No "Compensation" to Israel for Iran Deal
By Sheldon Richman
July 23, 2015 "Information
Clearing House"
- In The Joys of Yiddish, Leo Rosten
defined chutzpah as "that
quality
enshrined in a man who, having killed his
mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because
he is an orphan." Today we have a new paradigm for chutzpah:
the Israeli government's demand for "compensation" from the American
taxpayers for the Iran nuclear agreement.
Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon
told the Times of Israel that during U.S. Defense
Secretary Ash Carter's visit the Israeli government would discuss “the
compensation that Israel deserves in order to maintain its
qualitative [military] edge” over Iran. The Obama administration of
course is
amenable.
Why does Israel deserve compensation (in
addition to its $3 billion in U.S. aid every year)? If anything,
Israel should compensate American taxpayers!
But even if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
were right about Iran's intentions, he should be
rejoicing at the
agreement, under which
Iran will get rid of nearly all of its enriched uranium and
two-thirds of its centrifuges. Its nuclear facilities will be
open to even more intrusive inspections than they have been
under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Even its non-nuclear
military sites will be subject to inspection, an intrusion no
other government -- particularly the United States -- would
accept. And that is just the beginning. Uranium-enrichment
research will be restricted, and construction of a heavy-water
reactor, which would yield plutonium, will be scrapped.
The term for these various restrictions begin at
10 years and lengthen from there, but this does not mean that
Iran will later be free to do what it wants. As an NPT party
(unlike nuclear monopolist Israel), it will always be subject to
inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which
certifies that Iran has not diverted uranium to military
purposes.
What did Iran get in return for those
concessions? Iranian money frozen since the 1979 Islamic
revolution will be released and the economic warfare perpetrated
by the United States and the rest of the world --
euphemistically called "sanctions" -- will eventually be ended.
In other words, Iran can rejoin the world economy
-- its people relieved of cruel economic warfare -- if it gives
up a weapons program it never had, never wanted, and did not
plan to pursue. Those crafty Iranians! They acquired
thousands of centrifuges as
bargaining chips to be traded away for peaceful commercial
relations with the world.
Israel's rulers, like their American supporters,
say they have another reason to hate the agreement. (For my own
far different reservation, see
this.) "Giving" Iran all that cash (it belongs to Iranians)
will let the Islamic Republic pursue its
aggressive aims in the Middle East, which include helping
Israel's enemies, Hamas and Hezbollah.
Balderdash. Iran is not pursuing an aggressive
policy in the Middle East, and it is sheer projection for an
American or Israeli to make that charge. George W. Bush handed
Shia-majority Iraq to Iran when he overthrew Iran's nemesis,
Saddam Hussein. Barack Obama is siding with Iran against the
Islamic State in Iraq. Iran's ally, Bashar al-Assad of Syria, is
under assault by ISIS, al-Qaeda, and the United States. And the
Houthis in Yemen, who get some Iranian help and are fighting
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, have long struggled
against the central government for self-rule, in response to
which U.S.-backed Saudi Arabia is waging a bloody war of
aggression.
Iran has supported Hamas, although the
Palestinian group (like Israel) opposes Assad. But Hamas exists
to resist Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. Likewise,
Hezbollah arose to resist Israeli occupation of and periodic
attacks on southern Lebanon. While some of Hamas's and
Hezbollah's tactics have indeed been atrocious, their raison
d'ętre is opposition to Israeli aggression -- not terrorism.
There is no Iranian imperialism.
Nuclear Israel faces no threat. In the current
turmoil it
sides with
Sunni Arabs, including al-Qaeda affiliates, against Iran,
because turmoil serves Israel's interests and Iran is a
ready-made bęte noire. Why does
Israel need a
manufactured threat? Because if Americans knew the truth,
they might focus on the Palestinians' plight. Israel and its
Lobby cannot have that.
Sheldon Richman keeps the blog "Free
Association" and is a senior fellow and chair of the
trustees of the Center for a
Stateless Society. Become a patron today!
