The forgotten issue in the Iran debate…writes Stephen M. Flatow

March 5, 2015 by Stephen M.Flatow -
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“There was nothing new in it.” With those six words, President Barack Obama tried to dismiss the significance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress.

From: Stephen M. Flatow/

The flag of the Hezbollah terrorist group, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as “Iran’s chief terrorist proxy” in his speech to Congress on Tuesday. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.


But there was, in fact, something very new and very important in the speech—something which Mr. Obama understandably wants to keep out of the spotlight.

The forgotten issue in the negotiations with Iran is now back, front and centre, thanks to the Israeli prime minister: Iran’s role as—in Netanyahu’s words—“the foremost sponsor of global terrorism.”

The Obama administration has kept the terrorism issue off the table throughout its talks with the Iranian regime. That is a terrible mistake.

Of course, my interest in Iran and terrorism is personal. Iran sponsored the Palestinian jihadists who carried out the 1995 bombing in which my daughter Alisa was murdered.

But my concern now is for every parent whose child could be the next victim of Iranian-financed terrorism. Netanyahu briefly sketched the incredibly extensive role of Tehran in terrorism around the world, past and present.

They “took dozens of Americans hostage in Tehran.” They “murdered hundreds of American soldiers, Marines, in Beirut.” They were “responsible for killing and maiming thousands of American service men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

“Beyond the Middle East, Iran attacks America and its allies through its global terror network,” the prime minister continued. “It blew up the Jewish community center and the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. It helped Al-Qaeda bomb U.S. embassies in Africa. It even attempted to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, right here in Washington, DC.”

He pointed out that Hezbollah, in Lebanon, today is “Iran’s chief terrorist proxy.” He reminded us that the terrorists now seizing control of Yemen are tools of the Iranians. He emphasized that “Iran’s goons in Gaza,” Hamas, continually plot to murder Israelis.

Justice alone requires that the Iranians be held accountable. Declaring Tehran “kosher” in a nuclear agreement, without doing anything about their terrorism, would be an outrageous miscarriage of justice. But more than that, the question of Iran and terrorism goes to the very heart of a nuclear deal.

The premise of an agreement on Iranian nuclear development is the claim that Iran’s leaders have become moderate and can be trusted to adhere to the agreement. If not, the agreement is worthless. Sponsoring terrorism against Americans, Israelis, and other innocents is not compatible with a supposedly “changed” Iranian attitude. Terrorism is a litmus test of Iranian trustworthiness.

Thus, Netanyahu pointed out that Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif, “the same Zarif who charms Western diplomats,” recently “laid a wreath at the grave of Imad Mughniyeh—the terrorist mastermind who spilled more American blood than any other terrorist besides Osama bin Laden.”

Stephen M. Flatow

Stephen M. Flatow

Netanyahu said, “I’d like to see someone ask him (Zarif) a question about that.” But that’s the whole problem: Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are not asking him about it. They don’t want to know the answer‚because it might tear apart the facade of Iranian moderation they need to complete a deal.

The threat is real. If the Obama administration strikes a deal that does not address terrorism, lifting sanctions on an unreformed Iranian regime, then the regime will soon be financially strengthened in a very significant way. “Would Iran fund less terrorism when it has mountains of cash with which to fund more terrorism?” Netanyahu asked. “Iran will become even more aggressive and sponsor even more terrorism when its economy is unshackled and it’s been given a clear path to the bomb.”

So yes, Mr. Obama, the prime minister did present a number of new things—including an issue that is “new” only because you have tried to bury it. Iranian-backed terrorism is a clear and present danger to America, its allies, and the entire Free World. It must be put on the table. There must be no agreement with Iran that does not put a stop to Iranian-backed terror once and for all.


Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in a Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995. He is a candidate on the Religious Zionist slate (


3 Responses to “The forgotten issue in the Iran debate…writes Stephen M. Flatow”
  1. Gil Solomon says:


    You ask: “why Obama is forsaking all that Netanyahu has to say? Why is Obama being so bloody-minded?” and then, rather naively: “I surely hope all that rallying and support for Netanyahu in Congress the other day will bring Obama to his senses.” I’ve got news for you, pigs will fly before this happens.

    Here are some points for you to ponder.
    1. In my opinion Obama supports radical Islam.
    2. As an act of subservience in Islam, he bowed to the waist to the Saudi monarch a few years back (his supporters of course claim he was tying his shoelaces!)
    3. He supports the Muslim Brotherhood and has members of this organisation in the White House brought in under “executive privilege” as so called “czars” to by pass senate confirmation hearings as to their suitability.

