{"id":362933,"date":"2010-02-25T11:15:25","date_gmt":"2010-02-25T16:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.rj.org,2010:\/rac\/\/2.2500"},"modified":"2010-02-25T12:13:45","modified_gmt":"2010-02-25T17:13:45","slug":"reigning-in-irans-dangerous-nuclear-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/362933","title":{"rendered":"Reigning in Iran’s Dangerous Nuclear Behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"

The
\nfollowing post is the text of a speech that was presented on Monday in the offices of Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Richard Pryor and Congressman Vic Snyder by Zach Goldberg, a member of Congregation B’nai Israel in Little Rock, Ark., who attended the RAC’s Bernard and Audre Rapoport L’Taken Social Justice Seminar<\/a> last weekend. <\/em><\/p>\n

Iran’s nuclear development is an urgent and pressing issue that requires immediate action on both a national and global scale. Iran is enriching military grade uranium at an alarming rate, and experts estimate that an atomic warhead could be in Iran’s hands within as little as a year.<\/p>\n

I would like to thank Congressman Snyder for voting “yes” on HR2194, called the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act. This bill is a huge step forward towards reigning in Iran’s dangerous nuclear behavior. The bill is commendable in its sanctions against Iran’s petroleum imports, and it gives the president more authority to enforce said sanctions. <\/p>\n

I would also like to thank Senators Lincoln and Pryor for helping to
\nmove S2799, The Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Accountability and
\nDivestment Act, through the Senate so quickly, and for promptly passing
\nit with a voice vote. This bill is an important step toward reigning
\nin Iran’s dangerous nuclear behavior. The Act’s provisions of petroleum
\nsanctions, economic divestment, and technology embargoes will be very
\neffective at combating Iran’s non-compliance with the IAEA inspectors
\non behalf of the United Nations.<\/p>\n

Obviously, bills creating stronger sanctions against the
\nIranian Government are good for all Americans. The idea of a nuclear
\nIran is a scary one, and one that compromises our national security.
\nPresident Ahmadinejad has, time and time again, expressed an irrational
\nand dangerous hatred for America. The American people overwhelmingly
\nsupport economic sanctions on Iran, on the order of almost 80% in
\nfavor. This issue transcends party politics. As evidenced by both the
\npublic and the bipartisan support for the action, all Americans feel
\nthat Iran’s nuclear development is a cause for major concern. Failure
\nto send a bill to the President soon could have serious, lasting,
\nconsequences for our great nation.<\/p>\n

As a Jew in America, my people feel especially threatened by
\nIran. On numerous occasions, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has
\nexpressed anti-Semetic, anti-Israel, and Holocaust denial sentiments.
\nHis offensive and outlandish comments include the following, issued on
\nOctober 26, 2005, “Israel must be wiped off the map”. This, combined
\nwith a consistent denial of the Holocaust, establishes a pattern of
\nbehavior that is frightening to Jews everywhere.<\/p>\n

In Judaism, weapons that kill indiscriminately and harm the
\nenvironment, such as nuclear warheads, are thought of as immoral. This
\nis an idea that is not exclusively Jewish, but is also common sense.
\nWarfare, under traditional Jewish law, is meant to be fought in a way
\nthat affects civilian welfare minimally, and in a manner that will
\nallow life to resume normally at the conclusion of the conflict.
\nObviously, a launch of a nuclear weapon by Iran would cause a global
\nwar that would change the face of our planet forever. <\/p>\n

As a Jew, I have a personal interest in this issue. This summer, I am
\ntraveling to Israel through a program organized by the Union for Reform
\nJudaism. The chance to visit my people’s Holy Land for the first time
\nis an opportunity I do not want to miss; however, I personally feel
\nthreatened and unsafe by the thought that an unstable government is
\nworking tirelessly to harm me, my people, and my people’s nation. I
\nfeel uneasy about traveling abroad as a Jew while Iran has the
\npotential to develop a nuclear arm to destroy Israel. By taking
\ncongressional action on the issue, my friends and I who are going to
\nIsrael this summer will be directly impacted.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, I would like Senators Lincoln and Pryor and
\nCongressman Snyder to push for a conference on this bill. Both houses
\nshould be commended for their speedy action so far, but an identical
\nbill taken from HR2194 and S2799 needs to be formed. They are already
\nvery similar pieces of legislation, and I firmly believe a final bill
\nwill easily pass both houses. The sooner President Obama can sign a
\nform of these bills into law, the sooner the security of the American
\npeople, as well as Jews all over the world, can be ensured.<\/p>\n

\"AK.JPG\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Zach Goldberg (third from right, in back) and his classmates from Congregation B’nai Israel in Little Rock, Ark., pose outside the Supreme Court with chaperones Rabbi Gene Levy (far left) and Sheri Simon (far right) between visits to their Members of Congress.<\/font><\/i><\/font><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following post is the text of a speech that was presented on Monday in the offices of Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Richard Pryor and Congressman Vic Snyder by Zach Goldberg, a member of Congregation B’nai Israel in Little Rock, Ark., who attended the RAC’s Bernard and Audre Rapoport L’Taken Social Justice Seminar last weekend.  Iran’s nuclear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-362933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362933\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}