US And Israel Not On The Same Page On Iran. The Difference Is A Gulf, Not A Crack

Netanyahu Slams Obama Agreement As ‘Deal Of The Century’ – For Iran

November 7, 2013 by Ben Bullard

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clearly doesn’t agree with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney that there’s “no daylight between Israel and the United States” on presenting a united front to Iran in ratcheting down Iran’s developing nuclear weapons program.

In a statement today on his official website, Netanyahu called an expected deal that would roll back sanctions against Iran in exchange for an end in the country’s nuclear weapons program a “grievous historic error” that sets back a longstanding foreign policy comity between the U.S. and Israel.

“If the news that I am receiving of the impending proposal by the P5+1 is true, this is the deal of the century, for Iran. Because Iran is essentially giving nothing and it’s getting all the air taken out, the air begins to be taken out of the pressure cooker that it took years to build in the sanctions regime,” wrote Netanyahu.

“What we’re having today is a situation that Iran is giving up, at best, a few days of enrichment time, but the whole international regime’s sanctions policy has the air taken out of it. That’s a big mistake, it will relieve all the pressure inside Iran, it is a historic mistake, a grievous historic error.”

The P5+1 represents the five permanent member nations of the UN – the U.S., U.K., France, Russia and China, plus Germany.

Netanyahu effectively laid bare the buffoonery of the Obama Administration’s insistence that Israel and the U.S. now see eye to eye on walking back their lockstep partnership in approaching Iranian weapons development over the decades.

Here’s how POLITICO framed Carney’s characterization of the dysfunction between the U.S. and Israel:

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney confirmed Thursday that the U.S. is proposing a limited and “easily reversible” easing of some economic sanctions, if Iran agrees to freeze its nuclear efforts. A senior U.S. official who briefed reporters Wednesday as talks got underway again on the issue in Geneva, said the countries negotiating with Iran are also hoping to get Iran to agree to unwind some aspects of its program during an initial period that could last six months and would be intended to allow for more in-depth discussions to resolve the standoff.

Asked about Netanyahu’s sharp denunciation of the U.S.-backed plan, Carney breezed past the significant tactical disagreement and instead emphasized what he said was agreement between the U.S. and Israel on the goal of ending what both countries see as Iran’s effort to develop a nuclear weapons capability.

“There is no daylight between Israel and the United States, between the president and the prime minister, when it comes to the objective of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” Carney said. “And all options remain on the table to achieve this objective.”

Compare and contrast Carney’s words with Netanyahu’s. Regardless of your take on the Obama Administration’s conciliatory stance toward Iran, it’s an outright lie to claim there isn’t a chasm separating the U.S. and Israel right now.