By Josh Weizel – Editorial Editor

There have been conflicts in the Middle East for decades. With the rise of radical extremism and fundamentalism, Iran has been part of the regional conflict. By building up its ballistic nuclear weapons system it has endangered the region, and ultimately, the world. Israel was established for the Jewish people after the Holocaust and is the original homeland of the Jews. Israeli leaders are deeply concerned about Iran possessing nuclear weapons because it would threaten its security.

The history of 20th century foreign policy – from the Truman doctrine and to Ronald Reagan’s policy of sending arms to nations controlled by the Soviet Union – was a policy of engagement and diplomacy in our national interests. Throughout the Cold War, the United States had an organized strategy and consistent foreign policy to defeat the Soviet Union.  All presidents during the Cold War understood that military aggression would only make the conflict worse, but diplomacy had to be on our terms and in the interest of our nation.

So, it is sad and disappointing that we do not have a president or any political leader now that represents the national interests of our nation and its allies in the region. It’s time to have political leaders in foreign policy in both parties that represent our national interest in the world. President Obama has an extremely inconsistent foreign policy. His military intervention in Libya turned out to be a debacle. The presidency of George W. Bush was also inconsistent on foreign policy. For example, he did not have a multicultural, clear and defined mission or strategy in the war in Iraq. He also failed dramatically in preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

There will be those who argue that President Obama is being criticized unfairly and that he is only trying to use diplomacy to prevent war and further conflicts. These individuals make valid points, but what they fail to realize is that no one is against diplomacy – what they’re against is diplomacy that enriches and strengthens our enemies. Why would an American president agree to a deal that lifts energy sanctions on a government with no real restrictions on its nuclear program and would allow any restrictions on its nuclear program be time limited? Why would an American president appease a nation that is a state sponsor of terrorism and consistently denies the existence of the Holocaust? Why would an American president agree to a deal that undermines the security of our greatest ally – Israel?

Individuals against this diplomatic deal are not necessarily against diplomacy, as the Obama administration claims. The deal’s opponents are against a diplomatic deal that is against our national interests and allows Iran to continue enriching uranium so it can develop nuclear weapons. They believe that it is unacceptable to have any deal that just slows down Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Instead, there must be a deal that prevents Iran from having any capability at all to develop nuclear weapons. This is because it is unacceptable for a country that is a state sponsor of terrorism to even have the capability to develop nuclear weapons.  President Obama acts like he is a peacemaker and he charges his opponents as war mongers, but appeasing Iran will only force us into war in the future and will give us no choice but to use military action. If we have strong diplomacy that forces Iran to stop nuclear capabilities the world will be safer in the future.

There is middle ground on this issue and no one is arguing for World War III. We should keep the existing sanctions on Iranian oil and trade to isolate it from the world community. In fact, these sanctions should be increased. Sanctions have already worked in moving Iran in the gradual direction toward a more democratic country and have led to the overthrow of the extremist dictator Malamud Ahmadinejad, who was replaced by the more moderate Hassan Rouhani. This is because the public blamed the government for the crumbling Iranian economy caused by the sanctions, not the United States. There are those who will argue it is time to decrease the sanctions since there is now a more moderate leader in power, but the United States should not lessen the sanctions until Iran gets rid of its capacity to have a nuclear weapons and stops producing uranium.

The United States should at least keep current sanctions in place because there is a moral obligation to stand up for freedom and democracy around the world and Iran remains a nation that oppresses the rights of individuals and journalists to speak against the regime. The principles in the United States Declaration of Independence and Constitution are universal and apply to men and woman longing to be free and independent of tyranny everywhere. It is the responsibility of the United States to stand up for those who long to be free and enjoy liberty. The goal of those of all political persuasions should be to have a more peaceful world where there are no nuclear weapons, but peace cannot come from appeasement. It must come through policies of strength and standing up for human rights and values of western civilization. It’s time that the United States stand with Israel since it is the only nation in the Middle East with any values of democracy and human rights, and Israel represents the values of our nation. Israel must remain in existence because it is the only hope for democracy in the Middle East and stability in that region. When Democrats chose to boycott the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it was deplorable because when you are in a position of public service it is your responsibility to respect and hear what your allies have to say, no matter what your personal feelings are.

Extreme leftist Congressional Democrats are being insensitive to the thousands of Christians who are being seized from their homes and being forced to subject to Islamic rule. The Democrats are signaling that they don’t care about increasing anti-Semitism in Europe and don’t care if Jews cannot even feel safe in a French Kosher deli without being slaughtered. If the United States wants to confront the issue of anti-Semitism, then our political leaders must respect Israel and show respect for the Israeli prime minister who wants nothing but survival of his nation and the Jewish people. Individuals might see this as emotional collectivism because of the Holocaust, but it could not be farther from the truth because the threat of radical Islam is not only a threat to Israel and Jews everywhere, but also moderate Arab nations in the Middle East. Some may see this editorial as prejudice against Muslims because of the lack of political correctness because of the use of the words radical Islam but that could not be farther from the truth. The argument is against extreme Islam and not moderate Muslims because moderate Muslims reject this literal view of the Koran. We are in a battle of good against evils with the values of freedom of expression and religion of western civilization the and the values of a death cult which preaches taking away freedom of expression and freedom of religion and enforcing those values on all of us. We are in a fundamental battle that is equivalent to the evils of fascism and communism and it is our responsibility to stand up against evil.

History repeats itself and we study it to prevent past historical mistakes from occurring again. The same damaging historical mistakes that were made before World War II are being made now. Before that war there were political leaders in the U.S. Congress who did not want to fight the evils of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan and there was a leader in Great Britain called Winston Churchill who warned about the evils of Nazi Germany. He challenged previous Great Britain Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who wanted to appease the Nazis. The dangerous Policy of Isolationism, during World War II, led to the Blitz invasion of Great Britain and the Pearl Harbor Attack on the United States by Japan. In the present time, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is warning about the dangers of Islamic extremism and a nuclear Iran, while the current-day Neville Chamberlain, President Obama, is seeking appeasement with a thuggish and terrorist nation. What is frightening is that there are so many familiar trends. President Franklin Roosevelt’s refusal during World War II to meet with more than four hundred rabbis about the Nazi persecutions of Jews in Europe was just as shameful as President Obama’s refusing to meet with Netanyahu about the possibility of a modern day holocaust. If the current policy does not change and our political leaders do not wake up there will be a modern holocaust in the Middle East of great magnitude. Israel is the last hope for the survival of the Jewish race because it is the only Jewish nation to exist on the Earth since millions of European Jews died in the Holocaust. It’s important that we stand up to Islamic extremism because it is not only a threat to the survival of Israel, but also to the survival of Christianity in the Middle East and all those who value human freedom and dignity.

(Some information courtesy cnbc.com, wymanistitute.org, nationalreview.com, and gatesoneinstiute.com)