Esther 4:14: Now’s not the time to remain silent

The thing to remember in respect of the accord with Iran is that there are two Persias. One is the Persia of Cyrus the Great and the other benign kings, who were appreciated by the Jews. The other is the Persia of Haman, who sought to destroy the Jews.

Haman was, the Bible records in the Megillah, thwarted by the valiant Jewish woman Esther, who had married King Ahasuerus and became Queen. The episode is remembered every year when the Megillah is read and each mention of Haman’s name is greeted with the clacking of a grogger.

What noisemaker will be spun in the future at the name of President Obama?

It’s not our intention to suggest that Mr. Obama is the modern Haman. But we have endured two years during which the President’s aides have spoken of Israel’s leadership in gutter language. Now the president has cut a deal with an Iranian regime that could be likened to Haman (and that Mr. Obama himself acknowledges to be anti-Semitic but insists is rational).

Mr. Obama brushes aside the protestations of Prime Minister Netanyahu and announces he will plunge ahead at the United Nations without waiting for a decision by our own Congress.

No doubt he savors the fact that he has already divided the congressional leadership.

Senator Menendez is under federal indictment. Senator Corker is waffling. Senator Schumer, who likes to posture as a defender of Israel, has already suggested in a private meeting with a delegation of the Orthodox Union that he will shrink from opposing this deal.

The Republican leadership of the Senate has agreed to an approval process that requires a veto-proof supermajority to block the accord the president has just announced. No wonder Mr. Obama shows contempt toward the Congress of the United States.