What ‘s Henry Johnson got to do with War with Iran? Simple, Trump couldn’t stand a Black man’s accomplishments. Johnson was a war hero but Trump had to remove his name from Army installations. Barach Obama was a Black president who signed a nuclear treaty with Iran that was working too well – it was repeatedly verified that Iran was sticking within treaty limits – so Trump repudiated it in his first term. I just got an analysis by a former state department official pointing out that the need to bomb Iranian nuclear installations was the direct result of Trump’s cancellation of Obama’s treaty with Iran. With the treaty cancelled, Iran could break out of treaty limits, giving Mr. Trump an excuse to bomb Iran.
Trump is also responsible for Israel’s behavior. Netanyahu couldn’t have behaved like a war-loving yahu without Trump’s encouragement – moving the Israeli capital to Jerusalem and promising him complete support. Netanyahu violated the ancient biblical injunction not to wrong the “stranger [who] resides with you in your land.” Leviticus continues:
The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt
But Israel has been trying to clear the land of Palestinians for those they call “settlers,” Jews who want to live there. Israel has been trying to remove Palestinians from their homes in Gaza and the West Bank for decades despite contrary decisions by the Israeli Supreme Court. Taking land by conquest is appalling behavior, though common in world history. And most people violate some aspects of the teachings of their faiths. But the result has been constant injury and irritation of the Palestinian population.
I have no idea whether Israel could have treated the Palestinians in a way which would have produced a cordial relationship, but it seems to me that America’s continued military support of Israel and our refusal to put any breaks on Israeli behavior, has fanned the flames of all three parties to this conflict.
My wife and I are in tears. We have friends among all the parties – people with deep roots in Israel, Iran and Palestine – and don’t want to see anyone get hurt. Plus, living in New York, we know that we and many of the people we care about are vulnerable to terrorism. None of this was necessary but for the arrogance of a president who despises any real knowledge and treats Americans as subjects whose only duty is to be prepared to die for his glory.
Let me take the consequences a step further. War in the Middle East has been disastrous – in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and will be in Israel, Palestine and Iran.
Friction over displacement of Palestinians for Jewish “settlers” irritates the entire Muslim world. Shiite Iran dealt with its isolation in the Sunni Middle East by funding opposition to Israel though Jews lived largely peacefully in Iran since biblical times.
Being “number 1” doesn’t mean we can have whatever we want. Terrorists repeatedly made U.S. vulnerability clear with strikes in New York, Washington, and across the U.S. Trump’s approach will hurt many, plus we’ll all also pay at the gas pump and in the grocery stores.
None of this was necessary. We need brains at the White House – not just tough and loose talk.
Steve Gottlieb’s latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.
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