Approved by the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, Sonoma, Alameda and Contra Costa Counties May 8, 2007

In 2005, JCRC adopted a resolution condemning Iran’s nuclear weapons development program and called upon the international community and the United States to make this issue a high priority, with the goal of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability. Toward this end, JCRC also called upon our government to end any and all illegal dealings between American corporations and Iran. Our 2005 resolution noted that an Iranian nuclear weapons capability would “create an existential threat to Israel and pose serious security threats to Europe and the United States. It would further enhance Iran’s influence with Islamist radicals in Palestinian society, potentially leading to enormous pressure on the Palestinian Authority to avoid making any kind of peace with Israel.”

The prospect of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and obtaining the ability to launch missiles against countries throughout the Middle East, and even Europe, should alarm every American. Iran-sponsored terrorist networks, particularly Hezbollah, have a long history of targeting Americans and U.S. interests. In 1983, with Iranian support, Hezbollah killed 241 Marines as they slept in their barracks in Lebanon.

Further, in 2005 the Argentinean government identified Hezbollah as having carried out the July 18, 1994 bomb attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and leveled the building.

In the last two years, the Iranian regime has become even more aggressive. Under the leadership of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran has manifested increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the United States, other Western powers, Israel and the Jewish people. President Ahmadinejad has predicted the imminent destruction of the U.S. and repeatedly called for Israel to be wiped off the map. In addition, the Iranian government, demonstrating its extremist character, recently convened a Holocaust denial conference in Teheran.

Dependence on Middle Eastern oil leaves the U.S. and other nations economically and politically vulnerable to the vagaries of that region’s chronic instability. Many analysts are promoting alternative energy sources and advanced technologies as a way to lessen our dependency on Middle Eastern oil.

There is little doubt in the international community that Iran seeks the ability to manufacture nuclear weapons. The following points underscore the international community’s suspicions:

  • Iran’s behavior has led the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to be highly suspicious of Iran’s nuclear intentions. As outlined in the IAEA’s February 22, 2007 Director General’s report, Iran hid these efforts from international inspectors for almost 20 years, in violation of its commitments under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) to disclose them. This report calls upon Iran to “enable the IAEA, through maximum cooperation and transparency, to fully reconstruct the history of Iran’s nuclear program (since) without such cooperation and transparency, the IAEA will not be able to provide assurances about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran or about the exclusively peaceful nature of that program.”
  • The Iranian military’s involvement in the program, which undermines Iran’s claim that the program is civilian in nature.
  • Because there is a global market for non-weaponized nuclear reactor fuel and because Iran sits on top of massive reserves of petroleum resources there is no economic reason for Iran to have a domestic capability to produce weapons-grade enriched uranium. Iran’s rejection of purchasing non-weapons-grade enriched uranium on the international market also increases the international community’s suspicions of Iran’s ultimate intentions.

These suspicions have led to the UN Security Council on March 24, 2007 to pass Resolution 1747 that calls for sanctions against Iran by all member states and international financial institutions by refusing to “enter into new commitments for grants, financial assistance, and concessional loans, to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, except for humanitarian and developmental purposes.” The goal of these sanctions is to arrive at a “diplomatic, negotiated solution that guarantees Iran’s nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful purposes.”

Iran continues to support Hezbollah and Hamas, two groups that seek to destroy Israel, and which the State Department classifies as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations.” With Iran’s support, Hezbollah launched the raid across Israel’s UN-certified northern border last summer, which led to a major war that devastated both northern Israel and southern Lebanon.

Concern about Iran’s nuclear ambitions has not been confined to Israel, the U.S. and the West. A number of Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, have also warned that Iran’s development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke nuclear arms proliferation throughout the region. This potentially deeply destabilizing development in an area that is the seat of radical Islamism threatens the security of nations throughout the world, threatens the West’s oil supply, and poses a potential existential threat to Israel. Leaders in the region and beyond have also stated that a nuclear Iran will destabilize world oil markets, have a deleterious effect on the global economy, and will make it increasingly more difficult to make progress toward peace.

Since the threat of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons is a matter of the gravest concern and utmost urgency,

JCRC should:

  • Mobilize a broad political, civic and religious coalition to urge the President, members of Congress, leadership of the United Nations, and key international powers to use all diplomatic and economic means necessary, including use of meaningful and effective sanctions, offers of incentives and positive international engagement to deter Iran’s regime from continuing its quest for nuclear weapons, and encourage peaceful development.
  • Encourage full diplomatic efforts toward the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, given the region’s continued instability and violence and the consequent threat to world peace.
  • Increase the sense of urgency in its work within the Jewish community and with non-Jewish coalition partners to raise awareness and develop opportunities for activism on this issue.
  • Support divestment initiatives targeted at the Iranian regime (not the Iranian people) by local and state government entities, unions, universities and others.
  • Urge the U.S. government and private enterprise to eliminate our dependence on Middle Eastern oil through the development of alternative energy sources and increased fuel efficiency standards that at least match those of the European nations.

Our goal is to bring Iran back into the family of nations; to avert a greater catastrophe. In pursuit of this goal, we have concern for the well being of the Iranian people and want to ensure that humanitarian supplies continue to flow.

* Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and Relevant Provisions of Security Council Resolution 1737 (2006) in the Islamic Republic of Iran (PDF document)

The Jewish Community Relations Council is the central public affairs arm of the organized Jewish community, representing more than 80 synagogues and Jewish organizations in the Bay Area on pubic affairs issues.

JCRC is a beneficiary agency of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties and the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay.