As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech on March 3 to Congress approaches, the mystery and drama around the timing of the speech is increasing. Prime Minister Netanyahu is set to encourage Congress with his speech to pass the Senator Kirk and Menendez bill on Iran to counter Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities.
Whether this is the real reason Netanyahu will speak in front of congress remains a mystery to some. Some say it’s a political ploy by Speaker of the House John Boehner to undermine the executive branch’s power, as the President is usually the one who invites world leaders to the United States. Which is based on the fact that the Prime Minister and Speaker are both believed to share a mutual dislike of the president. Others would say that Netanyahu is using the speech solely to boost his public image ahead of the Israel national elections.
Regardless of the conspiracy theories and “hurt feelings,” the timing and purpose of the speech comes at a crucial moment in world history. The Islamic Republic of Iran has used the breakdown in negotiations between the U.S. on the development of its nuclear weapons program to speed up its uranium enrichment program.
CIA intelligence has reason to believe that Iran is collaborating with North Korea to further along their nuclear weapons program. Iran also controls several terrorist proxies, such as Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist militia who bombed the U.S. embassy in Beirut in 1983, which killed 63 Americans. Iran also has ties to Hamas, the terrorist organization ruling over the Gaza strip that killed more Americans than ISIS in 2014.
The price the world would suffer if Iran were allowed to continue its nuclear weapons program would be astronomical. Not only would Iran have access to nuclear weapons — so would global threats such as Hezbollah, Hamas and even North Korea. Many argue that allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon would create balance, due to the theory of mutual assured destruction. However, this theory only applies to states that behave rationally, unlike Iran, who promotes suicide bombing. Just imagine the capability of Iran introducing to the world “nuclear suicide bombing.”
Members of Congress who are not attending Netanyahu’s upcoming speech out of respect to the president are prioritizing political emotion in favor of national and global security. Survival is not a partisan issue, which is why the Iran sanctions bill currently on the table is authored by Illinois Republican senator Mark Kirk and New Jersey Democrat senator Bob Menendez with support from Independents, Tea Party Republicans and the most left-wing Democrats.
Even though President Obama has vowed to veto Iran’s sanctions bill, it is important that we, as citizens of the United States, send a clear message to the president and Iran that there are no conditions under which the United States should reward Iran for giving up its nuclear weapons program. The United States does not negotiate with terrorists and does not appease dictatorships.
History has demonstrated to the world what happens when countries attempt to appease those who call for the annihilation of others. Nearly 80 years ago the world stood by and gave Adolf Hitler large chunks of sovereign European lands in exchange for peace with Nazi Germany at the Munich conferences.
Now we are on the verge of appeasing a terrorist dictatorship, which threatens to “wipe Israel off the map,” resulting in a nuclear holocaust with the death of 6 million more Jews and 2 million Arabs. Just as World War II resulted in the attempted total annihilation of European Jewry –it did not end there. The entire world suffered enormous loss and tragedy – including America, and in the same way the world will suffer more enormous loss and tragedy if we stand idly by today.