Sunday, March 1, 2015

Congress has some trust issues, too - Boaz Bismuth



by Boaz Bismuth



Seeing as how some people have chosen (through their political campaign and through our media) to turn the emerging deal with Iran into a political matter, we have witnessed in recent weeks a debate that is entirely black or white. However, only days before Netanyahu's arrival in Washington, it has become clear that the reality is different.

"There are few national security priorities for our country more important than preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and any agreement that seeks to do this must include Congress having a say on the front end." Those words were uttered by Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, but his sentiments are shared by a significant group of senators -- from both parties -- who have proposed a new bill aimed at preventing the emerging deal with Iran from bypassing Congress.

Could it be that some people in the U.S. are also worried about a bad deal being signed? Could it be that on Capitol Hill there are Democratic senators who agree with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? Could it be that in Washington, too, there are those who do not particularly trust the administration on the nuclear issue?

Seeing as how some people have chosen (through their political campaign and through our media) to turn the emerging deal with Iran into a political matter, we have witnessed in recent weeks a debate that is entirely black or white. However, only days before Netanyahu's arrival in Washington, it has become clear that the reality is different.

Senators Robert Menendez (New Jersey), Tim Kaine (Virginia), Joe Donnelly (Indiana), Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota) and Bill Nelson (Florida) are all Democrats. This didn't stop them, over the past few days, from joining their Republican colleagues Bob Corker, Marco Rubio (Florida), John McCain (Arizona) and Jim Risch (Idaho) in the goal of obligating Obama to pass his Iran deal through Congress and allow for a timeframe of 60 days to examine the administration's request to lift the economic sanctions imposed on Iran, voted for by the Senate in an overwhelming majority of 99 senators in 2010.

Even the Independent representative in the group, Sen. Angus King of Maine, is a former Democrat. The initiative only proves that across the ocean as well, folks are nervous about a bad deal. Perhaps it is time for us to understand that making the Iran issue a political flashpoint merely plays into Iran's hands.

It would have been preferable for the U.S. president and Israeli prime minister to share the same worldview about events currently transpiring in the Middle East. This is not the case, but we need to remember that the United States and Israel have not only differences, but share mutual interests as well -- and that Israel-U.S. ties are not only governmental, but also predicated on the warm relationship between peoples and lawmakers. 

"The American people and both parties in Congress have always stood with Israel and nothing, and no one, could get in the way," House Speaker John Boehner said last week.

Yes, in Washington there are also those who see Netanyahu's upcoming visit to Capitol Hill in a negative light, including President Barack Obama and his deputy, Vice President Joe Biden, who will not attend the speech. It's a shame it has come to this, but we must remind the Israel-friendly American administration that Netanyahu's speech is not "destructive," as National Security Adviser Susan Rice was quoted as saying. What is "destructive" is a bad deal with Iran. And this time it is not only destructive to diplomatic relations, is it simply destructive to Israel.

The time has come, perhaps, to go back to the essentials of this story: Tomorrow the same Susan Rice, along with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, is expected to address the AIPAC Conference and lay out the administration's principles on the deal. Meanwhile, Democratic senators are joining the initiative to force Obama to consider the views of Congress, which now has some teeth.

This is perhaps the time to return to sanity on this issue and understand, like those Democratic senators, that the danger does not lie in Netanyahu's speech but in a bad deal with the ayatollahs.


Boaz Bismuth

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=11749

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

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