opinion

Terror is the forgotten issue in Iranian debate

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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 on March 3. 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 center, 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.

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