Fears of Lasting Rift as Obama Battles Pro-Israel Group on Iran

[Stellar]

WASHINGTON — President Obama had a tough message for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or Aipac, the powerful pro-Israel group that is furiously campaigning against the Iran nuclear accord, when he met with two of its leaders at the White House this week. The president accused Aipac of spending millions of dollars in advertising against the deal and spreading false claims about it, people in the meeting recalled.

So Mr. Obama told the Aipac leaders that he intended to hit back hard.

The next day in a speech at American University, Mr. Obama denounced the deal’s opponents as “lobbyists” doling out millions of dollars to trumpet the same hawkish rhetoric that had led the United States into war with Iraq. The president never mentioned Aipac by name, but his target was unmistakable.

The remarks reflected an unusually sharp rupture between a sitting American president and the most potent pro-Israel lobbying group, which was founded in 1951 a few years after the birth of Israel.



Ronald Reagan opposed Aipac when he defied Israeli objections over the sale of Awacs reconnaissance planes to Saudi Arabia in 1981. A decade later, George H. W. Bush took on the group during a fight over housing loan guarantees for Israel, saying he was just “one lonely little guy” going up against a thousand lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

But the tone of the current dispute is raising concerns among some of Mr. Obama’s allies who say it is a new low in relations between Aipac and the White House. They say they are worried that, in working to counter Aipac’s tactics and discredit its claims about the nuclear accord with Iran, the president has gone overboard in criticizing the group and like-minded opponents of the deal...

more at link: New York Times

Netanyahu encouraging US to war with Iraq : CSPAN

[cpwm17]

1. It's good to see an American president take on that anti-American group.

AIPAC actively fights against our best interest for the right-wing version of what is in a hostile foreign nation's best interest.

[Stellar]

3. I don't care about 'new lows' as the article puts it if it means

some of our troops spilling blood everywhere like we did in Iraq on the encouragement of Netanyahu. I'm tired of wars.

[kairos12]

5. +1000

[cherokeeprogressive]

10. Calling Israelis APES? Are you fucking kidding?

[Fred Sanders]

4. An entire year of illegal political interference by a foreign government co-ordinating with domestic

politicians to undermine President Obama and USA's foreign policy with lies and subterfuge, is what caused this "rift"....the article is a deflection from that.

The allegiance of American politicians to Israel over their own country, is kind of wrong.

[Stellar]

6. Kinda wrong....

don't you swear an allegiance to this country when you become a senator.

[jwirr]

7. Anyone got a list of Senators against the deal?

[Lil Missy]

8. Good. It's long past time to stand up to this anti-American bully. n/t

[Comrade Grumpy]

9. Nice of the Times to mention that some of Obama's political allies are "concerned."

That he's not kow-towing sufficiently to the Zionist lobby.