President Barack Obama is casting a looming congressional vote on the Iran nuclear deal as the nation’s most consequential foreign policy debate since the authorization of the Iraq war, a now unpopular decision that still reverberates through American politics.
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With polls showing wide public disapproval of the nuclear arms deal, the White House has been actively rallying support, especially among the country’s Jewish community.
“As unsafe a threat as Iran is to Israel and our allies, it would pale in the threat posed to them and to us by a nuclear-armed Iran“, Nelson said in a Senate speech.
“This is the time to oppose this risky deal”, he said.
It was all very last-minute, AIPAC said, but the pro-Israel lobby budgeted half an hour Wednesday morning for the officials. It would also prevent the U.S. from easing sanctions, which was crucial to Iran agreeing to the deal.
Obama has presented the choice before lawmakers as one of war and peace.
The closed-door meeting highlights Obama’s ramped-up sales pitch to Jewish leaders, many of whom have sided with Netanyahu against the agreement.
An editorial in the left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz this week said Netanyahu’s decision to address the US Jewish community on Tuesday forced members to choose between their religious and their national sensibilities, thereby creating “a rift between American Jews and the administration“.
“Too many issues I have long raised as essential to any nuclear deal with Iran are not adequately addressed in this agreement“, Deutch wrote.
Netanyahu’s webcast was hosted by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Federations of North America. Ted Cruz, R-Texas suggested that the deal would make Obama a lead financier of terrorism, since it would release over $100 billion to Iran which it could use to finance Hamas, Hezbollah, and other jihadi troublemakers.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Wash …
Earlier Netanyahu said he sought to reassure his audience that the United States and Israel would survive the latest policy rift, “as we have in the past”. “I believe that Israel, the region, and the world are far more secure if Iran does not move toward possession of a nuclear weapon”.
The president has talked to greater than 80 lawmakers, both individually or in small teams, administration officers stated. On Tuesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee formally introduced a resolution to do just that, and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy promised a September vote once the House returns from its summer recess.
The No. 2 House Democrat, Steny Hoyer of Maryland, is leading a trip to Israel starting Monday with 21 other Democrats. But assuming his party can bring him in line, it would still require six Democrats to pass a resolution and 14 to override Obama’s veto.
Obama also had a similar meeting with Jewish leaders and donors in April, before a framework agreement was reached.
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Hawkish Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey seems likely to vote with the GOP to kill the deal. Sandy Levin (Mich.) and Adam Schiff (Calif.) have recently voiced support for the deal. In a blow to Obama, Reps. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), remain undecided.
