Suppose the Israeli defense establishment, the prime minister, and the inner security cabinet decide that Iran’s uranium enrichment at 84 percent, close to what’s needed for a nuclear weapon, and its progress in weaponizing a warhead is making a nuclear breakout imminent. They share the information with their ally, the United States, which has promised…
Author: Eric R. Mandel, opinion contributor
Progressives and fiscal hawks may cut future funding for Israel
Every 10 years, Republican and Democratic administrations, with the support of Congress, sign a memorandum of understanding to assist Israel’s ability to defend itself and, at the same time, they financially strengthen the American defense industry by requiring that all money spent stays in the United States. Even President Obama’s animosity toward Prime Minister Benjamin…
The risk of failing to enforce sanctions on Iran
Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, America has been loath to carry out military actions in the Middle East. In its place, the State Department and Congress have chosen economic sanctions as a primary tool of American foreign policy to influence and punish rogue nations, organizations, corporations and individuals. Unfortunately, enacting sanctions and enforcing…
Two major factors could alter Iran’s protest movement
Iran’s five-month protest is more serious than any since 1979, and one that’s against not only economic suffering and government corruption but also the very nature of the country’s Islamic regime. Could Iran’s Supreme Leader and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an arm of the Iranian Armed Forces, believe that a strike by Israel…
Why Rand Paul should change his stance on Iran
One of the leaders of the Iranian activists with whom I work asked me who was the lone Republican senator to block Senate Resolution 47. The resolution reaffirmed American support “for the Iranian citizens who have taken to the streets in peaceful protest for their fundamental human rights, and [condemned] the Iranian security forces for…
Remember ISIS? It’s why Biden must stop a Turkish invasion of Kurdish Syria
In 2019, against the advice of many foreign policy and defense officials, President Trump abandoned our Syrian Kurdish allies, who were front-line in helping us eradicate the ISIS caliphate. Trump acquiesced to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s invasion, which caused an estimated 300,000 Kurds to become refugees. The Kurdish forces lost 11,000 fighters in the…
Americans cannot look away from what’s happening in Iran
For nearly 10 months, the American media have kept front and center the Ukrainian people’s plight and desire to be free of Vladimir Putin’s aggression. It is a credit to them that they have kept their focus on an issue that has profound security implications for America and the world. However, an equally compelling quest…
The US-Saudi ties are more critical than Biden’s spat with the crown prince
The personal feud between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who may become king for the next 50 years, and President Joe Biden, uprooting 80 years of cooperation between the countries, threatens to undermine the interests of both nations during a time of fragile international relations. For many years, the formula was Saudi…
Is the Biden administration about to put the Abraham Accords at risk?
Which is more important to President Biden, rejoining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or strengthening the Abraham Accords between Israel and its Arab neighbors? There should be little doubt that Biden has shown he prioritizes the Iran nuclear agreement. But does that mean the death knell for the two-year-old Abraham Accords if the…
Biden should prepare for the return of Netanyahu
Israeli elections are sometimes decided weeks before the actual election. This year is no different, but it has a new twist. Polls have shown the likelihood of a deadlocked election, with no party able to form a coalition of 61 seats. But something dramatic, and under the American radar, happened on Sept. 15 that significantly…