Together, we can make this deal a better deal.
Advertisement
For Booker, there is no middle ground here, no compromise. Harper is no friend of Israel, nor of Jewish values, when he endorses Israel’s right-wing government in its drift toward catastrophe.
We fear the world we will leave our children if this deal is approved.
Complicating the matter is Booker’s race and his own sense of religious pluralism. The Republican majority is unanimously opposed to it, so the Obama administration is focusing its efforts on ensuring that enough Democrats support it to sustain a presidential veto. During Operation Protective Edge last summer, Obama reminded Israel that he could endanger the tiny state in the middle of war by refusing to resupply its military, and his FAA isolated Israel by imposing a ban on flights to Israel after just thirteen days of conflict (it took about three years of war in Syria for the FAA to take the same action there).
For the real consequential military “goodies” that Israel needs, there will be a quid pro quo: bend to our vision of resolving the conflict or pay the price.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Israel that it could find itself more isolated and more blamed by the global community if the deal did not gain the approval of U.S. lawmakers.
Nevertheless, as Israel’s former foreign minister, Shlomo Ben Ami pointed out recently, “Netanyahu is an ideologue of Jewish catastrophe”. He is also the author of “The Arab Gulf States and Reform in the Middle East” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
I organized the letter with my colleague Rabbi Kalman Topp to demonstrate to congress the overwhelming opinion of Jewish rabbinic and communal leadership on the Iran deal. While Menendez’s opposition to the nuclear deal was hardly a surprise, it set up an obvious question: What will Booker do? “Every time they get more information – the less they like the deal”.
In public statements, Booker has not offered any clue of his feelings, either. They say Obama’s agreement makes too many concessions to Iran and could actually enable that country to become a nuclear-armed state. The blogger just doesn’t like facts that contradict his views. And so far he has issued only vague comments.
Dozens of prominent figures, many of whom have spent time in jail and faced travel or work bans, have recorded short video clips on social media sites this week praising the July 14 accord that will lift global sanctions from Iran in exchange for strict curbs on its nuclear programme. I met others who spoke very cautiously.
What that “high standard” will be is anybody’s guess.
It would seem that Iran is using the U.S. government as a playground, not Israel. Unlike the Saudis, Qatar and Oman have been more positive about the deal, even behind closed doors, with some leaders expressing the view that it could open a new chapter in relations between Iran and the Gulf States. Several progressive Jewish groups have openly backed the White House. Even Boteach said he has no idea about Booker’s feelings. The alternative is a pre-emptive attack on Iran or the collapse of worldwide sanctions and Irans unimpeded pursuit of nuclear capability.
“I don’t think this letter will sway anything”, he said. “He’s a Democratic senator and has a close relationship with the administration”. Boteach wrote. “Rather than judging Cory, the Jewish community should empathize with the hard choice ahead of him”.
In the private sector, we are blessed with Canadian philanthropists such as Barry Sherman, chairman and CEO of Apotex, who has reportedly donated tens of millions of dollars to many worthwhile Jewish charities and causes. On another occasion, according to Barak, American military maneuvers conducted in the region prevented an Israeli military move against Iran.
Also speaking at the rally were Councilman David Greenfield (D-Brooklyn), State Senator Jesse Hamilton (who wore a colorful yarmulke to his head), Jacob Goldstein, Chaplain Colonel (Ret.) of the US Armed Forces, and Devorah Halberstam, the mother of the late Ari Halberstam, who was killed in the terrorist shooting on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994.
Such is the perilous path Cory Booker is now walking.
Advertisement
Grayson said he was undecided about how he would vote on this deal, since either rejecting or approving it poses serious risks. And unless he abstains from voting, Booker will have to declare his allegiances at some point.
