Push START to Stop Iran

David A. Harris — December 8, 2010 – 4:39 pm | Foreign Policy | Iran | Israel | Republicans Comments (0) Add a comment

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is working tirelessly to pass a hefty agenda before the Senate adjourns later this month. The New START treaty—an item vital to our national security and stopping Iran’s nuclear program—is currently being stalled by a select group of Republican senators. Reid explained the situation facing the Senate by declaring:

We have a long to-do list. .. These are not leftovers, they’re critical to our economy, national security, to our families and to our country’s future. And we will resolve them before we adjourn. .. It is time to roll up our sleeves, not dig in our heels.

But despite Reid’s renewed vow to pass the New START treaty and the leadership of President Barack Obama, as well as the bipartisan leadership of Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN), a small group of senators - led by Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) - seem intent on blocking this paramount treaty… some, perhaps, for political reasons. Yet the passage of New START is essential to our efforts aimed at containing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

The dangers posed by a nuclear-armed Iran are crystal clear. That’s why Iran’s nuclear program has become the foremost issue on the pro-Israel agenda and that’s why pro-Israel groups have mobilized around the New START treaty. The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) was the first Jewish group to advocate for New START’s ratification; indeed the Forward today noted that NJDC “led the way on this issue” as more organizations followed suit. As of today, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, B’Nai B’rith, J Street, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the American Council for World Jewry, and the American Jewish Committee have all joined the advocacy effort out of recognition that a closer relationship with Russia bodes well for Israel’s security and our own.

Can anyone really deny that Russian cooperation is essential to ensuring a nuclear-free Iran? Vice President Joe Biden alluded to the benefits in his recent Wall Street Journal op-ed.

But as it stands now, Kyl and a small group of his colleagues are contradicting the recommendation of five former Republican Secretaries of State. Click here to read their op-ed from The Washington Post.

The stakes are simply too great for politics to get in the way. Reid, the White House, and others are working tirelessly on a bipartisan basis to pass the New START treaty before the Senate adjourns. You can help break through the roadblock created by a handful of senators by:

* Contacting Senator Kyl’s office and telling him to put politics aside, and join the broad bipartisan consensus behind New START; and

* Contributing to NJDC’s ongoing education efforts.

We can help secure our country and safeguard the world against a nuclear-armed Iran, but passing New START now is an essential piece of the puzzle. This simply cannot be put off for months or years - the stakes are too great.

Please help by taking action - right now.

David A. Harris is the President and CEO of the National Jewish Democratic Council

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