Peace and harmony through strength

A few thoughts in the aftermath of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech earlier this month. Reasonable and emotionally moving, the speech proposed a plan for dealing with Iran that plays to America’s and Israel’s strengths: our ability to mobilize a coalition of nations to impose increasingly harsh sanctions on Iran, and Israel’s military ability, in a worst case scenario, to act alone. It’s tough to summarize any better than Krauthammer did.

In his speech, Netanyahu suggested a strategy of negotiating from a position of strength, rather than pre-emptively capitulating the right to a vast nuclear infrastructure to a fanatical, vicious regime that is, at present, already economically weakened. In suggesting this too generous deal, it would seem Obama is ready to snatch defeat from the jaws of near victory – and undermine gains that have resulted from years of international cooperation for the protection of the international community. As such, Obama’s pandering to the Iranians is showing weakness to them and undermining international unity.

I was struck to read that Netanyahu’s speech prompted respect from even some columnists in the Arab world – an indicator, perhaps, of his rare leadership and perhaps a glimmer (or more than a glimmer?) of hope for some kind of effective international coalition in standing up to Iran. With the right leadership, surely the free and moderate nations of the world could stop this regime at this point.

Many of us have grown up hearing, “Why did the world not unite to stop Hitler before he caused so much destruction?” Why, indeed? Some combination of inertia, isolationism, war weariness, cowardice, and complacency.

Sound familiar?

It would seem Obama wants to concede a ten-year sunset provision upon which, as Krauthammer stated this week,  “the deal expires. Sanctions are lifted and Iran is permitted unlimited uranium enrichment with an unlimited number of centrifuges of unlimited sophistication.” Whereas Netanyahu is calling for a longer timeline and hard evidence that the Iranians, over the course of that time, are changing their murderous behavior and giving up their genocidal aims.

I’m reminded of Netanyahu’s steadfastness during the Oslo years when, as Israel’s Prime Minister, he was subject to incredible international pressure, including from Bill Clinton, to make a deal with Yasir Arafat. Students of recent history will recall that Netanyahu actually lost an election for his refusal to go along with that deal as well–similarly, for lack of evidence that Arafat truly wanted peace. After which the Israeli public voted in Rabin, rest his soul. No disrespect to his memory, but who was right?

Strip away all the complicated bureaucratic formulations, and what Obama is planning to do is reward Iran’s bad behavior, expecting that doing so and saying “pretty please be reasonable, be better than this” will promote better behavior. It’s something that any kindergarten teacher – or single woman looking for the right man, who respects and cherishes her fully – understands will never work. Negotiate anything from a position of fear and weakness and you won’t get the best behavior from anyone, even a good person, much less an evil regime. If you are prepared to walk, you might or might not get all you desire but you’ll ultimately do better than you would making decisions or concessions out of fear, weakness, or perceived desperation.

My personal favorite moment in the speech was when Netanyahu quoted Moses’s words about the Egyptians: “Do Not Fear or Dread Them.” Always stand up to evil.

Amen.

This entry was written by Heather Robinson and posted on March 12, 2015 at 12:26 am and filed under Blog. permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Keywords: Benjamin Netanyahu, Benjamin Netanyahu speech. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL. */?>