Letter: J Street/NJN Statement

Dear editor:

Reading “J Street and New Jewish Narrative React Following Attack on Iran” (BJN 6/22/2025) condemning the Trump administration for an “unauthorized attack on Iran” one could forget that President Obama dropped hundreds of bombs on Libya. He too had no Congressional approval – because none is required.

J Street and NJN advocate for diplomacy as the way to ensure that “the Iranian regime cannot be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon” yet they did not clamor for Iran to adhere to diplomatic initiatives when it repeatedly denied IAEA inspectors access or when Iran enriched uranium far beyond civilian use.
After the latest attempts at diplomacy culminated in Iran’s insistence on continuing to enrich its own weapons-grade level material (rather than import what it would need for peaceful purposes) it became clear that Iran was not a serious partner in talks.

Once it possessed nuclear weapons, Iran would not need to even pretend to negotiate ever again. Its “negotiating” position would be, “Do what we say, or else.”

Iran funds and trains the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas; its missiles and bombs have brought death to Syrians, Yemenis, Lebanese, Saudis, Americans, and of course Israelis. The brutality it wreaks on its own people is another horror story that shows they have no boundaries. We can not know what will happen next but years of making empty statements to wish-away Iran’s nuclear ambitions clearly has not worked.

Lynn Koss
via email