Academic Appeasers Appeal to European Commissioner to Keep Iran Deal Alive

In a fawning May 30 letter to former Italian foreign minister Federica Mogherini, who now bears the august title of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in the European Commission, ninety signatories pled for EU adherence to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, the Iran Deal) in the face of America’s withdrawal.

Among the ninety signers are thirty-four North American academic Middle East specialists, including: Middle East Studies Association president and Georgetown professor Judith Tucker; retired Princeton professor and Richard Falk, a former UN agent who used his perch to smear Israel; Columbia’s Hamid Dabashi, whose vulgar anti-Semitism has led to recent calls for his firing; and Islamism apologist Nader Hashemi of the University of Denver.

These anti-Israel activists – BDS supporters all – were joined by John Mearsheimer, co-author of the conspiratorial Israel Lobby, National Iranian American Council president and Iran lobbyist Trita Parsi, and aging Israel hater Noam Chomsky.

Were embarrassment possible among such luminaries, the purple prose and feckless support for one of the world’s most brutal, terrorist-loving regimes would spark it. Instead, all it will induce among regular readers is nausea:

“We, the undersigned, thank you for your speech on May 8, 2018, pledging the European Union’s intention to remain steadfast in its commitment to the historic accord …. Too often, politicians have inclined to patronise and admonish, but, instead, you opted for a ‘universal language’ of respect and dialogue.”

Respect and dialogue are something the Iranian people have never received from the mullahs, but – following the Middle East studies establishment’s ingrained habit of kowtowing to ruthless regimes – the letter falsely portrays Iran as a stable, functioning democracy with free elections and moderate rulers:

They have shown their support [for JCPOA] through their two-time election of a president promising to initiate constructive dialogue with the world, patiently awaiting the outcome of a long and arduous series of negotiations despite the debilitating impact of sanctions on their everyday lives ….

The propagandists in Tehran could hardly ask for more. Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani won over a more conservative candidate, but both were hand-picked by the real ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. No true moderate would be allowed on the ballot, and while the Iranian people’s vote is understandable – that had no choice – Western scholars who purposefully misrepresent the nature of the Iranian regime and present elections there as anything other than rigged are simply doing the dirty work of Iran’s ruling class by whitewashing it for foreign audiences. Not only are they incapable of embarrassment; they’re beyond shame.

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Winfield Myers

Winfield Myers is managing editor of the Middle East Forum and director of its Campus Watch project, which reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North American universities. He has taught world history and other topics at the University of Michigan, the University of Georgia, Tulane, and Xavier University of Louisiana. He was previously managing editor of The American Enterprise magazine and CEO of Democracy Project, Inc., which he co-founded. Mr. Myers has served as senior editor and communications director at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and is principal author and editor of a college guide, Choosing the Right College (1998, 2001). He was educated at the University of Georgia, Tulane, and the University of Michigan.