Pro-Israel Lobby Prepares to Battle Obama Over Iran
Jun 23, 2015 4:36 PM EDT
By Eli Lake
As U.S. and Iranian negotiators approach the June 30 deadline to reach a nuclear deal, America's largest pro-Israel lobby is campaigning to kill such an accord in Congress.
Since last month, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has mobilized its members to press legislators to endorse five principles for a nuclear deal -- principles that are almost certain not to be reflected in a final agreement.
Parallel to this campaign, major donors to AIPAC and other pro-Israel causes are forming a new and independent 501(c)(4) advocacy organization, according to fundraisers and other lobbyists involved in the effort. The new organization will buy TV, radio and Internet ads targeting lawmakers from both parties who are on the fence about the nuclear deal, these sources say.
Officially, AIPAC is still reserving judgment on the nuclear deal being ironed out now in Vienna by the U.S., Iran and five other world powers. But it's clear that the agreement now being negotiated would be unsatisfactory to AIPAC. For example, AIPAC's principles say a deal should last "decades," while the framework for the nuclear agreement released in April would begin easing restrictions on Iran's program after a decade. Another principle says inspectors must be given "anytime, anywhere" access to suspected sites, "including all military facilities." Iran's leaders have consistently said there will be no inspections on military sites.
AIPAC is now prepared to fight the White House by pushing Democrats to vote against the president's signature second-term foreign policy initiative.
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http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-23/pro-israel-lobby-prepares-to-battle-obama-over-iran
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Purveyor
(29,876 posts)By Zvi Bar'el | Jun. 23, 2015 | 7:06 PM
Next Tuesday, the dialogue Iran has been conducting with the Western powers for about 18 months now is slated to end in the signing of a permanent nuclear agreement. The assessment is that even if the signing has to be postponed by a few days, a deal is certain.
And at this very moment, when the most important strategic move in the Middle East of the last four decades is on the verge of completion, Israel is keeping mum. Has anyone heard about the Iranian threat recently? Has anyone spoken about the nuclear agreement or its implications?
Israel isn’t free to deal with the Iranian threat right now, because a far more dangerous threat is hovering over it – the UN Human Rights Council’s report on last summer’s war with Hamas in Gaza. We can scream that this is anti-Israel or anti-Semitic propaganda, declare that we won’t even bother to read it or point to benighted regimes like those of North Korea, Syria and Iran in order to bewail the UN’s hypocrisy, but the fact is that it’s not the report, but the operation that revealed the darkest urges a country can possibly reveal in its behavior toward civilians.
Incidentally, the report actually showed great mercy to Israel in that it didn’t compare it to those other countries, but treated it as a respectable country, one expected to comply with international law and the laws of war.
The UN report not only rips to shreds the false marketing slogan that depicts the Israel Defense Forces as the most moral army in the world, but also scrutinizes Israel and Hamas as if they were equivalent: fighters versus fighters, civilians versus civilians. But the biggest problem for Israel isn’t the question of whether the report is balanced or tilted; Israel’s handicap lies in the fact that both its leadership and its public see the report, and not the reasons for its writing – that is, Operation Protective Edge – as the root of the evil.
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http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.662629
burfman
(264 posts)The US has killed a fair amount of innocent civilians with it's drones.
Why is it that Israel gets singled out, and not us?
Not to mention all the other countries in the world that do far worse things.
Perhaps it's because Israel is a small country without many allies in the world.
"Operation Protective Edge - the root of the evil" - gee I'd hate to think what we would do if Mexico started firing rockets off at us trying to kill civilians at random and shut down the country.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/23/we-droned-some-folks_n_7131710.html
which refers to
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/category/projects/drones/drones-graphs/
Pakistan - Total strikes: 419
Obama strikes: 368
Total killed: 2,467-3,976
Civilians killed: 423-965
Children killed: 172-207
Injured: 1,152-1,731
Yemen- Confirmed drone strikes: 98-118
Total killed: 456-676
Civilians killed: 65-97
Children killed: 8-9
Injured: 88-217
We aren't occupying Mexico, stealing and destroying Mexican property, or imprisoning Mexicans on their own land.
What would Americans do if some foreigners tried to do to us what the Zionists have done to the Palestinians? That's the question you must ask.
The Palestinians didn't start this mess. They are the victims. Nobody deserve to be treated like they have been treated for so long.