As an American and as a Jew, I think a lot about Israel’s security. So as I look at the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, I wonder how it might affect not only America’s security but Israel’s too.
Most Americans assume that the only threat facing Israel comes from foreign enemies who might attack. For years, though, top-flight columnists and commentators in Israel have warned of a more dangerous peril: Israel is becoming isolated in the international community. Around the world there is a growing view that the greatest obstacle to Middle East peace is Israel itself.
If the U.S. Congress rejects the Iran nuclear deal, a lot of fingers of blame will point at Israeli Prime Ministe r Benjamin Netanyahu, who seems to have so much influence with Congress and the Republicans who control it. To lots of people who already doubt Israel’s commitment to peace, this will look like one more proof that Israel deserves censure, not support.
There is now a global consensus that the deal on the table is the best way to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. If Israel continues to resist that consensus, it will only speed up its isolation, bringing closer the day when it is seen as a pariah state. At least that’s the fear that many thoughtful Israelis are expressing. For them, the danger of being a an outcast nation is far greater than any danger that might come from scenarios of a nuclear Iran—scenarios that were already unlikely, according to many experts, and will be much less likely under the new deal, the leading nations of the world now agree.
Still, Netanyahu insists that Israelis should be more afraid than ever of an Iranian bomb. So Israelis who see things differently are asking whether that fear makes any sense. It’s not clear whether Iran ever intended to, or had the capacity to, make a nuclear weapon. Now, they point out, under the new agreement, Iran has to radically cut back its uranium and plutonium enrichment. International inspectors will be on the ground everywhere to make sure that’s happening. So it’s hard to see how Iran will have an easier chance, or much chance at all, to build a bomb.
And what if the agreement is torpedoed by it’s opponents? Efraim Halevy, former chief of Mossad (Israel’s equivalent of the CIA) explains the obvious: “Without an agreement, Iran will be free to do as it pleases,” which may mean moving toward nuclear capability.
While Netanyahu calls for increasing sanctions on Iran rather than making a deal, Halevy speaks for the realists in Israel: If there is no deal now “the sanctions regime will crumble anyway, as many of the world’s countries will rush to Tehran to sign profitable contracts.” Trusting in sanctions alone is a fantasy that endangers Israel’s security.
Many American Jews seem to share Israelis’ concern that Netanyahu is leading his country in a dangerous direction. In a recent poll, about six in 10 said they would support an agreement with Iran like the one the Obama administration has made. They agree with the Israeli Jews who say that the key to Israel’s security is not standing tough against enemies. The key to security is regaining the respect and trust of the community of nations. Israel can do that only if it joins the international consensus on moving the Middle East, and the world, closer to peace and security for everyone.
Since the U.S. is so closely linked to Israel, our own standing in the world will also suffer if Israel tries to thwart the deal with Iran. For the sake of Israel’s security as well as our own, it makes far more sense to seal the deal and get those inspectors on the ground in Iran as soon as possible.
Ira Chernus is professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he taught courses on the history of Judaism for 35 years.
To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit or check out our for how to submit by e-mail or mail.
