“This [deal] is the best option….”
Retired Admiral Ami Ayalon, former head of Shin Bet and chief of the Israeli Navy – The New York Times
We agree with Admiral Ayalon and leading Israeli military, scientific and intelligence experts who share this view. Each of us has devoted decades to building and enhancing Israel’s security and strengthening the U.S.-Israel alliance. Our commitment to Israel is everlasting.The agreement negotiated between the P5+1 nations and Iran cuts off Iran’s ability to pursue a nuclear weapon. The core of Iran’s plutonium reactor at Arak will be pulled out and filled with concrete. And Iran will be required to reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium by 98% before sanctions are lifted. The most intrusive inspections regime ever negotiated will verify Iran’s compliance and all options remain on the table to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.We remain deeply concerned that Iran is unflinchingly anti-Semitic and an unapologetic state-sponsor of terrorism. However, a nuclear-armed Iran would be even more dangerous….
Excerpts from PM Netanyahu’s address to the U.S. Congress on Iran Nuclear Deal
Fractured American Jewish Community Is First Victim of Iran Nuclear Deal
Chemi Shalev – Haaretz
For every statement for or against there is an immediate rebuttal, for every argument a counterargument, for each manifesto a harsh rebuke. Both sides swear allegiance to the greater good of both Israel and America, but as time goes by, the acrimony grows acute, resentment festers, the bitterness strikes roots. Whether the deal is as good as the Obama administration claims or as bad as Netanyahu says, it has already claimed its first victim: a fractured American Jewish community….
Along with its internal convulsions, American Jews are also the subject of intense external scrutiny, justifiable and malicious. A few minutes after New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez predictably announced on Tuesday that he would be joining his Jewish colleague from New York Chuck Schumer in opposing the Iran deal, he was subjected to a harsh torrent of insults and diatribes on social media that were mostly anti-Jewish in nature. These manifestations of anti-Semitism are then cultivated and inflated by cynical Iran deal critics and artificially linked to legitimate if sometimes injudicious remarks made by Obama and other administration officials.
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) attends a vigil for the seven Orthodox Jewish children who died during a home fire in Brooklyn, New York on March 22, 2015. (Reuters)
Robert Menendez and Chuck Schumer May Not Matter Much on Iran
Burgess Everette – Politico
They’ve got Chuck Schumer and Robert Menendez. [read the full text of Senator Schumer’s statement on Iran here.]
But Republicans need a whole lot more Democrats to have any hope of derailing President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran….
The GOP started the summer hoping to override a presidential veto of an effort to disapprove of the deal with Iran. But that mission has given way in recent weeks to a less ambitious goal — merely passing a resolution of disapproval — as several swing Democrats broke the president’s way. If it becomes clear the GOP cannot get 60 votes, McConnell could still opt to hold a vote of approval to demonstrate the Iran deal lacks majority support in the Senate.