Some Western states, like the US, and reactionary governments in the Middle East region have categorized terrorist groups as extremists and moderates, “which is very ridiculous”, Velayati said in a Sunday meeting with Russian Ambassador to Tehran Levan Dzhagaryan.
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Under this new accord that was reached earlier this month in Vienna, Iran will have to follow long-term curbs to its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions placed by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union.
President Obama urged Congress to debate the particulars of the deal with Iran limiting its nuclear capabilities and increasing the transparency of weapons inspectors, but threatened to veto any attempts to cancel the deal entirely. The deal will take effect unless Congress blocks it, which GOP leaders who control the House and Senate hope to do. But we know that we are again at a historic crossroads, and that the United States can either appease a criminal regime – one that supports global terror, relentlessly threatens to eliminate Israel and executes more political prisoners than any other per capita – or stand firm in demanding change in its behavior. However, even the pro-Israel segment of the Jewish population comes down in favor of the deal. “What does the day after a disapproval vote in Congress look like?” “I have spent too much of my life working for Israel’s security and I’m not about to support an agreement – that doesn’t mean you should be for it – but I’m not about to support an agreement that I believe would do harm to Israel“.
Jews’ liberal background is borne out in their views of other aspects of the deal.
These days, like many Israelis and American Jews, I find myself in a precarious and painful situation.
The Washington Times reported in a story last year that Obama made the threat when he learned that Israel was planning an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which Israel claims are being used to produce a nuclear bomb. “The fact that Iran has engaged in this dialogue is a credit to Obama who, before proposing a military option, is intelligently and sensibly trying first to negotiate an arrangement that would limit Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon”.
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The tenuous confidence in the deal – evidenced by different results last week in polls with different question wording – indicates Jews and the public overall could be swayed by campaigns for support and opposition over the coming weeks. The survey was weighted to match demographic estimates of the Jewish population from the 2013 Pew Research Center Portrait of Jewish Americans.
