It seems like there is some sort of tension between current Democratic leadership and Israel.
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WASHINGTON: Reaching out to the American people and their lawmakers over the heads of the Obama administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a powerful case on Wednesday against Washington's efforts to conclude a nuclear deal with Iran, saying it will only pave way for the regime in Teheran, which in his view is rooted in militant Islam, to get nuclear weapons. The deal, he warned, will make the middle east a nuclear tinderbox and endanger not just the region, but also America and rest of the world.
A packed Congress, notwithstanding a boycott by some members of the Black Caucus who felt Netanyahu's outreach through the Hill was insulting to President Obama, heard the Israeli leader in rapt attention and gave him several standing ovations as he drew a picture of the Democratic administration's gullibility in offering a nuclear deal to Iran. The deal, he said, would leave Iran's nuclear infrastructure untouched and its centrifuges intact, allowing Teheran a very short breakout time should it decide to violate the terms of the deal and go nuclear the way North Korea did.
Given the North Korean experience, when Pyongyong threw out inspectors and shut down cameras, inspections were not a guarantee that Iran would not go nuclear, Netanyahu explained in a speech that repeatedly questioned what he saw as the Obama administrion's naivete in trusting Teheran. ''I don't believe Iran's regime will change its policies with this deal. This deal will only whet Iran's appetite for more...the deal paves Iran's path to the bomb, it does not block it,'' he warned.
Much of Netanyahu's speech, seen in many quarters as muscular grandstanding ahead of an election at home two weeks from now, was premised on the broad Zionist narrative of oppressed people who were subjected to holocaust. Iran, in Netanyahu's view, was seeking a repeat of that by threatening to annihilate Israel, as its leaders have publicly announced. Iran is busy right now extending its influence in the region in Baghdad, Damacuss and Sanaa, and a nuclear deal trophy will only embolden it, he added.
Despite expressly canvassing against the Obama administration's efforts on the host country's soil, Netanyahu, who grew up and studied intermittently in U.S and understands the American pulse and idiom, also reached out to the President and his team. He prefaced his speech with lavish praise for Obama, recalling many instances (both overt and classified) of the President helping Israel in times of crisis. But his contempt for the proposed deal was explicit.
Iran's Islamist regime, he suggested, was making a fool of Washington, and even though Teheran was posing as an opponent of ISIL in the middle east, the two entities were only competing for influence. ''In this deadly game of thrones there is no place for America or Israel,'' he warned, reeling of instances of Iranian attacks against U.S interests.
Netanyahu also contested the case made by supporters of the deal that this was the best deal under the circumstances and that the alternative to the deal was war. The alternative to the deal was a better deal, he said, arguing that Iran was desperate to come out of the sanctions regime, and given the decline in price of oil and its dire economic situation, U.S could get a better deal if it threatened to walk away.
''If Iran wants to be treated like a normal country let it act like a normal country,'' he advised Washington's dealmakers, pointing out that Teheran had not even put its missile program, which could eventually threaten the U.S., on the negotiating table.
It was standing room only on Capitol Hill for the Netanyahu speech, an event described as the hottest ticket in town. No foreign leader in living memory has fractured the U.S political parties to this extent, but then, seldom if ever has a foreign policy debate in two countries been an electoral issue in both.
Netanyahu though sought to frame the issue as an existential crisis for Israel, suggesting that while the Obama administration may congratulate itself on stalling Iran's nuclear weapons program for a decade - when the terms of the deal will end t-- "ten years was a blink in the eye in the life of a nation.''
''The days of Jewish people remain passive in the face of genocidal enemies are over. We are no longer scattered among nations unable to defend ourselves,'' Netanyahu concluded in a muscular projection of his nation's resilience. ''Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand.''
''But I know Israel does not stand alone; I know America stands with Israel,'' he added, to rousing applause from US lawmakers.
