Mullahs of Tehran Would Applaud a Harris Victory

In a disconcerting display of barefaced evasion, and deflection of a straight-forward interview question, Kamala Harris provided more cause for concern for those warning of the grave consequences for Israel should she win the November election.

Treating Israel with disrespect?

During a lengthy interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes, Harris balked at referring to Israel’s longest-serving prime minister — by far the most popular political figure with Israeli voters — as a long-term ally of the U.S.

Replying to host Bill Whitaker’s question, “[D}o we have a real close ally in Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu?” Harris’s evasive response was: “I think, with all due respect, the better question is: Do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is yes.”

Harris’ crass attempt to differentiate between Israel’s democratically-elected leader, and the Israeli people who elected him, indicates one of two things — or worse, both. Either it reflects hopeless ignorance of the political process in the Israeli polity, or her utter contempt for the Jewish state, seeing it as nothing more than a “banana republic” in which its electorate can be disregarded and supplanted by more pliant minority elites, who oppose the majority-elected government.

Dodging the issues

Adding to the reasons for Israel’s alarm, was Harris’s attitude to Iran. True, when asked to identify America’s “greatest adversary” she somewhat surprisingly, singled out the tyrannical theocracy in Tehran — rather than China. However, she refused to specify what action — if any — she would undertake to thwart it from achieving its malevolent goals.

Thus, despite the fact that she stipulated that “ensur[ing] that Iran never achieves the ability to be a nuclear power … is one of my highest priorities,” she refused to commit as to how she would prevent that occuring. Indeed, when asked whether she “would take military action” to foil Iranian nuclear designs, her evasive response was “I’m not going to talk about hypotheticals.”

This manifest reluctance is comforting news for the mullahs in Tehran. Indeed, a Wall Street Journal piece asserts: “Neither diplomacy nor sanctions will stop the advance” toward Iran’s nuclear goals. Despondently, it observes: “Harris probably knows this. The search for peace and regional stability, the oft-heard aspiration of U.S. policy in the Middle East, now means, when translated into Persian, giving Tehran the bomb.”

Likewise, an analysis in Britain’s “Telegraph” accuses “the feckless Biden-Harris administration” of “shameful betrayal” of Israel on the nuclear issue — and of “doing nothing to prevent this nightmare from happening … even pressuring Israel to refrain from taking action against Tehran’s nuclear programme.”

Israelis’ overwhelming preference

Given the Democrats’ aversion to any action more robust than diplomacy for the resolution of the Iran nuclear impasse, they are unlikely to abandon negotiations — whatever Iran’s provocations/transgressions.

It is thus hardly surprising that, in a recent ABC poll, Israelis favored Harris’ opponent, Donald Trump, at a rate of well over 2-to-1, while on security issues, the ratio was 3-to-1.

For Israel, the indulgent approach of the Biden-Harris regime is a matter of critical importance. Indeed, informed sources charge that, since the Biden-Harris incumbency, Tehran increased the number of centrifuges almost 15 times, its uranium enrichment from 5% to 60%, and more than quadrupled its oil production.

But beyond Harris’ Obama-like docility toward the ayatollahs, there are additional reasons for grave apprehension regarding the murky relations underlying the support for Harris’ campaign. In part, this involves her endorsement of Armenia in its clash with Azerbaijan in an attempt to curry favor with the U.S. Armenian diaspora.

While it is understandable that diasporic communities seek to maintain supportive sentiments toward their motherland, this cannot conceal the troubling behavior of Armenia in recent years, including acting as a conduit for circumventing U.S.-led sanctions against Iran and Russia.

Indeed, in light of Tehran’s ongoing endeavor to enhance its influence with Yerevan, Israeli sources warn that Armenia could be on its way to becoming a new Iranian proxy. Especially worrying is the reported $3 billion security collaboration and covert arms deal between the two countries.

One can, thus, only wonder whether Harris is unaware of the pernicious role Armenia has hitherto played in undermining Western objectives, or whether her political ambitions have made her insensitive towards them.

Indeed, in her clamor to find favor with voters of Armenian descent, Harris has even exceeded the demands of Armenia itself! Thus, she essentially called for a return to the pre-2023 status quo ante in Nagorno Karabakh — notwithstanding that the Armenian government has reiterated that for it, “the Karabakh issue is closed.”

For Jews — a stark choice

Although Israeli officialdom has scrupulously avoided taking sides in American elections, there can be little doubt that the November poll has crucial importance for the Jewish state. After all, beyond the niceties of diplomatic decorum, for Israel there are life-and-death issues at stake.

Thus. despite professions of Democratic support for Israel, there are mounting reasons for believing that the mullahs of the theocratic tyranny in Tehran would applaud a Harris victory.

Conversely, there is emerging consensus that the radical rulers of the Islamic Republic view the election of Trump, who in the past brought them to the brink of financial collapse, with increasing trepidation.

For the Jews — and the Jewish state –the choice could not be starker.

Martin Sherman spent seven years in operational capacities in the Israeli defense establishment. He is the founder of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a member of the Habithonistim-Israel Defense & Security Forum (IDSF) research team, and a participant in the Israel Victory Project. Read Martin Sherman’s Reports — More Here.