J Street
Iran Policy Undermines US Defense
By
Alan M. Dershowitz
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem,
Israel --- June 16, 2012 ... President
Obama recently invited me to the Oval Office for a discussion
about Iran. The President reiterated to me in private what he
had previously said in public: namely, that he would not allow
Iran to develop nuclear weapons; that containment of a nuclear
Iran was not an option; that sanctions and diplomatic pressures
would be applied and increased first; but that, as a last recourse,
the military option would not be taken off the table.
What the President
said is now the official American policy with regard to the threat
of a nuclear Iran. It is clear that sanctions and diplomacy alone
will not convince the Iranian mullahs to halt their progress toward
their goal of an Iran with nuclear weapons. The only realistic
possibility of persuading the Iranians to give up their nuclear
ambitions is for them to believe that there is a credible threat
of an American military attack on their nuclear facilities. Unless
this threat is credible, the Iranians will persist. And if the
Iranians persist, and the Israelis do not believe that the American
threat is credible, the Israelis will undertake a military strike
against Iranian nuclear facilities. It is crucial, therefore,
for Americas military threat to be credible and to be perceived
as credible by both the Israelis and the Iranians.
Enter J Street. J Street
is a lobby in Washington that advertises itself as pro-Israel
and pro-peace. But its policy with regard to Iran is neither
pro-Israel nor pro-peace. It is categorically opposed to any military
strike against Iran. It is also opposed to maintaining any
credible military threat against Iran, through legislation,
authorizing, encouraging or in other ways laying the ground work
for the use of military force against Iran. This is according
to their official policy statement that can be read at http://jstreet.org/policy/policy-positions/iran.
They favor sanctions and they recognize that Iran obtaining
nuclear weapons would pose a very serious threat to America and
Israeli interests. But they believe that diplomacy and sanctions
alone can deter Iran from developing nuclear weapons. By advocating
this path, they are totally undercutting the policy of the Obama
Administration. They are sending a message both to Iran and to
Israel that there is no credible military threat, and that if
Iran is prepared to withstand sanctions and diplomacy, they will
have nothing further to worry about if they move forward with
their nuclear weapons program.
"J
Street, in addition to undercutting both mainstream Israel
and American policy toward Iran, has also mischaracterized
the views of those it cites in support of its benighted
position."
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The Obama Administration
has tried very hard to persuade Israel that there is no space
between the American position and the Israeli position on Iran.
Whether or not this is true, there is a hole the size of a nuclear
crater between Israels position, reflecting a widespread
consensus within that country, and J Streets position. Virtually
every Israeli wants the United States to keep the military option
on the table. This includes doves such as Israeli
President Shimon Peres. Former United States President Bill Clinton
also believes that the military option must be maintained. Virtually
everyone, Israelis and Americans alike, hope that the military
option will never have to be exercised. But the best way to make
sure that it will not have to be exercised is to keep it credible.
As George Washington put in his second inaugural speech: To
be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving
peace.
J Street, in addition
to undercutting both mainstream Israel and American policy toward
Iran, has also mischaracterized the views of those it cites in
support of its benighted position.
It cites Former Mossad
Chiefs, Meir Dagan and Efraim Halevy as opposing any military
strike against Iran. It cites these two security Israeli
security experts in the context of opposing an American strike
and an American threat to strike. Yet Dagan has explicitly stated
that he would favor keeping the American military option on the
table. This is what he has said: The military option must
always be on the table, with regards to Iran, but it must always
be a last option.
This is quite different
from the misleading manner in which J Street has characterized
his views. The same is true of Efraim Halevy. When I read the
J Street reference to Halevy, I immediately called him and told
him how J Street had characterized his views and asked him if
that was a correct characterization. His response: Thats
absolutely false. He told me that he had repeatedly stated
that the United States must keep the military option on the table
as a last resort, though he hoped that it would never have to
be used.
J Street can no longer
pretend to be pro-Israel, since it is actively seeking to undercut
a joint Israeli and American policy designed to protect Israel
and the world from a nuclear armed Iran. Nor can J Street claim
to be pro-peace, since its policy will likely encourage Iran to
take actions that will inevitably result in an attack either by
Israel, the United States or both. Finally, it cannot be trusted
to tell the truth, as evidenced by its deliberate misattribution
of its views to security experts that dont share them.
Some people have accused
J Street of carrying President Obamas water with regard
to Israel and of having been invented to give the
Obama Administration cover for taking tough policies with regard
to Israeli settlement activity. But in this instance, J Street
is completely undercutting the Obama policy. That would not be
so bad except for the fact that the Obama White House sometimes
seems to be embracing J Street and its followers. This public
embrace sends a message to Iran that the Obama Administration
may not mean it when it says that it will use military force if
necessary to prevent a nuclear armed Iran. This may be a false
message, but it is a dangerous one nevertheless.
Absolutely no good
has come from J Streets soft policy on Iran.
Either J Street must
change its policy, or truth in advertising requires that it no
longer proclaim itself a friend of Israel, a friend of peace,
a friend of truth or a friend of the Obama Administration.
Professor Alan
M. Dershowitz is a Brooklyn native who has been called the
nations most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer and
one of its most distinguished defenders of individual rights,
the best-known criminal lawyer in the world, the
top lawyer of last resort, Americas most public
Jewish defender and Israels single most visible
defender the Jewish states lead attorney in the court
of public opinion. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor
of Law at Harvard Law School. Dershowitz, a graduate of Brooklyn
College and Yale Law School, joined the Harvard Law School faculty
at age 25 after clerking for Judge David Bazelon and Justice Arthur
Goldberg. He has also published more than 100 articles in magazines
and journals and his most recent titles include Rights From Wrong
and The Case For Israel. In 1983, the Anti-Defamation League of
the B'nai B'rith presented him with the William O. Douglas First
Amendment Award for his "compassionate eloquent leadership
and persistent advocacy in the struggle for civil and human rights."
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