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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWill AIPAC-Obama Sanctions Clash Dent Pro-Israel Lobby’s Clout?
AIPAC has been stymied by a critical core of Senate Democrats who have sided with the Obama administration in the fight over Iran sanctions.By JTA | Jan. 22, 2014
In previous AIPAC vs. White House dustups, the pro-Israel lobbying groups strategy was to speak softly and let Congress carry the big stick.
But in the American Israel Public Affairs Committees face-off with the Obama administration over new Iran sanctions, congressional support may not be so readily available and keeping a low public profile is proving impossible.
According to congressional insiders and some of the pro-Israel lobbying groups former senior executives, AIPAC may soon face a tough choice: Stick out the battle over sanctions and potentially face a reputation-damaging defeat, or reach out to the White House and find a way for both sides to save face.
I dont believe this is sustainable, the confrontational posture, said Steve Rosen, a former AIPAC foreign policy chief known for his hawkishness on Iran.
The Obama administration has taken a firm line against the sanctions bill backed by AIPAC, warning that the legislation would harm prospects for a achieving a diplomatic solution on the Iranian nuclear issue. Meanwhile, the confrontation has landed AIPAC squarely in the media spotlight and drawn pointed criticism from leading liberal commentators.
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http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.569900
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Will AIPAC-Obama Sanctions Clash Dent Pro-Israel Lobby’s Clout? (Original Post)
Purveyor
Jan 2014
OP
Amen to that. The Chuck Hagel hearings were a big eye opener for some about their
okaawhatever
Jan 2014
#2
polichick
(37,152 posts)1. I'm really glad Obama is holding firm on this...
imo it would be a good thing for AIPAC to lose clout.
okaawhatever
(9,453 posts)2. Amen to that. The Chuck Hagel hearings were a big eye opener for some about their
clout. And by clout, I mean death grip on Congress.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)3. But most importantly...
But most importantly, its because American Jewish leadersmore than most American Jewssee Jew-hatred as a pervasive force in world affairs, as powerful today as it was in the early twentieth century. In 2009, the ADLs Abraham Foxman, declared that global anti-Semitism (is) . . . reaching a peak this year that we havent seen since the tragic days of World War II. In 2010, Malcolm Hoenlein of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations gave a speech entitled, Is It 1939?
In claiming that the gentile worlds view of Jews has not fundamentally changed, American Jewish leaders have made Iran exhibit A. For two decades, they have described it as the Nazi Germany of our time, motivated primarily by a hunger for world conquest and a thirst for Jewish blood. Such a regime, the argument goes, is impervious to the normal calculations of national self-interest and the normal dynamics of diplomatic compromise. It will respond only to unrelenting economic and military pressure.
As it happens, this is not the view held by top security experts in either America or Israel. In 2012, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified that Irans nuclear decision making is guided by a cost-benefit approach.
That same year, the chief of the staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Benny Gantz, while warning that an Iranian nuclear weapon would prove dangerous, told Haaretz that the Iranian leadership is composed of very rational people.
It is this basic assumption: that the Iranian regime - although brutal and despotic - has legitimate national interests and the capacity for rational judgment, which informs Obamas diplomacy. It is this basic assumption that inclines him to believe that a final nuclear deal can only be reached via compromise, not the unilateral dictates codified in the new Iran sanctions bill. And it is precisely this assumption that American Jewish leaders cannot accept, because if Iran is not Nazi Germany, then 2014 is nothing like 1939. And if 2014 is nothing like 1939, then American Jews need Jewish organizations that recognize that today, many of the key challenges facing the Jewish people stem not from our weakness but from our power.
Thats whats at stake in the struggle over Iran policy currently roiling Washington, a struggle that has the potential to reshape not just American foreign policy, but the landscape of institutional American Jewish life.
In claiming that the gentile worlds view of Jews has not fundamentally changed, American Jewish leaders have made Iran exhibit A. For two decades, they have described it as the Nazi Germany of our time, motivated primarily by a hunger for world conquest and a thirst for Jewish blood. Such a regime, the argument goes, is impervious to the normal calculations of national self-interest and the normal dynamics of diplomatic compromise. It will respond only to unrelenting economic and military pressure.
As it happens, this is not the view held by top security experts in either America or Israel. In 2012, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified that Irans nuclear decision making is guided by a cost-benefit approach.
That same year, the chief of the staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Benny Gantz, while warning that an Iranian nuclear weapon would prove dangerous, told Haaretz that the Iranian leadership is composed of very rational people.
It is this basic assumption: that the Iranian regime - although brutal and despotic - has legitimate national interests and the capacity for rational judgment, which informs Obamas diplomacy. It is this basic assumption that inclines him to believe that a final nuclear deal can only be reached via compromise, not the unilateral dictates codified in the new Iran sanctions bill. And it is precisely this assumption that American Jewish leaders cannot accept, because if Iran is not Nazi Germany, then 2014 is nothing like 1939. And if 2014 is nothing like 1939, then American Jews need Jewish organizations that recognize that today, many of the key challenges facing the Jewish people stem not from our weakness but from our power.
Thats whats at stake in the struggle over Iran policy currently roiling Washington, a struggle that has the potential to reshape not just American foreign policy, but the landscape of institutional American Jewish life.
http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/.premium-1.569957?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.223%2C