We say that evil is dark. But this metaphor is imprecise. Evil is actually intensely bright.
So painfully bright that people look away from it. Many even deny its existence.
Why? Because once people acknowledge evil's existence, they know that they have to confront it.
And most people prefer not to confront evil.
That is what led to World War II and the death of 55 million people. Many in the West denied
the darkness of Nazism. They looked the other way when that evil could have been stopped,
and then appeased it as it became stronger.
We are reliving 1938, the year that democratic Western nations assured a police state,
the Nazi regime, that they would do nothing to prevent its expansion. That year, the British
Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, went to Munich to negotiate with Adolf Hitler.
He left believing Hitler's promises of peace in exchange for Germany being allowed to annex
large parts of Czechoslovakia. Upon returning to England, Chamberlain announced "Peace for our time."
The 2015 agreement between America, Europe, Russia, China and Iran mirrors 1938.
The Nazi regime was a police state. The Islamic Republic of Iran is a police state.
The Nazis' greatest aim was to exterminate the Jews of Europe. Iran's greatest aim is to exterminate
the Jewish state. The West dismissed Hitler as the Jews' problem. The West dismisses Iran
as Israel's problem. Nazi Germany hated the West and its freedoms. The Islamic Republic
of Iran hates the West and its freedoms. Germany sought to dominate Europe. Iran seeks to dominate
the Middle East and the Muslim world.
And just as Britain and France appeased Nazi Germany, the same two countries along with
the United States have chosen to appease Iran.
In fact, there is considerably less defense for the Iran agreement -- which awards Iran
150 billion dollars in currently frozen assets and the right to keep its nuclear program
-- than there was for the Munich agreement. Prior to 1938, Hitler had not publicly proclaimed
his aim to annihilate Europe's Jews. Yet, Iran has been proclaiming its intention to
annihilate the Jewish state for decades. There were no massive "Death to America" demonstrations
in Germany as there regularly are in Iran. In 1938, Germany had not been responsible
for terror around the world as Iran is now. Nor was Germany responsible for the death
of more than a thousand Americans as Iran has been -- in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Lebanon.
The Neville Chamberlains of 2015 defend the agreement with Iran on two grounds
-- that the only alternative is war and that this agreement has the capacity to bring Iran into
the "community of nations."
The war argument is a falsehood. For three reasons.
First, the alternative to this agreement was continuing and tightening the sanctions
that were weakening the Iranian regime and greatly diminishing its ability to fund terror groups
around the world. Second, because the agreement so strengthens Iran, it makes war far more likely.
When evil, expansionist regimes get richer, they don't spend their wealth on building
new hospitals. They expand. Third, Iran has been at war with America for decades.
And whoever believes that the agreement will bring Iran into the "community of nations"
betrays a breath-taking ignorance of the Iranian regime.
The Iranian regime is composed of religious fanatics who are morally indistinguishable
from ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and all the other mass murdering Islamist movements.
The Iranian regime has executed more people than any country except China and killed more
than 6,000 Iranians just for being homosexual. A woman in Iran is not allowed to leave the
country without the permission of her husband.
The Iranian regime repeatedly calls for the extermination of Israel.
No other country in the world is committed to annihilating another country.
Iran is already the world's greatest funder of terror organizations.
Imagine what it will do with another 150 billion dollars. Imagine what it will do with the removal of the current
weapons and missile embargo. Imagine what it will do with its intact nuclear infrastructure.
This deal allows all three.
Very few people have a chance to do something about the greatest evil of their time.
When it votes on this agreement the American Congress has that chance.
I'm Dennis Prager