Obama Trusted Iran — Israel Didn’t – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

Israel’s massive strike on Iran’s nuclear program, codenamed “Operation Rising Lion,” is a stunning rebuke to the Obama (and later Biden) administration’s nuclear deal with the Mullahs. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a Churchillian-like address to his nation and the world, said that Iran was perhaps months away from producing at least nine atomic bombs that threatened Israel’s very survival. “Israel will never allow those who call for our annihilation to develop the means to achieve that goal,” he said. The Jewish state, he continued, “backed those words with action.”

Israel’s attack targeted every aspect of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, including Iran’s nuclear enrichment factories, key military leaders, military bases, nuclear scientists, and Iran’s ballistic missile facilities.

Action, as the saying goes, speaks louder than words. Former President Barack Obama was famous for giving “great” speeches. Indeed, the political phenomenon of Obama was essentially rhetorical, with very little substance to back his words. If he wasn’t the “empty chair” of actor Clint Eastwood’s brilliant stunt at the 2012 Republican convention, he was an “empty suit.” That was no more evident than in what his supporters called Obama’s great foreign policy achievement: the nuclear deal with Iran.

The nuclear deal was officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and instead of submitting it to the Senate as a treaty for ratification, Obama made it an executive agreement that didn’t require Senate approval. He did that because he likely knew that the Senate would balk at approving a sham nuclear deal that gave formal sanction to Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons. The “deal” was signed by China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States, and Iran. (RELATED: Iran’s President Says Iran Does Not Want the Nuclear Bomb. Who Believes That?)

You may recall that Obama began his presidency with an apology tour in the Middle East, where he attempted to cozy up to Israel’s enemies and blamed America for its many misdeeds in the region. Obama said the U.S. sought a “new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world,” and went on to quote the Koran to show our common interests with the Muslim world.

Obama seemed to believe that his words could heal political divisions and geopolitical conflicts. He championed the Arab Spring even as it produced chaos and anarchy. He removed sanctions on Iran. None of this produced any change in Iran’s behavior; indeed, this appeasement of Iran likely encouraged the Mullahs to ramp up their efforts to further destabilize the region. Obama’s words didn’t stop the Mullahs from chanting “death to Israel” and “death to America.”

Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran was never going to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program, as critics pointed out at the time and later. Obama, the rhetorical president, relied on the supposed transformational character of words instead of actions to produce results. This is what happens when a constitutional law professor and community organizer is propelled into the presidency.

Israel’s leaders are anything but amateurs. Most of them have been molded by military experience and years of dealing with existential enemies around them and in their midst. They knew that Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran was flawed. They cannot rely on words to protect their small, vulnerable country. Netanyahu acted because inaction would threaten Israel’s existence, and he pledged to continue the attacks “for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.” It is really that simple. But, as Clausewitz said, in war, even simple things are difficult.

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