"We applaud all efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring
nuclear weapons. We share your conviction that a nuclear Iran is
unacceptable. Of course all of us would prefer to prevent a nuclear Iran
through diplomatic means and given Iran's record of duplicity, we need to be as
vigilant in verifying Iran's adherence to the provisions of the accord as it
was in pursuing it. Further, we continue to believe that all options, including
an intensification of economic sanctions, must remain on the table in order to
ensure that Iran is never able achieve a nuclear weapons
capability." said Michael Sonduck, President and CEO of Federation.
From JFNA:
The Jewish Federations of North America support the bipartisan introduction of the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act in the United States Senate today. If negotiations with Iran for a comprehensive agreement fail or if Iran violates the terms of the interim agreement with the P5+1, the legislation would impose tougher sanctions aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
"We believe a diplomatic solution to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capacity, a threat to the entire world, is vital. We stand firmly with President Obama as he and our P5+1 allies seek to negotiate a comprehensive agreement," said Michael Siegal, chair of the JFNA Board of Trustees.
"We recognize economic sanctions have been successful in bringing Iran to the negotiating table, as well as in expressing the resolve of the global community," Siegal added. "The threat of additional sanctions, with the appropriate Presidential waivers in this legislation, ensures that Iran knows this and all other options are on the table should negotiations fail."
The Senate bill is consistent with the resolution passed by the Jewish Federations last month, after the JFNA General Assembly in Jerusalem, which called for the "complete dismantling of Iran’s capability of producing nuclear weapons."
We are encouraging Senators to co-sponsor the legislation, and to swiftly pass it upon their return to Washington in January.
After Geneva, "The Islamic Bomb" by Guy Millière
ReplyDeleteExcerpts:
It is impossible to hide the evidence: Israel is alone, abandoned by a country supposedly its ally.
Sanctions against Iran have been partially lifted; they will never be restored. Billions of dollars will now flow into Iranian government coffers.
Iranian leaders can continue to enrich uranium; build a weapons-grade plutonium reactor; support massacres in Syria; finance terrorist organizations such as Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, and threaten Israel, a fellow member state of the United Nations -- illegal under the UN Charter -- with impunity. The international recognition the Iranian leaders now enjoy will legitimize all their activities that make a mockery of human rights.
Iranian leaders continue to deny their efforts to develop what the late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan called "the Islamic Bomb," but they develop it anyway. They also apparently know that Israel will not intervene militarily against them without a green light from the United States, and that the "agreement" in Geneva is a huge red light. They take the joint U.S.-Israel military exercise scheduled in May 2014 for what it is: a means to hold back the Israeli military for the next six months.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry came to Israel again on December 6, 2013, to reassert that Israel's security is at "the top of the American agenda." He stressed that "no agreement will be signed that does not improve Israel's security." Prime Minsister Netanyahu had every reason to be skeptical. He reaffirmed Israel's position: a final agreement must "completely end Iran 's nuclear capability."
The next day, at the Saban Forum in Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama recognized the "right of Iran" to a "peaceful" nuclear program and "modest uranium enrichment", and, to make his position clear, he qualified Netanyahu's stand as "unrealistic."
Netanyahu repeated Israel's unequivocal position, and added, "The Iranian regime is dedicated to our annihilation."
A few days ago, Canadian writer David Solway was more straightforward: "The agreements threaten the very existence of Israel. [Obama and Kerry] would like to see Israel ... ushered out of the corridors of history."
When the "interim agreements" were signed, the American media reaction was mixed. Debates took place, and much harsh criticism and approbation was voiced.
In Europe, the media were unanimously favorable. Some were enthusiastic. Several commentators noted with evident pleasure that Israel was now "isolated" and in a "precarious situation."
Israel has not been so isolated for decades. Kerry, Obama, and the European leaders seem to be taking advantage of the situation to exert maximum pressure on Israel concerning the "Palestinian question" and the necessity to create a "viable Palestinian State" as soon as possible. The Palestinian leadership is more and more intransigent.