radical administration behind us and move to recovering from all the bad choices and mistakes that have been made
Let me add that due to recent developments, we will soon be required by the so-called “agreement” signed by our suicidal State Department representatives to actively defend Iranian nuclear assets from any kind of physical or cyber attack.
The current administration ( ours ) can be counted upon to honor our part of the deal enthusiastically.
Those of you who are, or have sons or daughters in the U. S. military can be excused for feeling sick to your stomach about this whole thing.
May God forgive us for what we are about to allow to happen.
Bravo Professor Hanson for stating things clearly and forcefully. I hope the relevant people are paying attention to your column.
How will history judge Obama? It seems that we are on the cusp of a nuclear arms race among the last people we should desire to have such a weapon. The Saudis have access to nuclear technology from the Paks and will either acquire the weapon from them, if they haven’t already, or will build their own.
Egypt, may join forces with Israel and the Saudis in a mutual defense pact similar to NATO. The entire ME is just one flashpoint to large scale state warfare, and our president thinks this is his singular accomplishment!
The occurrences in life where you remember clearly where you were and what you were doing are very limited for me. Kennedy’s assassination, the day and time I first saw my wife, the Challenger explosion, (NOT Elvis’s death). The announcement of the start of the war in 1967 was one of the clearest. I had just graduated from college and was at my roommate’s house for a week. We woke up, turned the radio on and heard the news. I was not much of a political / news junkie at the time, but I became one that day.
Israeli Jews do, and rightly so, take very seriously the incessant Iranian death threats against them and their country. American Jews, for the most part, not so much, just as European Jews ignored the ongoing threats against them, in willful self delusion, during Hitler’s time.
Obama also waves off those deadly threats, but is not similarly deluded. He knows full well they are for real, and his nuclear deal with Iran is calculated to make those threats fully realizable.
American Jews voted for Obama twice, in large majorities. But for those Jews who share his antipathy for Israel and America, the prevalent Jewish infatuation for Obama is also an exercise in willful self-delusion.
The final sentence might better read, “Except for those Jews who . . .”