The sad reality is that if it weren't for evangelical Christians, Israel would not get away with what it gets away with. If so-called Christians re-discovered the message of Jesus, great evils would lose their life-blood. Will Christians cease vocally supporting the actions of the Israeli and U.S. governments? (See this excerpt from The Way, the Truth and the Sword, Chapter 5: "Christian Militarism.")
Pasted below is merely the beginning of Roberts' great editorial:
In Israel, a country stolen from the Palestinians, fanatics control the government. One of the fanatics is the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Last week Netanyahu called for “crippling sanctions” against Iran.
The kind of blockade that Netanyahu wants qualifies as an act of war. Israel has long threatened to attack Iran on its own but prefers to draw in the US and NATO.
Why does Israel want to initiate a war between the United States and Iran?
Is Iran attacking other countries, bombing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure?
No. These are crimes committed by Israel and the US.
Is Iran evicting peoples from lands they have occupied for centuries and herding them into ghettos?
No, that’s what Israel has been doing to the Palestinians for 60 years.
What is Iran doing?
Iran is developing nuclear energy, which is its right as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran’s nuclear energy program is subject to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which consistently reports that its inspections find no diversion of enriched uranium to a weapons program.
The position taken by Israel, and by Israel’s puppet in Washington, is that Iran must not be allowed to have the rights as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty that every other signatory has, because Iran might divert enriched uranium to a weapons program.
In other words, Israel and the US claim the right to abrogate Iran’s right to develop nuclear energy. The Israeli/US position has no basis in international law or in anything other than the arrogance of Israel and the United States.
The hypocrisy is extreme. Israel is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and developed its nuclear weapons illegally on the sly, with, as far as we know, US help.
Couldn't it be said that the rhetoric used by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (calling Israel the 'little satan' and the U.S. the 'great satan' and threatning to wipe Israel off the map) not to mention his end-times theology, may be enough cause for concern for what their motives might be for attaining nuclear power. And then if this is a valid concern, would it be right for us to stand by and allow them to continue their refining of uranium? Is it enough to take them at their word that they have no ill motives when their hate-speech has been so blatant?
ReplyDeleteJordan, thanks for your great question!
ReplyDeleteI'll address 1) the names they call us, 2) the end-times theology, and 3) the "wipe Israel off the map" comment.
First, the name "Great Satan" was a title given to the U.S. after decades of brutal repression during the Iranian revolution of 1979. Read this post from February for some essential context as to what motivated such a name. (Post: Iranians don't "hate us because we have freedom" http://civicsnews.blogspot.com/2009/02/iranians-dont-hate-us-because-we-have.html)
After considering what they endured it is not surprising that names like Great Satan arise. And considering the endless crimes of the Israeli regime, it's not surprising that they would get the name "little Satan." To be honest, I would apply a similar title to most governments including Iran. The Bible teaches that human governments are Satan's province. It's interesting that the 3 most hated governments in the world are the U.S., Israel, and Iran.
On the end tims theology, I would say that Ahmadinejad is not alone in clinging to a form of eschatological madness. It is Christian Zionism (which good Reformed folks do not buy into, thank goodness!) that sustains the current U.S. Middle East policy. We are supposed to support the persecution and killing of Palestinian children so that Israel remains strong so that the rapture can take place...I'm sure you've heard this whole thing. Nuts. The only difference is that we've acted on our crazy eschatology and he hasn't.
Then, on the "wipe Israel off the map" thing, that is a misquoted and misunderstood statement. I'm no fan of Ahmadinejad (or pretty much any politician), but let's be accurate. The UK Guardian's Jonathan Steele cites four different translations of Ahmadinejad's "wipe Israel off the map" quote, from professors to the BBC to the New York Times and even pro-Israel news outlets, in none of those translations is the word "map" used. It's a horrible translation to English. The closest and most accurate translation to what the Iranian President actually said is, "The regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time," or a narrow relative thereof. In no version is the word "map" used or a context of mass genocide or hostile military action even hinted at. He was voicing the official view of Iran since 1979--that the Israeli government is an occupying power and that elections should be held throughout Israel and the Palestinian territories. (Here's Steele's comments: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/jun/14/post155)
Yes, Ahmadinejad is evil. But clearly the U.S. and Israel are far worse. Usually those with the most power are the worst, so that's no surprise. It is the U.S. and Israel that have threatened to nuke Iran. Iran has never done so. I'm much more concerned about what the real rulers of the world are going to do compared to some powerless loud-mouth in Iran, a country without a significant military.
We have neither legal nor moral legs to stand to violently prohibit Iran from enriching uranium as they've been legally permitted to do.
Also see the following posts on Iran:
http://civicsnews.blogspot.com/2008/07/war-on-iranian-human-beings.html
http://civicsnews.blogspot.com/2008/07/record-on-covert-us-aggression-in-iran.html
http://civicsnews.blogspot.com/2009/06/us-govt-has-only-subverted-iranian.html
Just thought of one more thing, too. Ahmadinejad doesn't even call the shots in Iran anyway.