Stating the obvious

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

Given many of the reactions from politicians, commentators, and other members of the media to Israel’s war to rid Iran of its nuclear capabilities, it seems necessary to state the obvious:

A nation that is developing non-bomb nuclear capabilities does not bury them deep within mountains.

A nation that is intent on using nuclear capabilities for peaceful purposes does not repeatedly threaten to wipe another nation off the map and rid the world of Jews.

If a nation is not trying to hide the development of nuclear weapons, it does not take years to negotiate an agreement.  The nation simply agrees that it will not develop a nuclear weapon and it opens all of its facilities for inspection.  It does not play cat-and-mouse games for decades.

If a nation is not developing nuclear weapons, it does not enrich uranium to 60%.

The day before Israel acted, the International Atomic Energy Agency, an agency entirely invested in negotiations that often deceives itself into thinking that Iran is negotiating in good faith and is not intent on developing a nuclear weapon, adopted a resolution declaring that Iran was in non-compliance.  Rather than agreeing to comply, Iran stepped up its activities aimed at producing a bomb.

As David Horovitz explains, Iran was very close to a nuclear weapon, and the development of a nuclear weapon was part of a broader plan to invade and destroy Israel. Israel's response has been well planned and thoughtful, and its execution has been exemplary.

If anyone seriously believes that Israel undermined potentially productive negotiations and that the U.S. and Iran were on the verge of a satisfactory agreement, I would dearly like to show them a bridge I have for sale.

From both President Trump's statements and the fact that the U.S. moved non-essential personnel and family members out of harm's way, it appears very likely that the Trump Administration knew about the attack in advance.  Indeed, it appears that President Trump played a major part in convincing the Iranians that an attack was not about to happen.

Given all of these obvious facts, the reaction of many, including a number of Senate Democrats and some of Trump's purported allies on the far right, is infuriating.  Before the dust was settled, the accusations of Israel undermining negotiations, of it sparking a wider war, and of its dragging America into a war were being thrown about.

No time for thought.  No time for assessments.  Rather, a sprint toward condemnation regardless of the facts or context.  A cynical person might think that certain politicians and commentators are just looking for reasons to attack Israel and to distance it from the U.S.

Democratic Senator John Fetterman summed it up well: "It was just astonishing to see colleagues criticizing these things. It’s like, do you think you can negotiate with that regime? Do you think you want to run that scenario and allow them to acquire 1,000 pounds of weapons grade uranium? I can’t understand, I can’t even begin to understand that.”

Israel has targeted military assets, military personnel, and the leadership of Iran's nuclear program.  It has issued warnings to civilians in Tehran when it is about to target areas that they inhabit.  Iran is targeting Israeli civilians, and has explicitly stated that as an objective.

Although regime change would be doing the world and, in particular, the Iranian people a huge favor, that is not the purpose of the attack.  Those raising regime change as a purpose change the debate to be about America's failures at nation-building after regime changes rather than about Iran's intention to obtain nuclear weapons and to destroy Israel.

Some doing this are well-intentioned.  Others are attempting to refocus the issue so as to make Americans fear that Israel is trying to drag them into a war they do not want.

Yes, some Israeili politicians have raised the spectre of regime change.  That is because many Israeli politicians share a syndrome with politicians worldwide:  they cannot keep their mouths shut.  Several members of the current Israeli cabinet have an acute case of this syndrome.

Yes, the war could disrupt oil markets.  As hard as it is for many to believe, there are things more important than the price of a gallon of gas.

Yes, Israel would like to see the U.S. take out the deeply buried Fordow nuclear site.  Doing that would not just protect Israel.  It would be a huge favor to the U.S. and the rest of the world, including those who would decry it.

Even if the U.S. does not bomb Fordow, Israel is capable of significantly degrading Iran's capabilites, as detailed in Horovitz's piece.

No, you do not have to change your negative view of Netanyahu to acknowledge that Israel is doing the right thing, and is doing it well.  A lot more people are involved in and responsible for Israel's actions than just Netanyahu.

Israelis look forward to the day when they live in peace with all of their neighbors.