Opinions

Letters to the Editor: East Rockaway, Lynbrook

Aug. 13-19, 2015

Posted

Cannot support Iran deal

Rabbi Andrew Warmflash sent the following letter to Congresswoman Kathleen Rice and senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. He shared it with the Herald:


In a few weeks, our elected representatives will be asked to vote on the Iran deal, one of the most critical pieces of legislation to come before them in our lifetimes.

Because of the importance of this issue, both to the United States and the State of Israel, I want to share my view on it with you. However, please understand that I am only speaking for myself. Our synagogue has no mechanism for taking positions on issues like this, and I am sure that there is no unanimity of opinion among our members on it.
As someone who believes deeply that negotiations are the best way to resolve conflict, and who understands that you must sometimes negotiate with your bitterest enemies in order to achieve a peaceful resolution, I would really like to be able to support the Iran deal. Unfortunately, I cannot.
I oppose it principally because I believe that it will legitimize and empower the murderous Iranian regime without insuring for certain that they will not be able to get nuclear weapons. It will provide them with a financial windfall that will likely be used to fund terrorism in the Middle East, enabling them to continue working towards their often-reiterated goals of destroying Israel, dominating the region and threatening the United States.
Given Iran’s history of nuclear duplicity, and their unwillingness to agree to anytime-anywhere inspections, it seems likely they are planning to cheat on the agreement. If they do so, it is not at all clear that our country would be able to get the agreement from our partners that we would need to “snap back” the sanctions currently in place, much less increase them.
Whatever your position is on the Iran deal, I urge you to reach out to your elected officials, as I have done. Even though they have already taken public positions on the issue, it is important for them to hear from us and they will likely participate in two important votes in the coming month: First a vote on the deal itself, and then on a vote to override a presidential veto if the first vote is negative.

Rabbi Andrew Warmflash
East Rockaway