In the summer of 1985, I had the pleasure of befriending a Persian family from Iran who had fled to the United States in 1982, during the Iraqi invasion of Iran. They told me then as they tell me now that Israeli lobbies are the real source of Iranian suffering.

One year before I met my friends, on April 25, 1984, startling headlines reached Israeli newspapers. Maariv read: “Iran in final stages of production of nuclear bomb.” Wow, that sounds familiar.

My friends went back to Iran, and now, 28 years after our first conversation, they tell me of their hopes for the historic nuclear agreement signed Nov. 24 by the P5+1 and Iran. The Iranians want a positive relationship with the U.S., void of Israeli and Saudi hawkish pressure, and they should have it.

Once the nuclear deal was signed, Israeli hardliners flooded the media to spread the fear. These hawks want a war, plain and simple, as do U.S. billionaires who line their pockets with profits from the weapons industry. But war is the worst thing that could happen to the American people. Diplomacy is always the best solution.

Sanctions are unjustified because Iran is not a threat to other countries — however, they have just as much right to defend themselves as anyone else. Sanctioning a peaceful country exercising their legal right to enrich Uranium for energy is unconscionable. Most people, including millions of Jews and Israelis, do not want the war Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is propagating.

Israeli citizens are running a campaign called “Iran, we love you” that has caught on in social networks. Iranians have responded in kind with “Israel, we love you.” These Israelis declare the Israeli government and lobby groups do not represent them. If Israelis can see the dangers of the Netanyahu camp, surely Americans should.

In the new nuclear agreement, Iran sacrificed far more of their legal and peaceful nuclear program than other countries have — primarily the U.S., and specifically Israel. The idea that they are willing to mend the scars from the atrocities committed against them in the past shows their commitment to peace.

The Israeli hawks, who are trying to force the U.S. to attack Iran militarily, are the biggest threat to the region. Israel houses the most dangerous nuclear weapons facility in the Middle East, and they refuse all weapons inspectors, something they hypocritically demand of Iran, who has voluntarily allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency into Iranian nuclear facilities on a regular basis.

Israel is a living dichotomy. They have accused Iran of making a nuclear bomb when Israel has hundreds of illegal nuclear warheads. They claim Iran is threatening Israel’s existence, yet they are the ones who are threatening to blow Iran to bits. They say Iran is aiming for regional power, when Iran has never invaded or attacked another country. Israel, on the other hand, has attacked, invaded and occupied at least seven different countries, and massacred millions of indigenous people over the past seventy years.

Israel solicited Jewish support by disingenuously stating that Iran hates Jews. Not true. In fact, Iran hosts the largest Jewish community in the Middle East, next to Israel. Iranian Jews have no desire to convert to Zionism or move to Israel.

Iran gave the U.S. open access to their Afghanistan border in 2001 to accommodate our military action. The Middle East Policy Council noted in their Journal Essay that “Iran assisted the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and participated in international efforts to establish a new Afghan government.”

Diplomacy with Iran is essential for the future. Iran’s newly elected President Hassan Rouhani is offering the olive branch to world neighbors. Other Asian countries have already accepted it. If the U.S. allows the Israel lobby hawks to spoil this opportunity, we will all be wearing egg on our faces for years to come.

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