When Too Early Is Dangerously Counterproductive

Feedback is to writers what gasoline is to cars, and I am always delighted when my articles manage to evoke strong emotions. Though I obviously prefer when readers agree with me, critical letters prove that someone took the time to read what I wrote and that my arguments were food for thought and perhaps even for a dinner conversation.

As I had expected and hoped, last week’s column, in which I condemned Israeli Premier Netanyahu’s plan to address Congress, elicited very strong reactions. Some readers expressed their praise, including one who told me that “this is the first time I have ever agreed with anything you wrote.” Others were highly displeased, including one fellow who wrote a lengthy letter to Hamodia expressing his outrage and pleading with the paper to “retract the writer’s silly words, and very harshly….”

Whether or not Hamodia will choose to do so remains to be seen, but in the meanwhile, here are some excerpts of the letter — which was forwarded to me — followed by my response:

“Thank you for your publication of Hamodia. I must admit that I am personally not a weekly reader; however, most of my family reads your paper weekly.

“Last night, at a melaveh malkah, someone spoke of an article in the past issue by Avi Klar …

“I must beg forgiveness; this was the first editorial or op-ed I have ever read in Hamodia. Please know that this op-ed piece stinks from self-hate and from easily knocking someone else…

“The writer compares the prime minister of Jewish ‎Eretz Yisrael to our president here. If the writer is ignorant, that is fine — but how did you allow this?

“Mr. Obama is being rebuked across the entire country (medinah shel chessed) and across the free world as soft on terror (that is a mild word) and one who has been and is fearful, afraid, or for other reasons has forbidden the use of the words ‘Islamic terror’ by his entire government body. Everyone in the entire world, including each small child (ben chamesh l’mikra) knows that President Obama has refused to ‎further sanction Iran over the nuclear talks and has asked that all sanctions be lifted.

“Instead, he is endangering the world by placing sanctions on Russia!

“On the contrary, our prime minister, who is living with the threat ‎of a nuclear bomb which can chas v’shalom wipe out Israel and millions of Yidden in one instant, Hashem yerachem, is asking the world to wake up at every opportunity he has. Since President Obama has refused to listen or act, [Netanyahu] immediately grabbed ‎the opportunity to address the world.

“Now that this has become a major headline and non-protocol, the entire free world will hear what our Prime Minister Netanyahu says and perhaps they will begin to comprehend and act accordingly. To compare a Yid who is fighting for pikuach nefesh to a lame [duck] president is beyond anyone’s comprehension…”

Now, as for my response:

First of all, I must disagree with the term “our prime minister.”

As I read those words I recalled the time when Hagaon Harav Ovadiah Yosef, zt”l, was sitting shivah for his son Harav Yaakov Yosef, a great talmid chacham in his own right, and Netanyahu came to the shivah. Rav Ovadiah told the premier that as greatly as he mourns the loss of his son, he is even more pained by Netanyahu’s government passing a law that drafts yeshivah bachurim.

Much to Rav Ovadiah’s anguish, Netanyahu didn’t even have the decency to respond.

No, my dear friend. Netanyahu isn’t “our” prime minister, and hopefully soon he won’t be anyone else’s, either.

In addition, while there is much room to criticize President Obama’s foreign policy, this letter writer simply doesn’t have his facts right when it comes to Iran sanctions. The president has made it clear that unless a deal is struck that ensures that Tehran will not be able to make a bomb, the sanctions the GOP is pushing for will be put in place anyway.

All that the White House is waiting for is a little time to see if a permanent deal can be worked out. In the meanwhile, while the interim is far from perfect, it is a great improvement over what was transpiring before the negotiations began.

The interim deal froze progress on their nuclear program, rolled back in some cases the stockpiles of material that the Iranians had already accumulated, and provided America with unprecedented insight into their program. For the first time, America has people on the ground who are able to verify and inspect and tell what, exactly, is going on.

This is something that the Israeli intelligence officials confirm as well.

So far the agreement has held, and no ground has been lost. Most importantly, because of the current negotiations — at long last the world is united on pressuring Iran — for the first time, even China and Russia have joined the American-led efforts.

President Obama has openly admitted that the chances of a permanent deal are probably less than 50/50. But if the talks fall apart because of Iranian obstinacy, there is a reasonable chance that Russia and China will agree to global sanctions that may convince Tehran to back off. But if the talks collapse because Congress decided to prematurely enact new sanctions, it is likely that a peeved Russia and China will provide Iran with the trade it needs to survive the United States’ unilateral sanctions.

Only Hashem knows what is truly best for us, but, when approached from a logical standpoint, the most appropriate hishtadlus is to wait it out a little longer instead of rocking the boat with a premature sanctions bill.

It is likely that if Netanyahu wouldn’t be running for re-election, he might agree. But for Bibi, winning an election is his version of pikuach nefesh. If he would really care about the safety of Jews, he would stay home.

This article appeared in print in the February 4th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.