Lieberman: ‘Iran will define Obama’
PRESIDENT Barack Obama’s action, or inaction, on Iran will forever define his presidency according to one-time US vice-presidential hopeful Joe Lieberman.
PRESIDENT Barack Obama’s action, or inaction, on Iran will forever define his presidency according to one-time US vice-presidential hopeful Joe Lieberman.
The former senator, and Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, was in Australia this week for the United Israel Appeal (UIA) and told The AJN on Tuesday that a nuclear Iran is the most serious threat in the world today.
“My opinion is if the Iranians ultimately force the world to choose to accept a nuclear Iran – which I think will be catastrophic – or using our military power to disable the Iranian military program, then an international military strike to disable Iran’s nuclear program, that is led by the world strongest nation, the United States, is needed,” Lieberman said
“I think this is the most serious decision President Obama will make in his presidency and, in some sense, it will determine part of history’s view on what kind of president and world leader he was.”
However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. According to Lieberman, we are living in one of the greatest periods of Jewish history, because the State of Israel is a strong nation and the Jewish people have an unprecedented level of freedom, opportunity and success, both in the United States and other democracies like Australia.
He said there is a responsibility for Jewish people across the world to support Israel and not take the “miracle” that is the establishment of the state for granted.
Lieberman spoke to more than 1200 UIA supporters at Central Synagogue in Sydney on Monday night, and was expected to speak to a capacity crowd in Melbourne on Wednesday night after The AJN went to print.
He was joined at both functions by Noam Gershony, an Israeli Air Force pilot who crashed during the 2006 Lebanon War and, after six years of rehabilitation and hard work, won a gold medal in wheelchair tennis at the 2012 London Paralympic Games.
Gershony told his personal story – about how his co-pilot died in the crash that nearly killed him, how one of his best friends died only three days after his crash in a similar accident, and about his darkest days in hospital after he broke his jaw, elbow, arms, pelvis and vertebrae.
“During the long nights in hospital, dangerous thoughts crept into my mind. Why me? Why did this happen to me? I’m not a bad person so why do I deserve this?”
It took a lot of surgery and many years, but Gershony fought through the pain to become one of Israel’s greatest success stories.
JOSHUA LEVI
Former US vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman.
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