Good-hearted Americans often cannot fathom the depths of depravity of their enemies.
Several rabbis have described the US as “malchut d’chesed” which literally translates into “a kingdom of kindness”. And there truly is something to be said of the United States in its very generous approach to both friends and foes. After virtually every natural disaster worldwide, Americans give generously to those harmed, while American-based organizations are often among the first to arrive to provide immediate relief and assistance. After hurricanes and floods in the US, individuals, organizations and corporations are oftentimes far more effective than the government in helping people in a meaningful way. How many houses did Amish groups build in North Carolina after the Biden FEMA fumbled its response to the disaster?
One of the challenges for people who are big-hearted is that they often do not suspect others of nefarious intentions. One of the memories seared into my brain from the first Iraq war was a pair of Marines helping a pregnant Iraqi woman out of a cab. The problem was that she was pregnant not with a child but with an explosive vest. She detonated herself and killed America’s warriors. Israelis have become so accustomed to Palestinian disingenuity and lies that they don’t trust anything by them. Israelis for decades have been compared to sabras, the cactus fruit: hard and prickly on the outside and soft on the inside. A woman who had been given a medical pass to go from Gaza to Tel Aviv during the second intifada was stopped between the Palestinian and Israeli gates and told to undress. She had a suicide bomb strapped to her courtesy of Hamas who wanted to take advantage of her freedom to enter Israel.
Donald Trump, even with his bluster of old, can show a very big heart. There is a story told of his limo having a flat tire. An orthodox Jew pulled over to change the tire. When he got home, he had a message that his mortgage had been paid off by Donald Trump. Something that the highly-suspicious Iranians could never fathom was that Donald Trump truly meant what he said: if you give up enrichment, you can stay in power and your country will do well. It’s like the guy looking for the small writing or asking what the catch is. If you do what Donald Trump asks, he will be your best friend. That’s why Bibi Netanyahu turned the fully loaded planes around and gave up on one final bombing run. If you dance to Trump’s violin, you will have no better friend. The corollary of course is that if you cross Trump, you’re toast. The Iranians found out that when the president said 60 days, on day 61 bombs fell on their military and nuclear sites. Canada just found out when it did not want to give up on a digital tax that the president told them to remove. Trump stopped all negotiations and said that they will simply fix tariffs on all Canadian goods. The Canucks dropped the tax. Play ball with Trump, you will have no better friend; cross him and check your insurance policy.
So this brings us to the current state of affairs with the Iranians. They have stated at several venues including in the UN that they will continue their enrichment program. Donald Trump has said that their nuclear program is over. Enriching uranium is not done in a kitchen and you need a lot of advanced equipment including centrifuges to do it. Ostensibly, if the Iranians really mean what they say, the US would see both the movement of advanced equipment from outside Iran as well as work on the ground to prepare the facilities required to continue their march to the bomb. So which is it: will they enrich or are they out of the uranium business? While it might be hard to restart an enrichment program without the US and/or Israel noticing, is it 100% impossible? Israel was shocked to find a nearly complete reactor in Syria of which it knew nothing before they blew it up. The Syrians used no digital communication on the project and almost got it fueled up before the Israelis turned it into a modern ruin. Can the Iranians pull one over on Donald Trump and continue their nuclear quest and the president would not know? Donald Trump has made it clear that he reserves the right to attack again should the Iranians continue their nuclear efforts which include destroying the Big Satan—the US.
We have seen many times in the past where Washington completely misread an adversary. Oftentimes, we fail to think like our enemies or we don’t believe that they would do something that we ourselves would not do. Pearl Harbor and 9/11 are two examples in which the US was caught completely flat-footed when an enemy did something never done before and which had not entered Americans’ minds. What if Israel comes with hard intelligence showing a serious, renewed enrichment program and the Americans poo-poo it as nothing. Israel currently cannot act in Iran without US agreement. Was the Iranian UN ambassador just trying to save face after a vicious aerial beating when he claimed that enrichment will continue? Or was he telling the truth and are there facilities that still work with enough enriched material to continue on to weapons-grade uranium?
The key in this world is to be as nice to others as possible while at the same time going through every permutation of what evil they could possibly do. “Trust but verify” was not only Ronald Reagan’s battle cry; it shows up in the Talmud, where the sages said, “honor him but suspect him”. One would never want the US to lose its reputation as a gracious country, good to others, even its enemies. On the other hand, there is no advantage to being foolish or naive. Iran and many others want the US and its allies either destroyed or turned into Sharia states. They say as much and they mean it. Qatar is especially noticeable as playing both sides, acting as a friend of the US while funding anti-US protests on campus and in big cities. The Hamas attack in Israel succeeded in part because Israeli leaders did not believe the intelligence suggesting an attack of a scale and purpose never seen before. Let’s hope that America never makes that same mistake again.