    As far as Israel is concerned, Barry Soetoro (aka Barack Hussein Obama) is a clear and present and deadly danger but few people the world over realise this. They would rather rationalize the irrational actions and behaviour of this man with one excuse after the other, sweeping aside his Muslim heritage and his anti – Israeli leanings.

    Obama promised before his election to “fundamentally transform America” and is doing just that without a peep from anyone. In relation to Iran, this “President” will simply drag the negotiation on and on until Iran announces a fait accompli, that it is a nuclear power with nuclear weapons unless Israel does something about it before it’s too late.

    The following is a result of my research and expose of this man, his Muslim heritage and his anti-Israeli leanings which bode ill for that country.

    The US Constitution requires that only a native born American can assume the Office of President of the USA. All evidence indicates that there is no record of Obama’s mother Stanley Ann Dunham ever having given birth in Hawaii as Obama and his supporters claim.

    A simple Internet search indicates that former elections clerk Tim Adams had signed an affidavit swearing that he was told by his superiors in Hawaii that no LONG FORM hospital generated birth certificate existed for Barack Hussein Obama in Hawaii and that neither Queens Medical Centre nor Kapi’olani Medical Centre in Honolulu had any record of Obama having been born in their facilities.

    Before his election, some in Obama’s extended family in Kenya had stated that he was born there, but were immediately silenced. Additionally, Michelle Obama had slipped up one time referring to “Barack’s home in Kenya.” All indications are that the current resident of the Oval Office came to the USA as a Muslim foreign exchange student from Indonesia who went by the name Barry Soetoro (just Google this name for yourselves) whose student ID Card showed the religion box being stamped “Islam”. Subsequently but prior to his entry into the US Presidential race, every shred of evidence relating to the activities of a Barack Hussein Obama in the mainland USA has been sealed. Not even purported university attendance records are available for scrutiny.

    All requests to this President to produce the hardcopy of the original birth certificate were rebuffed for years. An Internet version of this document was finally released prior to his re-election but forensic examiners who have analysed it say it is a forgery. All letters contained therein should be that of a 1960s typewriter but it includes font types from a current day computer. With a compliant press, critics seem to have been exhausted and given up on this issue, instead of standing fast and insisting on the release of the original hardcopy which is the only legal vital statistical record of a person’s birth parents, birth location and birth date. This will probably go down as one of the greatest cons in American political history.

    So in answer to your question as to why Obama is doing what he does, it is my opinion that from his Muslim religion and heritage he has an abiding hatred for Israel and is doing everything in his power to bring that country to its knees or worse.

    In the war with Hamas, Obama held up the resupply of vital missiles.
    He threatened Netanyahu in 2014 that if Israeli planes took action against Iran, US fighters would be ready to shoot down any IAF fighters that crossed Iraqi airspace to get to Iran.
    He has instructed that Israel cannot upgrade its fighters in the way it does best, so that the Israeli version is and can never be better than the version supplied to Saudi Arabia.

    And you wonder why Obama does as he does and hopes that he can be persuaded to change his mind! It’s time the entire Jewish world woke to reality about this “President” and his intentions.

    Unfortunately many Jewish Americans, those leftist morons of the diaspora actually work for him and treat the man I describe above with awe. And then we have the indisputable fact that the vast majority of American Jews voted for him not once but twice. Go figure.

  2. Matthew Johnston says:

    If the current deal will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, why the need to offer the Arabs a US nuclear umbrella?

  3. Erica Edelman says:

    You simply have to ask why Obama is forsaking all that Netanyahu has to say? Why is Obama being so bloody-minded? What drives him to ignore Netanyahu? Why the hell is he being so damned arrogant and smarmy and dismissive of Netanyahu’s message? Netanyahu’s message is clear and succinct and sensible and supported by enough evidence to sink the Bismark again. What is it that we, the collective global family, DON’T know or understand about why Obama is taking the stand he is? Surely to God he’s got something up his sleeve that is bigger and better than what Netanyahu had to say? Because if he doesn’t Obama is about to commit an even bigger atrocity than any evil our globe has ever seen. I surely hope all that rallying and support for Netanyahu in Congress the other day will bring Obama to his senses. Something has to before its all too late. Iran with nuclear capability is the end of the world as we know it. The dead end.

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