CNN's star host Christiane Amanpour, like other progressive voices, is mad at Israel for not standing unequivocally by the United States' side against Russia.
This is nothing but dangerous moral grandstanding, that frankly lacks any morsel of morals.
For too many years, the West has been prostrating in front of Iran although it is the most murderous actor in the Middle East and despite its actions and proxies having killed hundreds of thousands and displacing millions all the way from Yemen to Syria.
This happens despite Iran being the cause of Lebanon’s collapse through its Hezbollah proxy. This happens despite pro-Iranian militias making every effort to expand the destruction to Iraq. This happens despite Iran publicly announcing its stated goal to destroy Israel time and again.
All this notwithstanding, the West intends to sign a new nuclear deal with Tehran that will make it much more dangerous to most Middle Eastern nations.
Trade between the European Union and Iran stood at about four billion euros in exports and about seven hundred million in imports in recent years. In 2017-2018, that figure stood at about 20 billion euros. This declivity is not an outgrowth of any moral reasoning, but crippling U.S. sanctions.
A new nuclear deal will restore Iran's economic might, which will, in turn, augment destructive power.
Worse still is the fact that on every international arena — from the UN and UNESCO to the Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization — the Western bloc joins, for the most part, the abject condemnations initiated by shady regimes.
In the UN Human Rights Council alone, Israel has been condemned 95 times since 2006 as opposed to 11 condemnations of Iran. The UN General Assembly, meanwhile, has condemned Jerusalem 125 times since 2015, compared to just six for Tehran. Are these international morals or international antisemitism?
Israel finds itself facing Iran with the backing of Sunni Arab states. To this end, Jerusalem most likely holds secret understandings with Russia which allow it to strike at the Iranian forces trying to entrench themselves in war-torn Syria.
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Diplomats of the EU, China, Russia and Iran at the start of talks on a U.S. return to the 2015 nuclear deal
(Photo: AFP)
But Amanpour has a demand that seeks to undermine those understandings under the guise of "morality”. In her view, it doesn't matter if her "moral" stance would serve to make this axis of evil much more powerful. It doesn't matter if Hezbullah obtains precision missiles that can inflict greater damage to Israel, and it doesn't matter if this all results in much, much more Israeli casualties. It simply doesn't matter.
The West is rightly concerned about Russia, but how come it closes its eyes in the face of the Iranian threat? Where is the morality here exactly? Turning a blind eye to the situation effectively equates to abandoning the people of the Middle East — Muslims and Jews alike.
This pacified approach leads to a disgraceful deal with Iran that will only serve to expand the Islamic republic’s death industry. We must fight Russian aggression. But why are those going against Russia, and rightly so, are also those waving a white flag when it comes to Iran?
There’s no arguing that the U.S. is Israel’s most important ally, Russia is the aggressor, and Ukraine is the victim. That is why Israel joined the UN’s condemnation of Moscow. But that wasn't enough to appease Amanpour and her ilk.
However, Israel must continue in its fight against the most murderous actor in the Middle East. This is not just an Israeli interest, it's also an American interest and of every decent human being in the Middle East and the West.
As an ally, the U.S. is supposed to understand this and that freedom of action that allows undercutting Iran's might is a moral imperative that Jerusalem simply cannot give up on, and if it means the Israeli government must walk on eggshells vis-à-vis Moscow, so be it.
And another thing, had a harsher Israeli stance against Russia actually led to a turning point, then it should have employed a different policy. But it is clear that halting Israeli operations against Iran on Syrian soil would only lead to more bloodshed and destruction.
Given these circumstances, Israel is taking the moral approach. The only ones having a moral lapse are those seeking to sabotage the war on Iran’s murderous machinations.