Netanyahu trashes US-Iran N-talks - The Times of India
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WASHINGTON: Reaching out to the American people and their lawmakers over the heads of the Obama administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a powerful case on Wednesday against Washington's efforts to conclude a nuclear deal with Iran, saying it will only pave way for the regime in Teheran, which in his view is rooted in militant Islam, to get nuclear weapons. The deal, he warned, will make the middle east a nuclear tinderbox and endanger not just the region, but also America and rest of the world.
A packed Congress, notwithstanding a boycott by some members of the Black Caucus who felt Netanyahu's outreach through the Hill was insulting to President Obama, heard the Israeli leader in rapt attention and gave him several standing ovations as he drew a picture of the Democratic administration's gullibility in offering a nuclear deal to Iran. The deal, he said, would leave Iran's nuclear infrastructure untouched and its centrifuges intact, allowing Teheran a very short breakout time should it decide to violate the terms of the deal and go nuclear the way North Korea did.
Given the North Korean experience, when Pyongyong threw out inspectors and shut down cameras, inspections were not a guarantee that Iran would not go nuclear, Netanyahu explained in a speech that repeatedly questioned what he saw as the Obama administrion's naivete in trusting Teheran. ''I don't believe Iran's regime will change its policies with this deal. This deal will only whet Iran's appetite for more...the deal paves Iran's path to the bomb, it does not block it,'' he warned.
Much of Netanyahu's speech, seen in many quarters as muscular grandstanding ahead of an election at home two weeks from now, was premised on the broad Zionist narrative of oppressed people who were subjected to holocaust. Iran, in Netanyahu's view, was seeking a repeat of that by threatening to annihilate Israel, as its leaders have publicly announced. Iran is busy right now extending its influence in the region in Baghdad, Damacuss and Sanaa, and a nuclear deal trophy will only embolden it, he added.
Despite expressly canvassing against the Obama administration's efforts on the host country's soil, Netanyahu, who grew up and studied intermittently in U.S and understands the American pulse and idiom, also reached out to the President and his team. He prefaced his speech with lavish praise for Obama, recalling many instances (both overt and classified) of the President helping Israel in times of crisis. But his contempt for the proposed deal was explicit.
Iran's Islamist regime, he suggested, was making a fool of Washington, and even though Teheran was posing as an opponent of ISIL in the middle east, the two entities were only competing for influence. ''In this deadly game of thrones there is no place for America or Israel,'' he warned, reeling of instances of Iranian attacks against U.S interests.
Netanyahu also contested the case made by supporters of the deal that this was the best deal under the circumstances and that the alternative to the deal was war. The alternative to the deal was a better deal, he said, arguing that Iran was desperate to come out of the sanctions regime, and given the decline in price of oil and its dire economic situation, U.S could get a better deal if it threatened to walk away.
''If Iran wants to be treated like a normal country let it act like a normal country,'' he advised Washington's dealmakers, pointing out that Teheran had not even put its missile program, which could eventually threaten the U.S., on the negotiating table.
It was standing room only on Capitol Hill for the Netanyahu speech, an event described as the hottest ticket in town. No foreign leader in living memory has fractured the U.S political parties to this extent, but then, seldom if ever has a foreign policy debate in two countries been an electoral issue in both.
Netanyahu though sought to frame the issue as an existential crisis for Israel, suggesting that while the Obama administration may congratulate itself on stalling Iran's nuclear weapons program for a decade - when the terms of the deal will end t-- "ten years was a blink in the eye in the life of a nation.''
''The days of Jewish people remain passive in the face of genocidal enemies are over. We are no longer scattered among nations unable to defend ourselves,'' Netanyahu concluded in a muscular projection of his nation's resilience. ''Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand.''
''But I know Israel does not stand alone; I know America stands with Israel,'' he added, to rousing applause from US lawmakers.
Netanyahu trashes US-Iran N-talks - The Times of India
Comparing Israel to Iran is ridiculous. Iran funds and trains and supports terrorists who are no better than ISIS.
