8 | MAY 13 • 2021
PURELY COMMENTARY
continued from page 7
own pleasant pattern: sleeping
later, praying at home, spend-
ing more time with my wife
and, when the weather allowed,
meeting up with friends — 6
feet apart — on a bench out-
side.
I know I’m not alone in
my ambivalence about going
back to shul now. I’ve talked to
friends about it and they, too,
seem a bit mystified about what
keeps some of us home. We
know that going back would be
good for the congregation, and
probably for us, even though
the prospect of COVID-limited
attendance, singing and social-
izing is less than appealing.
Are we just lazy or fearful
of becoming sick? Or have we
become dependent on the safe-
ty and security of keeping close
to home?
What would get me back to
shul? No, it’s not the prospect
of visiting a nearby fire station
after services. It’s the chance to
ignite a spark of faith and com-
mitment, and time to take the
next step back on the long path
toward normalcy.
So, there I was on Saturday,
back in synagogue. Sitting
alone, at least 6 feet away from
others, and wearing a mask,
felt isolating at first, like pray-
ing alone in a room despite
the others around me. But
gradually the mood lifted and
the familiar comfort of the
prayers — and the warm (if
muted) greetings from fellow
congregants — made me feel at
home again. I could get used to
this.
Gary Rosenblatt is a former editor of
the Detroit Jewish News and editor
and publisher of the Jewish Week,
1993-2019. Follow him at garyrosenblatt.
substack.com.
commentary
Israel Has No Choice but to
Act on its Own to Stop Iran
T
he head of Israel’s
Mossad intelligence
agency and the gov-
ernment’s national security
adviser was in Washington
late last month
on an import-
ant mission
that has failed
even before it
began.
White House
spokesperson
Jen Psaki made
it clear that the Israelis are
wasting their time. When
asked if Israeli pleas about
the danger to the region if
the United States rejoins the
2015 nuclear deal would have
any impact on President Joe
Biden’s plans, Psaki answered,
“No.”
She went on to say that the
Israelis are free to keep “chal-
lenging” the administration’s
goal of returning to a weak
pact that gives Tehran a legal
path to a nuclear weapon by
the end of the decade, but the
best they could hope for is to
be “kept abreast” of America’s
plans.
That contemptuous atti-
tude was of particular signif-
icance because the day before
the Israeli security officials
arrived, news broke about
how former Secretary of
State John Kerry had shared
intelligence with Iran about
Israeli covert operations
seeking to stop their nuclear
program. According to an
audiotape of comments made
by Iranian Foreign Minister
Mohammad Zarif that was
obtained by the New York
Times, he said, “It was for-
mer U.S. Foreign Secretary
[sic] John Kerry who told
me Israel had launched more
than 200 attacks on Iranian
forces in Syria.”
There is a lot to unwrap
in that one sentence and not
just because the Times buried
this revelation at the bottom
of its story.
Kerry, for whom Psaki
served as spokesperson
during the nuclear negotia-
tions from 2013 to 2015, cur-
rently acts as Biden’s special
presidential envoy of climate.
We already knew that in 2018
Kerry consulted with Zarif,
advising his former nego-
tiating partner not to work
with the Trump administra-
tion, which withdrew from
the nuclear deal as part of a
“maximum pressure” cam-
paign to force the Iranians
to agree to a new tougher
agreement that would elim-
inate sunset clauses, as well
as include bans on Tehran’s
role as the world’s leading
state sponsor of international
terrorism and its illegal mis-
sile-building. Kerry told Zarif
to simply wait out Trump and
then deal with a more pliant
Democrat that he hoped
would be elected in 2020.
That’s exactly what hap-
pened, and now the Iranians
are reaping the benefits.
Biden’s foreign-policy team,
composed almost entirely
of veterans of the adminis-
tration of former President
Barack Obama, are again
resuming their past practice
of appeasing the Iranians
with concessions in the
works to entice Tehran to
return to a deal with little
hope of improving upon it.
U.S. ISRAEL TENSIONS
Kerry’s collusion with Iran is
important because it comes
in the context of the grow-
ing tension with Israel over
its efforts to sabotage the
Iranian nuclear program.
Unlike in the past, when it
was clear that the United
States and Israel were cooper-
Jonathan S.
Tobin
jns.org
continued on page 10
U.S. MISSION/ERIC BRIDIERS.
Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Iranian
Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2015.