Opinion
A MIX OF IDEAS
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Dry Bones -6 -ir GT= ctO
Tying Up Tehran
T
ougher Iran sanctions signed
into law by President Obama
target Iran's energy and banking
sectors in hopes of persuading the Islamic
Republic, a major state sponsor of terror-
ism, to make transparent its nuclear ambi-
tions and illicit activities.
The new law, the Comprehensive Iran
Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment
Act, is America's strongest statement yet
against Iran rejecting the civilized world's
demand for an end to bomb development.
Thwarting Iran's nuclear capability
is essential to the national security of
America and its allies in the Middle East,
Europe and Asia.
Iran and its trading partners stand to
lose big time as a result of the sanctions.
The sanctions will limit Iran's ability to
import refined petroleum and impede its
participation in the international banking
system. When they are applied, Iran will
pay dramatically more money to continue
its nuclear quest in defiance of the 1970
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Both chambers of Congress approved
the sanctions overwhelmingly: 408-8-1 in
the House, 99-0 in the Senate. Not surpris-
ingly, the only Michigan congressman to
vote nay was John Conyers, D-Detroit.
Notably, the new law requires the presi-
dent to investigate and report to Congress
any company suspected of trading with the
two critical sectors driving the Iranian econ-
omy. Under the law, businesses that contract
to the U.S. government must certify they
don't do business with Iran. Sanctions also
target Iranian violators of human rights.
Americans for Peace Now is the
only major Jewish group to oppose the
enhanced sanctions. Its concern is valid.
We wonder, too, if the people of Iran, if
hit hard enough by the economic effects
of Iran sanctions, really would rise up
against the government — and if they did,
then succeed.
By any standard, the U.S. sanctions
are stronger and more far-reaching U.N.
sanctions, which are confined to specified
targets such as the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard Corps, which controls Iran's nuclear
program.
Are strengthened sanctions worth try-
ing before Israeli or American military
strikes on Iran? Absolutely. Crippling Iran's
economy, but not decimating the civilian
population, is a tall order. But the potential
outweighs the risk. Time will tell whether
the sanctions provide what the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee calls "the
best hope that political and economic mea-
sures can peacefully persuade Iran to end
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peuiveRS
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its illicit nuclear
program before it is
too late'
For the good of
the civilized world,
we pray that hope is
realized.
The enhanced
reporting require-
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ments in the law
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limit the president's
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ability to ignore the
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sanctions — a sig-
nificant component.
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Presidents Clinton,
Bush and Obama
all bypassed
the 1996 invest-
ment sanctions.
Importantly, how-
ever, the president
still retains the flex-
ibility to waive offending-company penal-
ties up to 12 months on a case-by-case
basis, but there's a catch. He must certify
that the countries in which the companies
are located are cooperating with U.S.-led
multilateral efforts to isolate Iran.
President Obama has no choice but to
apply with urgency the abrasive new sanc-
tions on the rogue regime running Tehran.
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DryBonesBlog.com
Rabbi Steven Weil, executive vice
president of the New York-based Orthodox
Union and former spiritual leader of
Young Israel of Oak Park, attended the
White House sanctions signing. He put it
well: "The challenge we face in the next 90
days is to have language and regulations
that are serious and that will be enforced
by all branches of government" 0
The Nationalist Rationalist
Beit El, Israel
A
llow me to boil down the whole
Israeli national political debate
for you: The majority of people
who call themselves "doves" or "left wing-
ers" believe in land concessions for the
sake of peace. Most do not believe that
Judea and Samaria is actually Arab land,
but they do believe that acceding to world
pressure and Arab demands is the prag-
matic way to move forward.
The majority of people who call them-
selves "nationalists" or "right wingers"
(whether secular or religious) believe that
it is wrong to give up sovereignty of Jewish
land, they are against evacuations of
citizens and they do not believe that land
giveaways will bring peace.
However, while "left wingers" are seen as
rational and pragmatic, "right wingers" are
dubbed zealous, messianic and unrealistic.
This is because many think that a hard-line
stance in opposition to world pressure is
untenable. But while the fear of going against
global coercion is reasonable, the stigma of
irrationality that nationalists carry is not.
Some time ago, I was lead-
"Look": said one of the teach-
ing a tour of Israeli educators
ers sneeringly, "I understand that
throughout Judea and Samaria.
you have a religious outlook, but
They were moved by the beau-
the bottom line is that it simply
tiful sites, the people and the
won't work in the real world!'
two-millennia Jewish yearning
Huh? Did I base my argu-
for the Tomb of the Patriarchs,
ments on religion? I am indeed
Jerusalem and Shilo. But they
a religious person and my faith
still thought that keeping these
does give me confidence, but
sites under Israeli sovereignty
it does not preclude me from
Yishai
was politically unfeasible.
thinking rationally (not unlike
Fleisher
In order to convince them of
my secular nationalist col-
Special
our rights to this land and its
leagues). I reminded him that I
Commentary
strategic importance, I spoke
was trained as a lawyer and that
about our historical connection
my opinions were grounded in
and the international legal recognition of
facts and reason. But to no avail. The look
the West Bank as an integral part of the
of condescension in his eyes, which was
territory of the Jewish homeland (San
focused on my "messianic" beard, said it
Remo Accords, ratified by the League
all: "No matter what you say, you base your
of Nations and endorsed by the U.S.
whole thinking on religion; you are irratio-
Congress in 1922). I also talked about
nal and incapable of reasonable discourse."
the military advantage the mountainous
It is one thing to argue and disagree,
highland gives Israel, explained that Judea but it is quite another to dehumanize and
and Samaria protect our capital from the
discriminate. I was being discriminated
east, north and south, and reminded them against, judged not by the content of my
of what happened after we gave away land thoughts but by the hair on my chin. And
to Gaza terrorists.
what was so irrational in my thinking?
Bowing to international demands may be
logical, but standing up to them is no less
so. Anyone who has fought a schoolyard
bully knows that the act of defiance, while
demanding some bravery, pays off real-
world dividends.
The Middle East is a tough neighborhood.
If you don't stick up for yourself here, you
are soon going to be at the bottom of the
food chain. Being tough is the norm here
and it is only reasonable to act in accor-
dance with the milieu of the place in which
you live. Yet Israel's "rationalists" refuse to
think and act like Middle Easterners.
Come to think of it, why do these people
feel so secure in their self-described role
of "pragmatists" in the first place? Under
their regime of appeasement, Hezbollah
is now armed to the teeth, the Negev is
almost totally overrun by Bedouins, we
have a new neighboring Hamas terror
state and our once-ally Turkey sends a
hate flotilla to harass us. Israel's decades-
old "pragmatic" policies specifically
tailored to win over international opin-
ion have instead caused the Jewish state
to plummet in the world's esteem. Its
Rationalist on page 26
JN
July 15 • 2010
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