President Obama has shown his naiveté time and time again when it comes to dealing with the Iranian regime. The Ayatollahs who control the country regularly lead their masses of followers with chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."
Iran's top cleric Ayatollah Ali Khameini, the brutal dictator who rules Iran, is also a believer in a cult known as the "Shiite Twelvers." This sect believes that their promised messiah cannot come until Shiite Islam dominates the globe. They further believe "Before his coming will come the red death and the white death, killing two thirds of the world's population. The red death signifies violence and the white death is plague. One third of the world's population will die from the red death and the other third from the white death." Even more concerning is the fact that Iran's leaders have expressed the desire and will to self-fulfill these prophecies.
Many quotes coming out of Iran have shown that Iranian leaders link the coming of the end of days with the acquisition of a nuclear weapon. Khameini himself is quoted in an 11th grade Iranian textbook as saying, "I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers [i.e., the infidel powers] wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all them. Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater freedom which is martyrdom. Either we shake one another's hands in joy at the victory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal life and martyrdom. In both cases, victory and success are ours."
With all these radical religious beliefs hovering in the background of any binding Iranian agreement, President Obama still finds the actions of Republicans to be more objectionable. A nuclear deal with Iran involves making a pact with an apocalyptic regime who are calling for the death of America.
Yet President Obama begins his attacks against the Republicans by dismissing their concerns as simply political posturing and knee jerk reaction. "We're living through a time in American politics where every foreign policy decision is viewed through a partisan prison, evaluated by headline-grabbing sound bites, and so before the ink was even dry on this deal, before Congress even read it, a majority of Republicans declared their virulent opposition."
It's interesting in how President Obama fails in his speech to mention the growing dissatisfaction within his own party, so much so that Senator Chuck Schumer is risking his position as Senate Minority leader to publicly oppose the deal with a detailed description of why the agreement is so weak and dangerous.
Obama then commences an attack on the Republicans who oppose his deal by stating something that is patently untrue. He claims that, "Just because Iranian hardliners chant "Death to America" does not mean that that's what all Iranians believe...In fact it's those hardliners who are most comfortable with the status quo. It's those hardliners chanting "Death to America" who have been most opposed to the deal."
Newsflash Mr. President. The hardliners are the regime itself. Or is the President seriously suggesting that Ayatollah Ali Khameini is not one of the hardliners?
But if that wasn't bad enough, Obama takes it to the next level and says that those same radical Islamists who are against the deal are "making common cause with the Republican Caucus." Seriously? The comparison is outrageous, offensive, and beneath the dignity of the office.
President Obama concludes by pointing out that "The majority of the Iranian people have powerful incentives to urge their government to move in a different, less provocative direction, incentives that are strengthened by this deal. We should offer them that chance. We should give them the opportunity."
Well, Mr. President, so far the Ayatollahs have shown their aptitude at crushing dissent to their rule. And quite frankly, when the Iranian people tried risking their lives in protest in the streets to oppose these morally bankrupt leaders and tried to bring some true reforms to their government, you did absolutely nothing to aid them in any way. Without the western world's help, Iran's revolutionary guards used killings, mass imprisonments, and targeted rapes of female protesters to crush any chance at reform. Talk about a missed opportunity. And now you talk about the Iranian people having the will to bring about change?
President Obama also set his sights on Israel in his speech. He spoke of how he is a trusted friend of Israel and how much he has done to support the Jewish state. But it's likely that President Obama's non-stop public spats with Prime Minister Netanyahu is likely to blame for the drop in Democrat support for Israel by nearly 10% in a recent poll. His many attempts at forcing a peace agreement on Israel that disregarded Israel's security concerns, and his Secretary of State's sarcastic comments about Israel doing "a hell of a pinpoint operation" during the Gaza war, emboldened Israel's enemies and allowed for libels against the state.
His insistence that Netanyahu's clarified comments about a Palestinian state were not believed, and would lead to consequences, as well as his masked threats that the US would not protect Israel from corrupt UN resolutions, all took their toll on Israel's reputation.
Israel also has reason to question President Obama's promises. Israelis have to consider the fact that Obama has shown little will to save the lives of Yazidi, Sunni, and Kurdish women and children who are sold into sexual slavery and killed, not to mention the more than 200,000 Syrians murdered. What guarantee is there that he values Israeli lives anymore?
The President claimed to set redlines for Syria when it came to chemical weapons, but apparently those red lines were drawn with washable markers, which he himself erased. Instead he made a deal to remove Syrian WMD's, which has failed, allowing Syria to still maintains untold quantities of these weapons.
Taking all of this into consideration, President Obama's promises on Iran sound a bit like, "If you like your nuclear free Iran, you can keep your nuclear free Iran."
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, "America's Rabbi," is the international best-selling author of 30 books, winner of The London Times Preacher of the Year Competition, and recipient of the American Jewish Press Association's Highest Award for Excellence in Commentary. He will shortly publish "The Israel Warrior's Handbook." Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
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