August 26, 2015

The more one knows about the Iran nuclear deal, the more obvious it becomes that it is a deception that portrays itself as a deal. Virtually every claim made for it is either not true or is insignificant. The deal vastly strengthens Iran and its regime’s grip on power.

• There are no “anytime, anywhere” inspections, as Americans were promised during the negotiations.

• No American or Canadian inspectors will be allowed into Iran.

• The agreement obligates all the parties, including the United States, to help Iran protect its nuclear facilities against an attack, whether physical or cyber.

• Any area of Iran that the Iranian regime designates “military” cannot be inspected.

• Iran can object to any inspection and delay it 24 days, and, according to the Wall Street Journal, up to three months.

• The deal will free $100 billion, and eventually much more, for the Iranian regime to use to bolster Iran’s economy and to supply terror groups around the world.

In light of these weaknesses, any one of which renders the deal fraudulent, how could anyone who cares about America, not to mention Israel, support it?

And it gets worse: There are two secret side deals to the agreement made between Iran and the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). They are not just kept secret from you and me. They are kept secret from the president, the secretary of state (who admitted to Congress that he has not seen them) and the Congress of the United States. 

How then could any member of Congress vote to affirm an agreement with Iran, crucial parts of which they cannot even know about? Why do those secrets between Iran and the United Nations simply not invalidate this agreement? 

But I wish to focus on American Jews. How is it, in light of the above and in light of Iran’s stated aim of annihilating Israel, that so many American Jews — despite the opposition of so many national Jewish groups and even of the Jewish Federations of liberal cities such Boston and Los Angeles — support this deal?

The question is legitimate for four reasons:

First, and most obvious, Israel is the one Jewish state, and one would assume that American Jews have a moral and emotional commitment to Israel’s welfare, not to mention its survival.

Second, according to various polls, American Jews may be the ethnic or religious group most supportive of the deal. How is that possible?

Third, the vast majority of Israeli Jews oppose the deal. According to Haaretz, Israel’s major left-wing newspaper, only 1 in 10 Israelis support the deal. Yet, at least 50 percent of American Jews support it. Why the discrepancy?

Fourth, even most left-wing Israelis oppose the deal. As Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic reported: “The Iran deal represents one of those rare issues that has unified Israelis of most political parties. And that includes the opposition leader, the head of the Labor Party, Isaac Herzog: ‘Iran,’ Herzog told me, has Israelis — of the ‘left, center and right,’ he said — ‘frightened.’ ”

So, then, in light of the deal’s terrible defects, in light of the specific concerns of Jews, and in light of the nearly universal opposition to the deal among Israeli Jews, why do half of America’s Jews support it?

One answer, given by many American Jewish supporters of the deal, is that they back the deal precisely because they do care about Israel. 

Now, when American Jews with a record of strong support of Israel say this, I believe them.

But, I have two questions for these Jews: 

First, if the deal is good for Israel, why does only 1 in 10 Israelis support it? And how can Jews living in Los Angeles or New York tell 90 percent of Israelis that they know better than Israeli Jews what’s good for Israel? Isn’t that’s what we Jews call chutzpah?

Second, if a Republican president had negotiated this deal, wouldn’t many of these Jewish Democrats — the Jewish supporters of the deal are nearly all Democrats — be opposing it? 

This question is particularly fair in light of the near certainty that most Republicans would oppose it even if the president were a Republican. Of course, a Republican president would never have negotiated a deal that so weakens America’s position in the Middle East and puts Israel in such peril. Also, both Democrats and Republicans would have properly opposed a president of the United States negotiating what is, in fact, a treaty without the constitutional requirement of approval by two-thirds of the Senate.

As for American Jews who don’t have a strong record of support of Israel, it’s hard to believe them now when they say that they believe the deal is good for Israel.

So, then, why do so many American Jews support the deal? 

Because:

• They are loyal to President Obama.

• They have an intense dislike of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

• They have an intense dislike of Republicans. 

• Liberal Jews — the overwhelming majority of American Jews — have come close to embracing pacifism. In theory, they acknowledge a need for war, but in reality, they have opposed virtually every major American military action since the Korean War and favor cutting the military budget. These are the Jews (and non-Jews) who believe the bumper sticker that reads, “War Is Not the Answer.”

There is one other reason for Jewish support for the nuclear agreement. Both Jews and non-Jews often forget that Israel is no longer important to an increasing number of American Jews. Jews are the most left-wing ethnic and religious group in America — in part because Jews are more secular than other American groups and because they attend college in greater numbers — and the more that people embrace a left-wing view of the world, the more hostile to Israel they are likely to become.

There are, therefore, quite a number of American Jews who support the Iran deal for reasons having nothing to do with Israel. They say that they care only about America, and the deal is good for America. But most of these people also believe that pulling all our troops out of Iraq was good for America — and it was a catastrophe for America, and a nightmare for Iraqis and others in the Middle East. In addition, these Jews and non-Jews believe that the answer to evil is negotiation, not confrontation. That there is no historical basis for that belief does not disturb them. They are still singing, “Give peace a chance.”

So, why do many American Jews — including some supporters of Israel — back the Iran deal? For the same reason the minority of American non-Jews support the deal: Their outlook on life has been shaped by the left. 

Dennis Prager’s nationally syndicated radio talk show is heard in Los Angeles from 9 a.m. to noon on KRLA (AM 870). His latest project is the Internet-based Prager University (prageru.com).