As the wealthiest, most powerful western democracy in the world, does the United States of America have a special responsibility to advance the well-being of people and countries around the world?

Climate Change, Climate Activism, and Climate Leadership

The climate hasn’t been playing nicely lately. In response, numerous governments, and armies of activists across the globe, are trying to do something about it. Afterall, we all live on the same planet, and the stability, or instability of the climate, impacts everyone, children and grandchildren included. In that context, one can ask: Does the United States have a special responsibility to lead the global effort to address the climate threat facing us all?

If your answer is in the affirmative, then I ask you to consider the following:

As of this moment, the United States has amassed an enormous array of offensive and defensive military capabilities in the Middle East, and they are all pointed at one target, the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Does this moment make any sense? Any sense for America, any sense for the Middle East, any sense for the world? As a blue and white Israeli born and raised in red, white, and blue America, it’s clear to me that this moment, and what is likely coming, makes crystal clear sense. This is why:

Iran: Jihadi Twelver Islam

Just like the United States has core values and principles that reside in the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the general ethos of America, the same is true for the Islamic Republic of Iran. At the heart of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s very existence are religious values and a sacred mission rooted in a specific type of Islam, Twelver Shiite Islam. The official ideology of the Islamic Republic, Twelver Islam, is predicated on  Jihad, a holy war apocalyptic vision that sees the Ayatollah led regime in Tehran as bound and empowered by Allah to bring the entire world to accept Islam as the ultimate source of salvation for all mankind, and to recognize the dominion of the twelfth and final Imam when he reveals himself. Note: This is about the revelation, or the coming out of hiding, of the last great Islamic leader who already walks amongst us. And make no mistake, this twelfth Imam will make sure that every Ivy League student in America orders a prayer rug on Amazon and turns to Mecca in prayer. This singularly focused vision drives Iran’s leaders to wage a war of Jihad—for mankind’s own good!—against Communism, democracies in Europe and America, pagans—like Hindus for example—Judeo-Christian and Western values, and of course the middle eastern vanguard of most of the above: the Jewish state of Israel. For the Islamic (Twelver) Republic of Iran, the winning of ALL Muslims to pure Twelver Islam, the destruction of Israel, and the replacement of Christian, progressive, and democratic value systems with Islamic values and Sharia law, is not merely a strategic geo-political goal, but a divine requirement of the highest order, and a necessary step toward fulfilling their eschatological destiny.

According to this belief system, the glorification of suicide bombing and 72 virgin crowned martyrdom, the waging of Jihad by any means, the use of child soldiers and civilians as human shields, the sowing of global chaos, and the development and support of all forms of Jihad based terror, even by non-Twelver muslims like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and others, are all necessary, viable, and sacred tactics for realizing the ultimate goal and mission.

It is this thoroughly religious foundation that makes Iran immune to the western and American notion of diplomacy and negotiation. For the Islamic Republic of Iran, the very idea of peace is not a value, aspiration, or goal. Its mission and destiny can’t ever be on the negotiating table, period. Iran only “negotiates” so that it can survive to fight and win another day. For this reason, all art-of-the-deal efforts have no chance of success because the very concept of compromise is anathema to the Ayatollah led world view. The Islamic Republic is about one thing and one thing only, the conquering of the world for Allah. The Islamic Republic’s right to the ongoing development of brutally lethal ballistic missile systems, coupled with it’s determination to develop nuclear weapons, and its founding, funding, exporting, and training of Jihadi forces in Gaza, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and the West Bank, as well as sleeper cells in America and Europe, can’t be negotiated away any more than you or I can negotiate away our right to breathe. While the American government may be “Of the people, by the people and for the people,” the Islamic leadership in Iran is not for “it’s people,” it’s only for it’s mission. To the extent that the Supreme Leader cares about the well-being of the people in Iran—or about it’s economy, it’s scientific and technological development, or any other aspects of national life, it’s only as a means for advancing and achieving its great, overarching Jihadi-Twelver mission.

