world
Obama Praises Iran
Deal; Israelis Wary
Times of Israel
Palestinian Authority and Hamas —
the same Palestinians with whom
it is supposed to achieve peace
— and is routinely the subject of
constant and grossly distorted and
unfair treatment.
When it comes to Israel, nor-
mal rules of reason do not apply.
Non-governmental organizations
with gross anti-Israel agendas are
given free rein and total credibility
because it fits a "narrative." Facts
and logic have become irrelevant.
While Israel and Jews are at the
tip of the spear on every one of
these fronts, history has proven
time and again that it never ends
that way, and that these gross dis-
tortions and dangers will continue
to spread if left unchecked.
A Positive Narrative
The good news is that Israel's
monumental achievements speak
for themselves in fields such as
agriculture, biotech, medicine,
computer tech, water conserva-
tion, desalination, preventing ter-
rorism, security, and protecting
lives and the quality of life.
The one thing the U.S. Congress
agrees upon, almost universally,
is that it is pro-Israel. Fortunately,
major international companies
have also recognized the talents
and innovation of this small coun-
try and have set up shop there.
Israel's relations with China and
India are on the rise. Many Asian
countries have never known anti-
Semitism. Jews and Israelis are
admired in these countries for
what they have accomplished
under the most extreme circum-
stances for millennia. South Korea
is now offering talmudic studies in
schools because Jews have stud-
ied the Talmud to sharpen their
minds and South Korea wants its
citizens to emulate this skill.
It takes a major effort to be on
guard and to correct the wrongs
and fight for the truth. Silence and
indifference help only the aggres-
sor and those who mislead. Today,
one must have a reliable and fair
source for information on world
events, especially when it comes
to Israel and the Jews.
Role Of The AJC
The American Jewish Committee
has been on guard for more than
100 years in its tireless effort
to be the voice of reason, truth,
justice and diplomacy concerning
Israel, as well as Jewish, demo-
cratic and civil rights values and
causes. It is the preeminent inter-
national American Jewish institu-
tion recognized by most govern-
ments as the organization to be
relied on for honest information
and efforts in pursuit of Jewish
interests.
It has about two dozen offices
throughout the United States,
offices in Israel and in several
European capitals; and it has
special international partnership
arrangements with dozens of
Jewish communities throughout
the world, including with those
communities that are at high risk
living in their own countries.
The AJC regularly sends diplo-
matic missions of lay leaders and
experts in various fields around
the globe to meet with the highest
echelons of foreign governments
and with religious authorities. This
is especially important in coun-
tries where the Jewish population
is small and remains vulnerable.
These missions let the govern-
ments know an American-based
organization is watching out for
the welfare of the local Jewish
communities — and it thus is
important to safeguard the mis-
sion visitors.
It is my true honor to be the
president of the AJC's Detroit
Regional Office. I hope to be a
good steward of this organization
and live up to its ideals throughout
my term. Our AJC Regional Office
is strong locally, and our organiza-
tion is strong nationally and glob-
ally. We are in an unprecedented
position to try to help solve or at
least improve upon many of the
problems mentioned here. I look
forward to a great and challenging
year.
❑
Todd R. Mendel is a Detroit-based attor-
ney and president of the American Jewish
Committee's Detroit Regional Office.
H
ailing American diplomacy
and asserting that the deal
struck with Iran cuts off
"all of Iran's pathways to a nuclear
weapon," President Barack Obama also
sought to address Israel's concerns
over the accord.
He said the U.S. shares the concerns
of Israel and other regional allies over
Iran's support for terrorism, "but that
is precisely why we are taking this
step: Because an Iran armed with a
nuclear weapon would be far more
destabilizing and far more dangerous
to our friends and to the world.
"We will continue our unprec-
edented efforts to strengthen Israel's
security, efforts that go beyond what
any American administration has done
before," Obama vowed in remarks early
Tuesday morning at the White House.
He said it was incumbent on the
U.S. to "continue to test whether this
region, which has known so much suf-
fering, so much bloodshed, can move
in a different direction.
"It is possible to change," he said,
castigating Iran's hardline stance to
date, including its threats to "attack
your neighbors or eradicate Israel."
This approach, he said, was "a dead
end:' What was needed from Iran, he
said, is a "different path ... This is an
opportunity, and we should seize it:'
Israel's leadership has relentlessly
attacked the deal, with Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu describing it
Tuesday as a "historic mistake:'
"Far-reaching concessions have been
made in all areas that were supposed
to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear
weapons capability," he said.
Netanyahu said the agreement was
inevitable when the U.S. was will-
ing to cave to Iranian demands even
as Tehran officials led public calls of
"Death to America:'
Most opposition politicians, though,
slammed the prime minister's han-
dling of the U.S.-led diplomatic initia-
tive.
Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog
said that had Netanyahu not feuded
with the Obama administration, Israel
would be receiving a military assis-
tance package as "compensation" for
the deal.
"If you go to a deal, as bad as it may
be, the way to minimize its damage
is by arriving at an agreement with
the U.S. on a very significant security
package," Herzog said, pointing to
President Obama and Vice President
Biden Tuesday morning
similar agreements negotiated by the
U.S.-aligned Sunni Gulf states.
Obama said the deal "is not built on
trust, it is built on verification:'
All of Iran's pathways to a nuclear
weapon are cut off under the terms
of the agreement, he said, noting that
Iran will remove two-thirds of its
installed centrifuges and get rid of 98
percent of its stockpile of uranium.
In exchange, the president said Iran
will receive phased sanctions relief as
it fulfills the provisions in the deal.
Obama threatened to veto any con-
gressional legislation that would seek
to block implementation of the agree-
ment. He said that no deal "means a
greater chance of more war" in the
Middle East.
Obama, accompanied by Vice
President Joe Biden, spoke shortly
after negotiators in Vienna announced
the landmark deal aimed at curbing
Iran's nuclear program for more than a
decade in exchange for billions of dol-
lars in international sanctions relief.
The president said the agreement,
hammered out through nearly two
years of negotiations, would cut off all
of Iran's pathways to a bomb and give
the international community unprec-
edented access to the country's nuclear
facilities.
Even with the world powers in
agreement, Obama now must sell the
virtues of the deal to skeptical law-
makers on Capitol Hill. Congress has
60 days to assess the accord and decide
whether to pursue legislation impos-
ing new sanctions on Iran or prevent
Obama from suspending existing ones.
The president renewed his vow to
veto any such legislation and urged
lawmakers to consider the repercus-
sions of their actions. Without the
limitations and verifications included
in the deal, Obama said, he or a future
U.S. president would be more likely to
face a decision about using U.S. mili-
tary action to prevent Iran from build-
ing a bomb.
❑
July 16 • 2015
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