There are times when rhetoric and subsequent actions leave no room for ambiguity, doubt or confusion.
Israel in particular and the Jewish People worldwide in general are currently the target of such attention.
How we deal with this barrage of unsolicited verbiage will determine whether, in the end, the repercussions inflict serious damage or whether effective countermeasures mitigate and negate the fallout.
Either way, ignoring the toxic emanations in the hope that they will dissipate of their own accord is not a winning strategy to be emulated.
This past week has exemplified how a continuing cascade of international idiocy is fertilising the noxious weeds of hate and misinformation. It is laying the foundation for disastrous outcomes just around the corner and guaranteeing the failure of genuine efforts to thwart planned agendas.
We are in the midst of the three-week period between 17 Tammuz and 9 Av, when our minds should be more finely attuned to the possibility of tragic events.
It is therefore appropriate to survey the unfolding scene and identify the extent of the realities currently being concocted.
Inevitably, the Iranian situation and its malevolent offshoots remain at the top of the list, not least because the US Commander in Chief has effectively given the Mullah regime a “get out of jail” option.
At present, we are witnessing a Hollywood-style spectacle beamed directly from Tehran and other cities. The somewhat delayed funeral of the late supreme leader is this week’s top attraction. It features a supporting cast of not only Iran’s leading regime religious and lay leadership but also representatives of some of the most dubious terror supporters and appeasers.
If one can determine a regime’s character by the company that they keep, then those who flocked to the orchestrated performance in Iran certainly made the choice an easy task.
They include a wide range of nations, all united in paying tribute to a deceased Mullah who embodied everything that is evil and rotten in present-day Iran.
Non-democracies are well represented, as are those who claim to be neutral “mediators.” Also present are countries whose economic and trading connections with Iran are deemed more important than any sort of concern for human rights. It is also very interesting to see delegates from neighbouring nations who feel so vulnerable and defenceless that they deem it necessary to kowtow to the terror regime lest they become the next or continuing target of retaliatory vengeance.
This is a distinct throwback to the 1930s, when countries threatened by Nazi Germany felt that appeasing the terrorists was the only guarantee of future security and safety.
The Gulf States, which thought that they could rely on the USA to guarantee their sovereignty, are surely devastated and fearful as they witness how Iran has successfully thumbed its nose at all those who planned their demise.
In addition to the aforementioned pilgrims to this festival of hate, there are reportedly 90 religious leaders attending this circus, including, of course, a representative of the Iranian Jewish community.
One wonders what all these distinguished attendees feel when the Iranian speakers include calls for bloodthirsty revenge in their eulogies.
Calls for assassinating the US President and Israeli PM are part of the closely choreographed script as well as collective chants of “death to America and death to Israel.”
Comradely meetings with Iranian terror proxies, no doubt plotting future terror, are taking place on the sidelines of this funeral farce and will no doubt eventually lead to further outrages.
The messages being articulated couldn’t be clearer.
Unsurprisingly, the rest of the world either doesn’t “get it” or, more likely, refuses to face up to the implications of the threats being shouted.
The Iranian regime has made its intentions perfectly clear.
As well as the elimination of Israel, it confirms its intention to control the Straits of Hormuz, refuse any meaningful inspection by the IAEA inspectors, reactivate its nuclear weapons programme, support piracy on the high seas, rearm its proxy terror partners, finance and direct overseas terror activities, suppress all political opposition and generally be the patron saint of international terror.
They make no secret of their agenda.
One of the factors contributing to their brazen confidence is the lack of any meaningful punishment. They have suffered damage and loss, yet instead of unconditional surrender and regime change, they have been allowed to pause, regroup, and reorganise.
Trump’s blustering claims about their total decimation are negated by the fact that they already are rebuilding damaged nuclear sites and replenishing missile and drone stocks. Combined with US vanishing deadlines, waning interest in finishing the job and political wipeouts in November, the Iranians know that they can outlast their adversaries.
At the same time, the Mullahs and the IRGC watch and rejoice as Vance disparages Israel, thus placating the isolationists, and Trump loudly trumpets that “Netanyahu knows who the boss is.” The sight of Israel being treated by its so-called ally as a submissive client State is the best sort of encouragement that any rogue terror nation can hope for.
Proclamations from the White House of total victory add fuel to the incendiary ambitions of Tehran and increase their desire to divide and conquer.
Aiding them in this task are the trio of mediators whose collective hatred of Israel and friendship with Trump are perfect qualifications for negotiating a deal that rivals the Munich sell-out of 1938.
Pakistan is touting itself as a neutral party. Its anti-Israel phobia, combined with nuclear status and Islamic credentials, is a perfect fit with Iran’s ambitions. Trump has embraced the Pakistani PM as some sort of exemplary intermediary because he promises to provide an exit that will save further military action.
Qatar is a close buddy of the American President and lavish provider of billions of dollars to American institutions, including universities, where Israel/Jew hate and indoctrination is producing a generation of anti Zionist graduates and voters. Trump’s overt enthusiasm at accepting Qatar’s gift of a Presidential plane makes it a treasured ally. Its hate of Israel is obviously of no consequence when it touts itself as a “mediator.”
The third patron saint of this triad is Erdogen of Turkey. This aspiring latter-day Ottoman sultan takes every opportunity to vent his venomous spleen against Israel, Zionists and Jews. His latest eruption of inciting rhetoric included the following pearls:
“The genocidal, occupying, expansionist ideology called Zionism threatens not only me, not only our party, not only our alliance – it threatens everyone. When we struggle against Zionism we are not waging this struggle for ourselves or for personal reasons. We are doing it for our own survival and for the survival of our nation. Israel must not be allowed to drown our region again in the smell of gunpowder and blood.”
Turkey’s Foreign Minister: “Israel is an unbearable burden.”
Turkey’s Interior Minister: “Just as we witnessed the liberation of Damascus, Aleppo and Karabakh – God willing, one day we will also witness the liberation of Jerusalem.”
As an honoured member of NATO and host to its latest gathering, Erdoğan and his colleagues have no inhibitions in pursuing policies that threaten Israel. Illegally occupying northern Cyprus is conveniently ignored by all those who convulse when Jewish sovereignty is asserted.
Worst of all, Trump embraces Erdoğan and is prepared to shower him with state-of-the-art military equipment, which will pose a direct security threat to the Jewish State.
Turkey’s patronage of Hamas, the Moslem Brotherhood and support of Iran apparently are no impediments to international hypocrisy and double standards. Making deals with those issuing death threats against Zionists and Israel is seemingly more important than standing by a democratic ally.
The agenda to eliminate Israel and Zionism sends a clear and unambiguous message, which we ignore at our own peril.
When dubious deals trump confronting evil, there is every probability that we are headed for unmitigated disaster.
President Trump claims that”America is the crowning achievement of human history.”
Given current realities, hyperbolic assertions are somewhat suspect.
Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.