Consider Israel as a family member in need of protection

Congress is presently deliberating over a proposed nuclear arms agreement. This is a historic vote, as it affects the safety and well-being of not only America but also of the entire world. Israel is especially threatened by a nuclear Iran, as Iran openly avows Israel’s destruction. The world, the United States and Israel need our elected representatives to show leadership by declining to support the Iran nuclear deal. 

Our Jewish members of Congress have a special responsibility to protect America and to stand up for Israel. Every ethnic group votes to protect those ideals it holds dear. There is no ideal the Jewish community feels more strongly about than Israel. If a Jewish member of Congress – who everyone expects will do his or her utmost to protect the Jewish people from threats – votes for this agreement, it makes it easier for those on the fence to do so as well.  As Benjamin Franklin so famously said, if we do not hang together, we will certainly hang separately. But the decision should not be difficult.  Israel’s and America’s security interests converge when it comes to Iran, which considers both countries to be satanic.

A Jewish person in a high government position wears many hats: to serve his or her country’s interests while protecting the Jewish people and Israel. Fortunately our Jewish congressmen and women have Jewish history to guide them. Almost 2,500 years ago a Jewish woman in a high government position was faced with a similar existential threat to the Jewish people. She was asked to intervene with the government.  When she protested that there was little she could do, she was told the following: “Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, ‘Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews.  For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?’ ”(Megillas Esther 4:12)

While we must defer to experts when it comes to nuclear proliferation, as Jews, we have our own expertise at discerning dangers to Israel and the Jewish people. Expert opinion so far admits that the agreement is a risky gamble for the United States and the world, but especially for Israel. The enforcement mechanisms in the deal are toothless, and Iran will receive millions of dollars to threaten world stability even further. But even if the terms of the agreement were ironclad – and it is universally acknowledged that they are not – any good lawyer would tell you that no agreement is worth the paper it is written on if one’s adversary does not intend to keep his word. The amount of evidence we have that Iran does not intend to keep its word – as judged by years of cheating up to this very day and its bellicose rhetoric – is mountainous.   For Israel, the consequence of getting this wrong is, as they so politely say, existential.

 I would like to suggest an apt analogy:

A man is in jail after being convicted of abusing his wife. He comes up for parole. He asks to be released, but states unequivocally that he continues to wish the death of his ex-wife, and he makes no effort to hide his intention to do everything he can to harm her if he is released.  His lawyer argues, however, that it is nevertheless safe to release him, as he has agreed to wear a location monitor so the police can intervene before he takes action. His ex-wife, of course, protests that an unrepentant hate-filled person – highly motivated to do harm – can easily overcome such a hindrance, and the consequences of guessing wrong will be catastrophic for her. Better to leave him in prison where he is incapable of harming her.

If the ex-wife in this story were a member of your family, how would you vote? 

If we consider that Israel is indeed our family, then we must protect her by voting “no” on the Iran nuclear proposal. 

Do not allow Iran to escape from the pressure of sanctions to carry out its murderous intent. Encourage your elected representatives and local Jewish organizations to vote “no” on the Iran nuclear deal.

RUSSELL D. RASKIN Esq. is a member of Rhode Island Lawyers and Judges for Israel.