Dr. Miriam and Mr. Sheldon Adelson at the 2011 AIPAC Conference. Photo: Maxine Dovere.

JNS.org – Casino mogul and philanthropist Sheldon Adelson suggested earlier this week that the American administration detonate a nuclear bomb in Iran as a method of deterrence to convince Tehran to abandon its controversial nuclear program.

Adelson made the remarks during a panel conversation with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach at an event titled “Will Jews exist? Iran, Assimilation and the Threat to Israel and Jewish Survival.” The event was held at Yeshiva University in New York.

At the event, Adelson proposed launching an American nuclear device into the Iranian desert, where it “doesn’t hurt a soul.”

“I would say, ‘Listen, you see that desert out there? I want to show you something.’ … You pick up your cellphone and you call somewhere in Nebraska and you say, ‘OK, let it go.’ So there’s an atomic weapon that goes over, ballistic missiles, the middle of the desert, that doesn’t hurt a soul. … Then you say, ‘See! The next one is in the middle of Tehran. So, we mean business,” Adelson said.

Disclosure: JNS.org is the exclusive distributor for the English-language content of Israel Hayom. Sheldon Adelson is one of that newspaper’s owners.