Bibi under fire over ‘damaged’ US-Israel ties
THE POLITICAL battle in Washington over the Congressional vote on the Iran deal signals a further deterioration of the already tense ties between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government.
Last Friday, in an appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in Washington, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that if Congress votes to foil the deal, Israel will be “blamed by the international community” and find itself diplomatically isolated.
Mr Kerry had struck a different tone a day earlier in a hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he said that the US planned to be “fully co-ordinated with Israel” as the Iran agreement is implemented.
Congress has another month and a half to discuss the deal before voting on the sanctions removal, which is a critical component of the agreement.
While the entire Republican contingent is expected to vote against the deal, and perhaps a number of Democrats, there is unlikely to be a twothirds majority which will foil a presi- dential veto. President Barack Obama has already made it clear that he will use his veto if necessary.
Republican politicking over the Iran deal reached a rhetorical high last weekend when US presidential candidate Mike Huckabee accused Mr Obama of “marching the Israelis to the doors of the oven”. The comment was rejected as “inappropriate” by Irael’s Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer.
The strong probability that the deal will go through has prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ease off on his campaign to convince Congress members to vote against it.
So far, this initiative has been overseen by Mr Dermer, who has been meeting representatives and senators from both sides of the aisle, and by Aipac, which has launched a public campaign and is also lobbying against the deal.
Meanwhile, there is growing criticism inside Israel of the gov- ernment’s attitude towards the US administration over the Iran deal.
“It will take years to repair the damage that has been done to relations between the government’s from the way Netanyahu fought Obama over Iran,” said one senior Israeli diplomat last week. “It doesn’t matter who will be elected the next president, even if it’s a Republican. And if it’s Hillary [Clinton], the situation could even deteriorate.”
Another Israeli secur it y offi
cial said that “while officially, the defence ties between the countries have remained the same, there is a trickle-down effect. Military officers and intelligence chiefs see what is happening and they regard the president as their commander-inchief, whatever their political views, and it has a damaging effect on our daily relations with them.”
Beyond the nuclear issue, there is growing concern in Israel over the regional ramifications of the deal.
In his lecture to the CFR, Mr Kerry also said: “I know that a Middle East that is on fire is going to be more manageable with this deal, and opens more potential for us to be able to try to deal with those fires.”
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who visited Tehran this week, echoed that sentiment in an article she published in the Guardian headlined: “The Iran agreement is a disaster for Isis.”
This highlights the Israeli worry that while Iran remains the main sponsor of Hizbollah and other terror groups in the region, the West is already seeing it as a partner in the fight against Daesh.