Haim Saban and Sheldon Adelson were two of the biggest stars of the show at the Israeli-American Council's first conference yesterday. Adelson, as you may recall, once advocated that the U.S. should start nuclear negotiations with Iran by dropping a nuke on an Iranian desert and threatening to nuke Tehran if Iran didn't roll over and give the U.S. and Israel everything they wanted. Saban, a multi-billionaire who has been one of the Democratic party's biggest donors, has pledged to "give as much as needed" to get Hillary Clinton elected president. His stance on the Iranian nuclear talks was a bit more moderate than Adelson's. To his credit, he didn't advocate that we nuke Iran. He did, however say that if he were Bibi Netanyahu and if he felt the deal would threaten Israel’s existence, "I would bomb the living daylights out of those sons of bitches."
Given that Saban may be Hillary's biggest donor and that he is in a position to whisper sweet nothings in her ear, Hillary Clinton needs to be asked the following questions at every opportunity. Failure to ask, and get a straight answer, on these questions could well lead the U.S. into a war that is not in our best interests.
- If US analysts disagree with Bibi Netanyahu on whether a deal will prevent Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons, who will she believe?
- Does she agree with Saban that Israel should bomb Iran if it doesn't like the deal that the U.S. and the rest of the G5+1 nations strikes with it?
- If she does agree with Saban, does she think the U.S. should follow Israel into war with Iran?
- If Israel asks for our help after launching an attack on Iran because it finds that it can not simultaneously fight Iran and repress a Third Intifada at home, will she send U.S. soldiers into combat to save Israel?
- President Obama obviously does not want to get into a war with Iran unless it is absolutely necessary for U.S. national security. Does she think Israel should have more say in U.S. national security interests than President Obama?
- Does she believe that the Israeli tail should be able to wag the U.S. dog?
- If U.S. and Israeli national security interests are in conflict, whose interests will she serve?
- If she does not agree with Saban, will she denounce him for urging Israel to go against international consensus and U.S. national security interests by bombing Iran?
- Will she guarantee that she will never make Haim Saban part of her cabinet or a national security advisor?
- At the same convention that Saban made his remarks about bombing Iran, Sheldon Adelson acknowledged that Israel was becoming less and less of a democracy. This did not bother Adelson who stated: "So Israel won't be a democratic state, so what?" It did not bother Adelson that Israel was moving away from democracy because democracy was not mentioned in the Torah. Would she, like Adelson and probably Saban, still support Israel if Israel became an undemocratic apartheid regime?
- Adelson and Saban threatened to buy the New York Times because they did not like its reporting on Israel. Does she consider this a healthy development for U.S. democracy and national security? If not, what would she do to stop it?
Updated 3/29/15
