America non grata

[Jesus Malverde]

The possibility of a nuclear deal rankles Israeli leaders and turns the press against the US

While the world waited to see whether world powers would reach an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program (spoiler: they didn’t), the Israeli press didn’t wait for the final bell in order to go on the offensive. And the new target for most of the papers is not Iran, but America.

Yedioth Ahronoth carries an op-ed by Alex Frishman titled “Naïve and stupid” in which he writes that Iran is not being required to give up a lot and can continue its drive for a bomb, but Israel had always believed that America would stop it. “Until this weekend,” Fishman writes, “Israel believed that the American government wouldn’t sign a deal with Iran that was completely contrary to Israel’s position. But this weekend, Israel understood that it got a slap in the face.”

Maariv also takes aim at America with its headline “Source: the Americans have folded, they are hot to sign a deal.” Inside, the headlines don’t get much calmer: “Jerusalem goes on the attack against Washington.” The paper explains that Jerusalem feels that the Americans misled it about the nature of the talks with Iran and only this past Wednesday revealed their position to the Israeli government. Government sources are worried that any crack in the sanctions could open the Iranian economy to those who want to do business with the Islamic Republic, such as China and Russia.

Shalom Yerushalmi weighs in on the negotiations and concludes that “Israel will pay for the concessions.” Yerushalmi also addresses the possible pivot the Obama administration is taking with Israel. “Kerry comes to Israel, has two meetings, gives an anti-Israeli interview with Channel 2, and then fled to Geneva to close the show with the Iranians, defying Israel,” he writes. In the end he thinks Kerry took a side, and it wasn’t Israel’s.

Israel Hayom finds a new hero on its front page: France. “France halted concessions,” reads its headline, and the paper goes on to summarize the situation, “Israel is furious at the US, that it was willing to submit to Iran, and only France stopped the agreement.”

Boaz Bismuth writes an op-ed praising the levelheadedness of the French, saying that “they too do not believe the Iranians.” Bismuth points out that the French weren’t blocking an agreement just for Israel’s sake; they also have considerable ties to the Gulf and won’t abandon those interests there. He concludes his piece by not only praising the French, but also highlighting what he sees as a new problem. “And perhaps the saddest story of the current talks in Geneva: the problem, as far as Jerusalem is concerned, it is not only Iran but is also the United States. “

Only Haaretz doesn’t go the anti-American route, instead going with a pretty dry account of the nuclear talks. The paper includes an article on the diplomatic crisis between America and Israel and says that it doesn’t look like it will end soon. Israel thinks the US gave up too much, too fast. After seeing that the US was willing to give a lot to the Iranians, Israeli diplomats tried to convince the French not to sign the agreement (which seemed to work).

http://www.timesofisrael.com/america-non-grata/

[L0oniX]

1. timesofisrael.com ..their version of Fox news.