Obama: ‘less concerned’ with Bibi speech than Congress undermining Iran talks
(JNS.org) Hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned speech in the U.S. Congress, President Barack Obama said in an interview that such a deal would be reached if Iran can agree to freeze its sensitive nuclear activity for at least a decade in a verifiable way.
“If, in fact, Iran is willing to agree to double-digit years of keeping their program where it is right now and, in fact, rolling back elements of it that currently exist… if we’ve got that, and we’ve got a way of verifying that, there’s no other steps we can take that would give us such assurance that they don’t have a nuclear weapon,” Obama told Reuters.
Obama said that Netanyahu’s Congress speech on Tuesday, in which the prime minister is expected to criticize the White House’s insistence on a diplomatic deal with Iran, would not be “permanently destructive” to U.S.-Israel ties. But Obama reiterated said that there is a “substantial disagreement” between the U.S. and Israel on the nuclear issue.
“I’m less concerned, frankly, with Prime Minster Netanyahu’s commentary than I am with Congress taking actions that might undermine the [nuclear] talks before they’re completed,” said Obama, who has vowed to veto a bill imposing new sanctions against Iran if such legislation passes in Congress.
If a deal with Iran is reached, “it would be far more effective in controlling their nuclear program than any military action we could take, any military action Israel could take and far more effective than sanctions will be,” Obama said.
A day before his Congress speech, Netanyahu spoke at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference. The purpose of the Tuesday speech, the prime minister said Monday, is “to speak up about a potential deal with Iran that could threaten the survival of Israel.” Pointing to a map on a screen behind him, Netanyahu described how Iran is “training, arming, dispatching terrorists on five continents.”
Member of Knesset Erel Margalit (Labor) told JNS.org at the AIPAC conference that he was unhappy about the heavy public focus on Netanyahu’s Congress speech, and that such matters should instead be discussed in privacy.
“As the small country (Israel) dealing with the larger country (the U.S.), I think we have more of the responsibility to maintain the trusted nature of the relationship between the executive offices,” he said.
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Sen. McConnell to AIPAC: administration ‘has already given away too much’ in Iran talks
(JNS.org) U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference on Tuesday morning that the Obama administration has “already given away too much” in nuclear negotiations with Iran.
“The elements of this deal that appears to be close to being made has already given away way too much,” said McConnell, adding that he would be “shocked” if a forthcoming deal with Iran is acceptable to AIPAC supporters and to Congress. On Monday, National Security Advisor Susan Rice found herself at odds with the AIPAC audience when she expressed the Obama administration’s opposition to a ban on all uranium enrichment as part of a nuclear deal with Iran.
Iran has received sanctions relief under the interim nuclear deal it reached with the P5+1 powers in November 2013, and President Barack Obama has vowed to veto a new sanctions bill proposed by U.S. Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) if the legislation passes in Congress.
“The choice is either a deal, or tougher sanctions that really squeeze [Iran],” McConnell told the AIPAC gathering.
A “good deal” with Iran will stipulate that the Islamic Republic cannot enrich uranium, McConnell said, prompting a standing ovation.
McConnell noted that as majority leader, he can “schedule business” in the Senate. As such, he said that if a nuclear deal is passed, the Senate will vote on a proposal by Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that would require a Congressional review of any deal the Obama administration reaches with Iran. If no deal is reached by the March 24 deadline for a political framework agreement, the Senate will vote on the Menendez-Kirk sanctions bill, said McConnell.
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National Security Advisor Susan Rice at odds with AIPAC audience on Iran
(JNS.org) Amid a rocky week for the relationship between U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice and the pro-Israel community, Rice’s assessment of the nuclear talks between Iran and world powers put her at odds with attendees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference on Monday night.
After Rice noted that some members in the AIPAC audience would be going to Congress to urge that a nuclear deal suspend all of Iran’s enrichment capacity, she followed a round of applause for that concept by stating, “As desirable as that would be, it is neither realistic or achievable.” If a complete halt to Iranian enrichment is the goal, Rice said, America would lose its negotiating partners within the P5+1 nations and sanctions against would be undermined.
Regarding sanctions, Rice again referenced members of the AIPAC crowd by acknowledging that some of them would suggest that “we should just impose sanctions and walk away.” That concept, too, received a round of applause, prompting a visibly frustrated Rice to throw her arms up in the air.
Rice said, “We cannot let a totally unachievable ideal stand in the way of a good deal [with Iran].” Sanctions, she said, “have never stopped Iran from advancing its [nuclear] program.” New sanctions “would blow up the talks, divide the international community,” and cause the U.S. to be blamed for causing negotiations with Iran to fail, she said.
The national security advisor’s discord with the AIPAC audience comes in the aftermath of an interview with PBS in which she called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Congress “destructive of the fabric” of the U.S.-Israel relationship. A subsequent advertisement in the New York Times by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s This World: The Jewish Values Network said, “Susan Rice has a blind spot: Genocide. Both the Jewish people’s and Rwanda’s.” The ad was widely condemned by Jewish organizations.
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Sen. Menendez at AIPAC: no Iranian nuclear weapon ‘on my watch’
(JNS.org) U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the co-author of a bill that would impose new sanctions on Iran if the Islamic Republic does not reach a political framework agreement in nuclear negotiations with world powers by March 24, gave an impassioned speech against a nuclear Iran at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference on Monday night.
“As long as I have an ounce of fight left in me… Iran will never have a pathway to a weapon,” Menendez said. “It will never threaten Israel or its neighbors, and it will never be in a position to start a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Not on my watch.”
Menendez said Iran “needs to understand that there are consequences to an impasse [in the nuclear talks], and those consequences are additional consequential sanctions.”
The senator also defended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s much-debated speech to Congress on Iran, saying that while he agrees “with some Democrats that the political timing of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress tomorrow may have been unfortunate,” he “must disagree” with those who say the speech is “destructive” to U.S.-Israel relations—a specific reference to recent comments by U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice.
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Palestinians filing first International Criminal Court action against Israel on April 1
(JNS.org) The Palestinians plan to file their first “war crime” case against Israel in the International Criminal Court (ICC) on April 1, a senior Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) official said Monday.
The PLO’s Mohamed Shtayyeh said that the case will focus on last summer’s Operation Protective Edge and Israeli construction in the disputed territories.
“One of the first important steps will be filing a complaint against Israel at the ICC on April 1 over the [summer 2014] Gaza war and settlement activity,” said Shtayyeh, AFP reported.
The Palestinians made the request to join the ICC in January, and their membership in the organization should be formalized by the time they plan to file the legal action against Israel. Israel has already responded to the Palestinians’ request to join the court by withholding millions of dollars in tax payments that the Jewish state had been collecting for the Palestinian Authority.
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Singaporean fund to invest in Israeli start-ups
(JNS.org) A fund backed by the government of Singapore and holding $200 million is planning to invest directly in Israeli technology start-up companies, at a time when Israeli companies have become increasingly drawn to the Asian market.
Alex Lin, the head of Infocomm Investments, which is part of Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, said that his company is currently negotiating with several Israeli companies. The fund’s investments in various Israeli companies will range from $1 million to $5 million.
Although Infocomm has never directly invested in an Israeli company before, it has been involved with the venture capital fund Vertex, which itself was an investor in the Israeli navigation app Waze. In 2013, Waze was acquired by Google for $1 billion.
“Our interest is to build up financial technology in Asia and capitalize on the financial boom in Singapore and Shanghai,” Lin told Reuters.
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