A front page headline in Monday’s New York Times about the explosion at a major Iranian nuclear facility claimed the “attack could hurt efforts to restart the 2015 deal.” On Tuesday, also on the front page, the newspaper stated that “Israel’s role in Iran’s explosion is casting a shadow over US nuclear talks”
Do you understand? Making a new deal with Iran is a very good thing, anything that hurts the opportunity is very bad, including Israel.
Here’s an alternate view: The Times is still drinking the Kool-Aid that the original Iranian nuclear pact was a success and is worth saving. To go down dead ends, Iran’s violations of conditions and the spread of regional terrorism are irrelevant.
The cult surrounding the Gray Lady deal includes the editorial staff of the newspaper. The Saturday screed, written before the weekend attack, began by saying, “There is now a short period of time” for President Biden to reach a new agreement. The reason: Iranian moderates could be gone by summer. Ah, yes, Iranian moderates, the unicorns that can only see leftists with blinkers. So let’s hurry up and make a deal, any deal.
Of course, The Times spits out a lot of nonsense that is safely ignored, but this time it sings in harmony with Biden. The president is so eager to rejoin the pact that wisely sunk Donald Trump that he is willing to help put the blame on Israel for the sabotage of the underground facility in Natanz. With initial speculation that the US and Israel were cooperating in the attack, as they had in a cyberattack in 2010, the White House quickly denied any role in the operation, cutting all power to the centrifuges. “The US was not involved in any way,” said press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday.
So much for the usual diplomatic ambiguity that would protect an ally and give the US more flexibility when questioned about covert operations in the future.
But Biden clearly has no interest in protecting Israel’s likely role. On the contrary, he has expressed in numerous ways that the full American embrace enjoyed by the Jewish state in the Trump years is a thing of the past.
Indeed, the attempts to break away from Israel and pursue Iran illustrate Biden’s determination to revive the Obama-Biden administration’s foreign policies, even its failures. Chief among them is that Israel is more of an obstacle to peace than a unique friend and ally.
A clear example is that Biden has already given the Palestinians two gifts – hundreds of millions of dollars from the taxpayer and the heckler’s veto over US policy on their dispute with Israel. Trump had partially halted payments because some of the money went to salaries for terrorists’ families. Plus, Palestinian leaders even refused to speak to the Trump team, so why should they be rewarded with US money? They shouldn’t, but, unbelievably, none of these issues seem to bother Biden. Full speed reverse.
As for the Abraham Accords, the historic alliance between Israel and four Muslim nations, a new State Department spokesman couldn’t even bring himself to say the official name of the agreements. Had Trump been reelected, it likely would have been that the Saudis would have signed their secret Israeli ties and become public, perhaps even agreeing to full diplomatic recognition. That would be an unprecedented seismic shift, but Biden began insulting his government by insulting the crown prince by saying he would only talk to the king.
He also stopped our military support for the kingdom’s war in Yemen against the Houthis, a terror group that has attacked Saudi oil fields.
The Houthis themselves offer a glimpse into Biden’s strange priorities. Although – or perhaps because – the Houthis are primarily financed and armed by Iran, he has removed the terrorist attack Trump inflicted on the group in the closing days of his administration. Trump’s move was a blow to Iran and a gift to Saudi Arabia, and Biden has reversed that. Again, why?
Still, the timing of the explosion in Natanz is important, coming just after the Iranian and US negotiators had their first round of meetings. With much of the Israeli press assuming it was a Mossad operation, the Times and Biden seem to have concluded that the aim was to thwart progress that could lead to a new nuclear pact. They could be right, but here’s another, more likely, possibility. Israel does not trust Biden to get a good deal or that Iran will adhere to any restrictions. Therefore, Israel acted to slow the mullahs’ nuclear program while it had an opening and before it was too late. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, “I will never allow Iran to acquire the nuclear capability to achieve its genocidal goal of eliminating Israel.”
Whether the United States still shares that commitment is unclear. That doubt is a formula for problems that Iran has already encouraged and prompted Israel to act without waiting for US approval or help.
Endless ‘Election Day’
Reader Ruth Cohen is baffled by the battles over early voting and other rules. She writes, “What’s wrong with one election day? People know the date months in advance. They can prepare by registering, providing childcare, someone to take them to the polls if they are disabled. “They can set the alarm to wake up early, eat and get hydrated. Everyone has one birthday, one anniversary; there is a Christmas day. What is the rationale for 12 or 17 days, even to vote for election day within a month? “
Party remained unspoken
Yahoo publishes a detailed story from the Albuquerque Journal about New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham paying $ 62,500 to a former staff member to settle a sexual assault charge. It has been read well, but the story does not say which party the governor belongs to.
That’s how you know she’s a Democrat.
Afraid of the subway
The findings are so self-evident that you wonder why the MTA took the trouble to conduct a poll. Then you remember that City Hall needs another reminder that crime in the subway scares riders and keeps other people off the train. About 72 percent of current passengers say they are “very concerned” about safety. Only 26 percent said they were “satisfied” with the conditions of crime and harassment, down 15 points from September. About 36 percent of those who stopped driving cited crime as the reason.
“Our drivers have sent a clear message,” Interim Transit Chairman Sarah Feinberg told the Post. “If you make the system more secure, [they] will come back. ”The survey of 25,205 people should be a wake-up call that more police are needed. But Mayor de Blasio, his term expiring and the NYPD shrinking, is less interested than ever in doing anything. Remember the survey. the next time officials complain that ridership is well below pre-pandemic levels for good reason.