U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (right) and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Photo: U.S. State Department.

Dear President Obama & Secretary Kerry,

Have either of you ever heard of long-term accountability? It means that one remains accountable for one’s actions long after those actions have taken place. For example, if someone creates a circumstance that will inevitably cause someone else’s death, and that death only occurs years later when the circumstance is triggered, the person who caused it to happen would immediately be arrested and held accountable for that death. The passage of time is irrelevant.

I am bringing this up because it has dawned on me that neither of you seem to feel subject to the effects of long-term accountability, as far as I can make out. This is probably a key factor in your joint decision to risk the lives of millions of people by agreeing to a deal with Iran, and railroading the world into accepting it, as well as lying about how good it is.

Iran is a country that openly declares, even now, its desire to rid the world of the Great Satan – the United States – and its ally, the little Satan – the State of Israel. They neither hide their genocidal desires, nor have they been compelled by you to do so. This is unprecedented in world history. When mighty powers force weaker powers to sign deals, pacts or treaties, they extract maximum concessions out of them. Not minimum concessions, and promises that amount to long-term danger to those for whom they bear responsibility.

But it seems that all this is of no consequence to you, because notwithstanding the fact that conventional weapons and ultimately nuclear weapons will fall into the hands of this vicious regime, as a direct result of your risky diplomatic decisions, you will never be held accountable.

It seems to me you have concluded that if a ballistic missile, or hundreds of them, hit Tel Aviv or Jerusalem at some point in the near or distant future – ballistic missiles obtained by Iran or its proxies as a result of your diplomatic folly – neither of you will be arrested for having enabled the murder of thousands of innocent civilians. Perhaps the press will praise you for having made the valiant effort to bring about world peace, and claim that you cannot be blamed if your successors or underlings did not live up to their responsibilities in policing the conditions of the deal. That is the sick reality of delusion, and hubris.

As to the nuclear bomb, I saw your interview in Atlantic Magazine, Mr. President, in which you said: “If Iran has a nuclear weapon [in twenty years], it’s my name on this… I have a personal interest in locking this down.” Come on! Who are you kidding? Just cheap words said to make sure Congress and Prime Minister Netanyahu don’t get the better of you. In twenty years time – with your clever mouth, and your fast brain, you will find a reason to convince the world you are not to blame. Meanwhile, Iran will have the bomb, thank you very much.

There is not much more for me to add, just to say that the blood of innocent people who die as a result of this deal will be on your hands, whether the deaths happen next month, next year, or in ten or fifteen years time. While you remain protected by secret service agents, and pamper yourselves in gated estates with money earned from generous pensions and outrageous speakers fees, millions of people across the Middle East, and beyond, will have been thrust into the crosshairs of a maniacal regime intent on world domination through violence and mayhem. And you are the ones who made this happen.

May God defend us all from your capitulation to evil,

Rabbi Pini Dunner

Rabbi Pini Dunner is the senior spiritual leader of the Beverly Hills Synagogue.