Opinion

For the past ten years, I have brought the present-day National Security Adviser John Bolton to the Israel Day Concert in Central Park for the express purpose of warning the world of the dangers of a nuclear Iran. Ambassador Bolton will tell you that he has been warning America and the world about Iran’s nuclear ambitions for a lot longer – more than 20 years. He has spent the latter half of his life devoted to getting rid of Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Yes, he believes regime change would be best, but everything is on the table.

You may have been caught up in the majesty of the semiquincentennial celebration and forgotten that we are in the middle of negotiations to end a war with Iran. Somehow - and I can’t believe this is still the case - Iran seems to be able to continue its incredible streak of never winning a war or losing a negotiation. Based on the current terms of the negotiations, it seems that the United States is in a worse position than it was before.

National Security Adviser John Bolton was wont to point out that the BDS movement was just a continuation of the United Nations resolution equating “Zionism with racism.” One of John Bolton’s greatest achievements was striking down that despicable and blatantly anti-Semitic canard that had lasted 19 years before Bolton came to town. We are still waiting for the day that the BDS movement is finally laid to rest. I know Bolton and the president are doing everything they can to make that happen. Unfortunately, there are universities and colleges like Swarthmore that keep propping it up. In March, the Swarthmore College student leaders voted to support the BDS movement. A pro-BDS dean was almost chosen at Dartmouth.

Some will tell you that the United States of America, at 250 years old, is in its most precarious state in history. Some will tell you that we, as a nation, have never been more divided—politically, religiously, racially. Some will tell you that America is seeing its decline and its inevitable destruction. Some will tell you that our enemies are attacking us at levels never seen before in history. These people are imbeciles.

It is an honor and a privilege to write about great individuals, especially those who’ve tremendously impacted my own life and politics. Joe Mermelstein was one such individual. It is not a coincidence that his third yahrtzeit takes place on the very same day that his friend, his colleague, and his prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is up for re-election on April 9. Joe, if he were still alive, would be the first to pay for 747s to fly Israeli citizens living in America to Israel to make sure to vote in the election (of course, he would not tell them who to vote for, but they would know). He was a man of action. He was not a talker. He was a doer. He made me president of American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, and for that I am forever grateful. His life spanned most of the 20th century and was devoted to the Jewish people, his family, and his business. His story is truly an impressive history lesson.

There has always been one question that irked me when it came to the Pesach story. After finally granting permission to B’nei Yisrael to leave Egypt, Pharaoh gets the urge to bring them back after a mere three days. Obviously, we have the mefarshim who tell us that it was Hashem making him change his mind, but let’s leave that out for the purposes of this conversation. Let’s say it was actually Pharaoh who realized he was losing out on slave labor and wanted to bring B’nei Yisrael back on his own.