Once again, it’s ‘peace in our time’

Last Tuesday, we woke up to a different world, to the moment to which history will most likely point an accusing finger.

This deal with Iran? It’s a great deal — for Iran, not for the rest of the world. Certainly not for Israel or Sunni Muslims in the Middle East.

President Obama says, “the world has become safer,” and I wonder whether this phrase will become our era’s equivalent of Chamberlain’s illausory “peace in our time” after the Munich Agreement.

I just finished reading Daniel Gordis’ book, “Menachem Begin: The Battle for Israel’s Soul.” Looking back, there were plenty of skeptics (myself included) who not only felt that making a treaty with Egypt was a stupid move, but also a betrayal. To be sure, it was a great risk. The test of time has proven it was a risk worth taking. Peace, albeit a cold peace, has endured 36 years so far.

A part of me wants to believe that this deal with Iran that was signed, sealed and delivered in Vienna is similar in climate and effect to Begin’s deal with Sedat, and that the people in favor of the agreement who characterize those who oppose it as simply hysterical in their reaction are right. Unfortunately, this deal feels like the first formal step toward a nuclear world in the hands of lunatic mullahs.

It might be argued that in the short term the merit of this agreement lies not in disarmament but in buying time, so that as Iran’s nuclear program is slowed down and Iran becomes part of the community of nations, it will change and eventually learn to engage with the world in a constructive and diplomatic way. Which might be the case, if we weren’t talking about nefarious Iran, whose sole goal is terror and domination, as the Iranian leadership itself explicitly says.

Just last week, in the throes of negotiations, came Iran’s Al Quds Day. Its theme was the destruction of Israel, as well as the burning of Obama in effigy. Think America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade devoted to articulating dreams of murder, destruction and world domination.