Delisting the IRGC from the FTO terror list and would not dissuade the IRGC from conducting terror attacks against Americans, Europeans and others around the globe.
When I first joined the World Jewish Congress, our Talmudic motto “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh la’zeh” (All Jews are responsible one to another) struck me as not only a motto but a mission.
It is, therefore, our responsibility to call out any and all dangers to our people and our values.
At the top of the list of threats is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which represents a clear and present danger not only to the Jewish people, but to the entire world.
The World Jewish Congress (WJC), the representative body of Jewish communities in over 100 countries, understands the direct consequences of the actions of the IRGC, whose pernicious actions make all our affiliate communities vulnerable. Indeed, Iran has never made a secret of its hegemonic goals.
Last month, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who met with American defense officials in Washington, said the United States sought a nuclear deal with Iran but would stand firm against any request to remove the IRGC from the State Department’s foreign terrorist organizations (FTO) list, a message that was repeated in a statement by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett the following day.
The US is one of the staunchest upholders of the universal values of justice and morality. A nuclear agreement cannot be made at the expense of these values.
Members of a special IRGC force attend a rally marking the annual Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan in Tehran, Iran April 29, 2022.
Further, delisting the IRGC from the FTO list would be seen as rewarding terror and would not dissuade the IRGC from conducting terror attacks against Americans, Europeans and others around the globe.