Regime Change, Student Activism, Cain, and Abel

Every single climate change activist on every campus anywhere in the world should be loudly and actively advocating for regime change in Iran because once those Twelvers couple their Allah Akbar ideology with ballistic and nuclear weapons, the only climate left might be that of a nuclear winter or an Arabian desert. Similarly, anyone and everyone that has ever marched for BLM should be on the streets of every western capital demanding that ILM, Iranian Lives Matter too. Americans know how to bring outrage to the streets when the rights of innocents are trampled. In recent weeks, the Iranian regime has slaughtered over thirty thousand innocent civilians and wounded thousands more. Their crime? Demanding liberation from the chokehold of the Ayatollah led, Twelver inspired, Jihad crusading regime that, via the bloody iron fist of the Islamic Republic Guard Corps (IRGC), rules from Tehran.

One of Judaism’s first lessons to all people is the assertion of responsibility for our fellow human beings. When Cain was asked about the whereabouts of his dead brother Abel, he replied that, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” To which God said—or perhaps thundered, “The blood of your brother cries out to me from the ground!”

Here’s the bottom line: Nothing could be better for the people of Iran, for the Middle East, for Israel, Europe, America, and the world, than the end of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The same goes for Gazans. Only when the Twelver masterminds and master funders from Iran are decapitated, and only once the Muslim Brotherhood-Hamas masters that rule from behind children and hospitals in Gaza have their Jihadi arms and legs cut off, will there be any hope for a better future. Is the realization of that hope guaranteed? Of course not. Is it worth the risk? Damn right it is. And here’s the thing: The Jews of Israel, and all Israelis, have the most skin in this game and the most to lose, and yet, even in the face of what will likely be a ballistic barrage from Iran, and possibly hundreds of missiles from Hezbollah in Lebanon, we have no doubt that this moment is an unprecedented opportunity for a very different type of future for the Middle East than one living under a bloodstained cloud of Twelver ballistic and nuclear capabilities.

Western Courage and American Leadership

And so, the question—

As the wealthiest, most powerful western democracy in the world, does the United States of America have a special responsibility to advance the well-being of people and countries around the world?

The answer is contained in the words immortalized by the great Stan Lee, “With great power comes great responsibility.” In the early 1940’s, Nazi Germany was rolling towards world domination of the most horrific kind. Had it not been for American intervention, belated though it may have been, France, England, and the United States may have ended up as subservient stars on some grotesque Nazi world flag.

Today, the world stands threatened again, and the United States is poised to be the historic difference maker. Is there a chance of losses? Of course. Because the Jihadi folks that brought America 9/11, brought London 7/11, and brought Israel 10/7, will certainly do all they can to immortalize a few more days for Allah. Yes, there may be American losses of men and material. There may be Saudi losses of oil production. There might be a temporary spike in the price of gasoline in Ohio, North Carolina, and Paris, and there might be losses in Israel. God knows that while to Ali Khamenei America is the great Satan and Israel is just the little Satan, when it comes to targeting, the Israeli home front has the biggest target of all on its back. And yet, those of us who are stocking up on some extra supplies and wondering if next week Purim will be celebrated in our shelters or not, believe that this moment must be seized because—

Because we have no doubt that the remake of the ancient Persian threat in the time of Queen Esther to “kill, obliterate, and annihilate the Jews” is a film none of us wants to star in. Indeed, we are confident that just like we outlived the henchmen of Persia then, all our enemies since, and have gone on to do our responsible best to contribute to the well-being of mankind, that once again, with the fall of a regime in Iran, something good will emerge. Because—

Because of the Hope of Peace

To the utter dismay of Jihadi Twelver Islam, and to the utter dismay of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Hamas, ISIS, the Houthis, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and others, Israel has peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. Additionally, via the Abraham Accords, Israel has fruitful, mutually beneficial relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. We Israelis know; we know that risks are necessary, that enemies must be confronted, that battles need to be waged, and that when the enemies of all that Israel and the West represent fall, fresh hope for peace and progress for all people rises. And so, from Jerusalem we say: Happy Purim, and God Bless America. And from the people of Israel, and hopefully from the suddenly silent college students across America, we say to the brave students on the campuses of Iran, “Yes. We are our brothers’ keeper.”

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)