The Munich Agreement and the JCPOA: A Historical Comparison in Israel

These days mark the 80th anniversary of an agreement that the Israeli Prime Minister has continuously compared to the Iran nuclear deal with global powers; he believes this agreement could have catastrophic consequences similar to that historical treaty, the Munich Agreement. Eighty years ago, on September 29, 1938, leaders from Britain, France, and Italy began negotiations with Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, which became known as the Munich Agreement; the goal was to prevent a devastating war like World War I, but history showed that this did not happen. The Nazi Germany, which from the beginning of its rise to power sought to expand its territories, was enabled by the Munich Agreement to annex the Sudetenland in western former Czechoslovakia, where the population spoke German, to its territory. However, before this agreement had even been in effect for a year, Hitler violated it by invading Poland, which led to the outbreak of World War II. But why does Benjamin Netanyahu, who has recently increasingly introduced himself as the son of a historian, compare the JCPOA to the Munich Agreement? Recently, in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, he said: 'As the son of a historian, I ask Europeans: when will you wake up?'; 'Why are you rolling out the red carpet for Iranian leaders while Iran is plotting assassinations on European soil?' Sixty years after the end of World War II, during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency in Iran, his statements denying the Holocaust and calling for the 'destruction of Israel from the world map' alarmed Israeli political leaders, a country that lost six million of its Jewish co-religionists in the Holocaust during World War II, fearing that Iran, as a regional power, could realize its clear goal of eliminating Israel. The more Ahmadinejad spoke about the rapid advancement of his country's nuclear program and the removal of the brakes on its nuclear train, the more Israel worried that the statements of Iranian leaders might be serious; especially since the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and his successor also emphasized that Israel is illegitimate and that Muslims must strive to destroy it. When negotiations between Iran and global powers continued to resolve Iran's nuclear issue, Netanyahu repeatedly warned that the situation was like 1938 and was concerned that a deal could be reached that would, in his words, resemble the Munich Agreement. After Iran and global powers reached the JCPOA in early summer 2015, Netanyahu did not cease comparing this agreement to the Munich Agreement; he stated this year in his speech at the General Assembly that his country was the only UN member that strongly opposed the JCPOA after it was signed, but he expressed gratitude to Donald Trump for pulling the U.S. out of this agreement mid-summer this year, warning that his country’s focus was on striking Iran and added that 'Israel will pursue Iran everywhere; in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and will find anything Iran hides anywhere.' Netanyahu's repeated comparisons between the JCPOA and the Munich Agreement, even after the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA and the weakening of the foundations of this nuclear agreement, have not alleviated global concerns about the possibility that the Israel-Iran crisis could lead to a war that would inadvertently involve many countries. Given Israel's continued military readiness and the explicit emphasis of its leaders and commanders that Iran is their number one target, along with the recent escalation of senior U.S. officials' statements against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the emergence of a conflict, even inadvertently, can be considered a possibility, although Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, who some claim is not innocent in exacerbating this crisis with his 30 years of governance policies, has repeatedly assured recently that no war will occur. But what was the Munich Agreement? Adolf Hitler, the leader of the National Socialist Party of Germany, or the Nazi Party, who realized his dream of coming to power in 1933, annexed Austria, his birthplace, to Germany in early spring 1938. However, he immediately insisted on the demand for the annexation of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia as well. Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918 after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I, and the German-speaking Sudetenland was part of Czechoslovakia based on agreements made at that time. Neville Chamberlain, the leader of Britain, Édouard Daladier, the Prime Minister of France, and Benito Mussolini, the leader of fascist Italy, met with Adolf Hitler in Munich 80 years ago based on efforts Chamberlain made to arrange a summit and Mussolini agreed with him, to discuss Hitler's insistence on the annexation of the Sudetenland to Germany and to prevent the repetition of a world war. The leaders of Britain and France went to Munich with a strong resolve to warn Hitler that they were indeed prepared to start a war; however, the result of the threats and negotiations based on messages exchanged long before was the Munich Agreement, and Hitler apparently committed to not attacking Czechoslovakia and to limiting himself to the annexation of the Sudetenland. Édouard Beneš, the President of Czechoslovakia, was a staunch opponent of giving the Sudetenland to Hitler, and Chamberlain rejected Beneš's insistence on sending representatives to these negotiations, while Hitler firmly opposed the arrival of a Czechoslovak delegation. However, the Czechoslovak delegation eventually arrived in Munich but was kept in a separate room for hours and had no role in drafting the agreement. The Soviet Union was also absent from the Munich negotiations. Meanwhile, Konrad Henlein, who in 1933 established the right-wing Sudeten German Party alongside Hitler's rise to power in Germany, like almost all residents of the German-speaking border areas of Czechoslovakia, supported the annexation to Germany. In the early hours of September 30, 1938, the leaders signed the Munich Agreement but officially dated it September 29, 1938. The agreement stated that the German army, which had concentrated its forces on the borders of Czechoslovakia, could complete the annexation of the Sudetenland and areas where most of the population spoke German by October 10, and another international conference would determine the future fate of the remaining disputed territories, and in areas where there was a German-speaking minority, a referendum would be held under international supervision; France and Germany would guarantee the new borders of Czechoslovakia, and after the territorial claims of Poland and Hungary against Czechoslovakia were also determined, Germany and Italy would commit to the new borders of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain sent his assistant Wilson to the room where the worried and humiliated Czechoslovak government delegation was waiting; he handed them the text of the agreement, and before this terrified delegation could raise an objection, Wilson left the room. Neville Chamberlain, whose country was still suffering from the consequences of this international battle 20 years after the end of World War I, returned to London like a great hero, holding his large black umbrella, celebrated by hundreds of thousands of his compatriots, and in a speech to them, he said this agreement guaranteed 'historical peace.' The Pope at the time and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the President of the United States at the time, were among the world leaders who praised Chamberlain enthusiastically. The Third Reich's forces entered the Sudetenland based on the Munich Agreement; however, Poland and Hungary also began their practical claims on Czechoslovakia, including through provocations by Hitler; shortly thereafter, Hitler brought the Czech and Slovak regions under his control through his affiliated offices; the banks and important mines of the Sudetenland, as well as the arms factories and industries of Czechoslovakia, which had fallen under Nazi control, significantly strengthened Hitler's forces; Chamberlain, like the leaders of France, was humiliated and twisted like a wounded snake in his office in London, seeing the beginning of another world war. Eventually, Germany, while still not a year into the Munich Agreement, invaded Poland at the beginning of September 1939, effectively violating the Munich Agreement and starting a war that would embroil the East and West of the world until 1945; the rest of the events are history, the consequences of which may still impact international equations today. It is said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it; does a statesman who is the 'son of a historian' and does not tire of comparing the Munich Agreement to the JCPOA merely want to provide a historical lesson to prevent historical disasters? Or could the mistakes of his counterpart lead to a repetition of history? The future will testify.