Editor's Note: This column was coauthored by Bob Morrison.
Christians are certainly familiar with Jesus’ words to the woman at the well. “Salvation is from the Jews,” he tells her in John 4:22. And this has always stood as a stumbling block to anti-Semitism in the Church. It is hard to imagine how one can be a true Christian and be an anti-Semite, too.
But this wonderful phrase is also true in a worldly sense—and especially so in the nuclear age. In August 1939, Albert Einstein’s letter warning President Roosevelt of Nazi capabilities in atomic weapons research was hand-carried to the White House. Having fled Hitler Germany for Princeton, Einstein was the world’s most celebrated scientist and a leading member of the Jewish community. Calmly, FDR turned to his military aide, Gen. Edwin (“Pa”) Watson and said: “Pa, this requires action.” With those four words, Roosevelt commenced the greatest crash weapons program in history. Knowing that the U.S. was leading in this vital research area gave confidence to our diplomacy and our successful waging of the Second World War.
Admiral Hyman Rickover graduated from the Naval Academy and faced anti-Semitism throughout his career. Still, he pressed on to create the nuclear Navy. By his bulldog determination, Rickover gave America the means to withstand a Soviet nuclear first strike and still wipe out that evil empire. Knowing that Rickover’s submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) could deliver a knockout blow—even if the continental U.S. had been destroyed--provided the balance in what Churchill called the balance of terror.
Now, the world is distracted and distressed. Financial meltdowns, ethnic conflicts, and a toxic popular culture combine to unfocus our gaze. Iran is proceeding—boldly, defiantly—toward nuclear weapons. The Obama administration clearly has no idea how to prevent this.
Mr. Obama assures Israelis if they like their country they can keep it. But his word is not to be relied upon.
Can it be that salvation—at least in this temporal sense—is once more to come from the Jews? Nothing can be clearer than that if the world must rely on Barack Obama to stop the Iranians, they will not be stopped.
Only Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown the courage, the careful focus, the intelligent analysis required to see the situation clearly. We are forever being told that the Israelis depend on us. In truth, it is the other way around. We must now depend on them.
If the Israelis do not act, then Iran will get the bomb. The people who adopted suicide bombing from the Japanese Kamikaze pilots of World War II cannot be deterred by threats to retaliate against them. They, too, are a suicide cult. They, too, can be stopped only by force.
Israel must decide the time and the means. That's why there is a Jewish State.
It is also worth noting that Laurent Fabius, the Foreign Minister of France, has called the fruitless negotiations in Geneva “a sucker’s deal.” We have good indication that if this French socialist had not objected, Sec. John Kerry might even now have been trumpeting his bad deal, his very bad deal. After all, why should he be the only Democratic nominee of late to be denied his Nobel Peace Prize?
(We can all stand ready for Bill Clinton to troop off to Oslo to get his Peace Prize for the Clinton Global Initiative.)
This is not the first time John Kerry has been bested by a French socialist. In the 1980s, young Kerry was all-out for the Nuclear Freeze. But France’s socialist President Francois Mitterrand saw through this KGB ruse and lined up with the steadfast President Ronald Reagan, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
Had the world followed John Kerry’s lead then, we might still have a Berlin Wall, an East & West Germany, a splintered NATO, and a Russian power rising up in the Kremlin. Only the revived Russian power has come about. But it is still early in this debacle of a second term.
For these reasons, we need to look to Jerusalem for our security. Once again, the peace of Jerusalem is linked to the fate of the world. This time, let us pray the leaders of the Jewish state do their duty without fear, without interference, and without deference to a muddled leadership in the White House.