Aaron Kliegman | Gingrich 360 - The Killing of Iran’s Lead Nuke Scientist Was About Stopping Bombs, Not Biden

By Aaron Kliegman The Obama administration was infamously hostile to Israel and acquiescent to Iran. But even during Barack Obama’s presidency, the US and Israel agreed on the state of Iran’s nuclear program. Indeed, Washington and Jerusalem saw the same intelligence and came to similar conclusions about how close Iran was to building nuclear bombs. The much-publicized tensions and disagreements between both sides were over something different: the urgency of the threat. Israel has always viewed an Iran with nuclear weapons as an existential threat — and for good reason. Iran’s leaders seek the physical elimination of Israel and say so routinely. But more importantly, they work toward the Jewish state’s demise, arming and funding terrorist groups that kill Jews and Israelis around the world. In fact, the Iranian regime’s hatred of Israel steers much of its foreign policy. To quote Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, opposition to the Jewish state “has been the most enduring pillar of Iranian revolutionary ideology.” In short, Iran is at war with Israel, forcing the Jewish state to fight back in order to survive. A nuclear-armed Iran would be a nightmare for the US, but it wouldn’t threaten America’s existence like it would Israel’s. Washington can afford to wait longer than Jerusalem to address the threat because America is larger, stronger, and farther away. Hence the core dispute between Israel and the Obama administration, which thought the Israelis were being alarmist. By pushing Israel to yield and make room for American diplomacy, the Obama administration wasn’t just asking for patience; it was asking Israel to put its fate — indeed, its national survival — in another country’s hands. This is a monumental ask of any country, but in the case of Israel, it’s untenable. Israel is a small country (about the size of New Jersey), and it’s located well within range of Iran’s missiles. Plus, Obama and John Kerry didn’t exactly inspire confidence among Israelis. But on a deeper level, consider the history of the Jewish people, who spent 2,000 years in exile, facing relentless persecution without a home. Israel’s basic purpose is to protect the Jewish people, both by serving as a place of refuge and by maintaining a standing military to defend the nation. Jews and Israelis aren’t eager to abandon this relatively newfound security. With these factors in mind, it’s easy to see why Israelis across the political spectrum, not just Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, so adamantly oppose the 2015 nuclear deal, which does nothing more than delay Iran’s ability to obtain nuclear weapons by about a decade. And that’s if Iran doesn’t cheat by continuing covert nuclear activity – activity that Iran’s leaders have never been willing to forgo. I bring all this up to refute the current argument that the killing of Iran’s lead nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, inside Iran on Friday was all about Joe Biden. Most observers, whether they support or oppose the killing, seem to believe Israel carried out the operation to thwart Biden’s expected diplomacy with Iran to revive the nuclear deal. (Israel hasn’t claimed responsibility, but nearly all analysts believe Israel was responsible — a belief supported by some news reports.) The people making this argument most passionately are those most eager to reenter the nuclear deal, from which President Trump withdrew in 2018. As expected, Ben Rhodes, who served as Obama’s deputy national security adviser and foreign policy guru, led the charge. “This is an outrageous action aimed at undermining diplomacy between an incoming US administration and Iran,” he tweeted. “It’s time for the ceaseless escalation to stop.” Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a left-wing lobbying group hostile to Israel, echoed Rhodes, saying the “assassination” appears to be “an attempt to sabotage the ability of the incoming Biden administration to reenter the as well as the chances of further diplomacy, either by limiting the political leeway of Iranian officials who want to restore the deal, or by triggering an escalation leading to military confrontation.” All that is simply wrong. The operation to kill Fakhrizadeh was about preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons — a decades-long mission of Israel — not preventing Biden from conducting diplomacy. Killing Fakhrizadeh, the mastermind of Iran’s secret nuclear weapons program, was just the latest action of many taken toward the same end — one that will hinder Iran’s efforts to build nuclear bombs. Stated differently, the operation was organized and approved by people who believe the nuclear deal is detrimental and fear the US will soon be rejoining it under a Biden administration. So, they sought to deliver a major blow to Iran’s nuclear program before then. The goal was not to derail the deal by sabotaging Biden’s diplomacy. Those who make such claims don’t recognize or appreciate how seriously Israel views the Iranian nuclear threat. To Jerusalem, this is beyond politics or any one administration; this is about survival. That may vex and even outrage some American elites, but to Israelis, that’s a small price to pay to avert a nuclear holocaust. Viewing the killing of Fakhrizadeh simply as something to end the nuclear deal and make Biden’s life more difficult also ignores basic realities. Operations that are so complex can’t be done with the snap of a finger or the wave of a magic wand. They require extensive planning. And even though Fakhrizadeh had been an Israeli target for years, that doesn’t mean everything was in place to be executed perfectly at a moment’s notice with the approval of political leadership. The target was a well-protected person, not a stationary object. Assets on the ground may be unavailable at any given time. Even Israel’s vaunted intelligence services can’t decide on a whim to kill someone on this or that day. They watch, waiting for an opportunity to present itself. And if they don’t act, then the opportunity may never present itself again. As to the morality and legality of Fakhrizadeh’s killing, well, let’s just say some of the usual suspects had strong opinions. The European Union called the operation a “criminal act” that “runs counter to the principle of respect for human rights.” Sen. Bernie Sanders’s foreign policy advisor, Matt Duss, described the killing as an act of “terrorism.” And then there’s John Brennan, who headed the CIA under Obama. “This was a criminal act and highly reckless,” Brennan tweeted. “It risks lethal retaliation and a new round of regional conflict. Iranian leaders would be wise to wait for the return of responsible American leadership on the global stage and to resist the urge to respond against perceived culprits.” He also called the killing an “act of state-sponsored terrorism” and a “flagrant violation” of international law. The problem is that Fakhrizadeh isn’t just a nuclear scientist — he was also a general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the Trump administration has deemed a terrorist organization. Plus, Iran and Israel are engaged in armed conflict, and Fakhrizadeh had been helping Iran create the means to annihilate Israel. As a result, Israel has the legal and moral right to defend itself. Author and legal expert Orde Kittrie elaborated on these points in detail, explaining why there is nothing illegal about the killing of Fakhrizadeh. None of these points will persuade alumni of the Obama administration and their like-minded allies, because they are pro-Iran. They know America’s Middle Eastern allies are united against Iran and the nuclear deal and that this unity has helped foster the historic Arab-Israeli peace deals of the past couple months. And yet, they remain committed to help Iran and hurt our allies. They don’t care. They’re willing to destroy all the positive gains that have been made in the Middle East over the past four years in pursuit of their warped agenda. But that’s not the worst part. What’s most troubling is these people are friends and colleagues of Biden and the principals who he’s named to his Cabinet. In other words, they’ll have influence over a Biden administration. That’s a scary thought. Order Newt's Latest Book: https://www.gingrich360.com/trump-and-the-american-future

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