A Sunday meeting between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Israeli counterpart Benny Gantz is looming large over nuclear talks with Iran, with the US trying to reassure Israel that they are committed to Israeli security, and Israeli officials expecting to have effective veto power over the negotiations.
Gantz says the nuclear deal necessarily has to protect Israel, and other officials report Israel is in close consultations with the US on the Vienna talks, saying they’ll ensure any deal keeps Israel’s military superiority in the region.
Coinciding with an apparent Israeli cyberattack on Iran this weekend (Israeli public radio reported Mossad caused a power outage at the Natan uranium enrichment facility), this looks to be a test of where Israel stands in US relations. The expectation that Israel would have near absolute say over how these nuclear talks play out might well have made sense 15-20 years ago …
Increased politicization of Israel, with an unusually cozy relationship between Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump typifies where this stands now. Israeli officials tried to preempt the Iran nuclear deal under Obama, and failed, and subsequently expressed frustration with Obama’s position on things like the legality of Israeli settlements.
President Biden has suggested being more conciliatory with the approach to fixing the Iran deal, giving lip service to finding a deal that makes everyone happy. As a practical matter, this seems to have been interpreted by Israeli officials as an opportunity to return to the situation where they have unparalleled say on regional policy.
If Biden really intended this, he probably wouldn’t have approached saving the Iran deal in the first place. It’s likely impossible that there is a deal that would satisfy both Israel and Iran, and more likely the administration will seek something they both can live with, however grudgingly.
How honest, it’s like Israel has us in handcuffs and leg irons, not much we can do to exercise an independent foreign policy. Israel has us ironclad.
Aha, the great octopus spider again! HA!
Iran can now reasonably demand that the US control Israel, and stop the attacks on Iran, as a condition of any deal.
The world knows that the US could do so, if it cracked down hard. It could remove Netanyahu too, which also might now be necessary.
It would take a formal hostile demand by Biden that Netanyahu must go or else. Netanyahu would defy it, but the Israeli political system would panic at a real open confrontation.
You must really want Kamala to be President.
Netanyahu will not go until he is dead or too ill to govern. Nowhere in the reply did Mark say he wanted Harris to be president. Harris would cave in to Netanyahu just like any other president would although Netanyahu prefers Trump.
We should neither stop an Israeli attack, or support them in this attack. Two free countries, each following their own interests. Iran can make nice with Israel, if they so desire.
No, Israel has to make nice with Iran so does the US in order for peace to move forward in the region.
Get down to reality-Iran opposed Olso talks and plans to destroy Israel.
No, Israel opposed the Oslo Talks. Iran doesn’t have plans to destroy Israel. Former President Ahmedinejad never said “Iran will wipe Israel off the map”. He said “Israel wiped the Palestinians off the map”. Israel was created on land where Palestinians have lived for centuries. Israel commits ethnic cleansing by forcing them to flee and make room for Settlers in the Occupied W Bank, Gaza and E Jerusalem. Israel refuses to honor the 1967 Borders.
Cretin-Israel was a party to the Oslo talks. There were Jews living in East Jerusalem since before the birth of Islam and Christianity-they were expelled by the Jordanian Legion.
There may have been Jews living in East Jerusalem before Christianity and Islam but Arabs have lived in Jerusalem for thousands of years and Israel commits ethnic cleansing by expelling them from East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank.
If the Jews need Israel back because it was originally theirs, the Native Americans should get the Continental USA back, the Native Alaskans should get Alaska back and the Native Hawaiians should get Hawaii back because the lands were originally theirs. There are Native Hawaiians that do not like being part of the USA. They want to secede, restore their monarchy and make Hawaiian their official language.
Israel, a tiny country smaller than New Jersey with less people, is in panic mode. “Israels’ military superiority in the region” is a farce and they know it. It’s a new world, and ballistic missiles rule. Iran and Hezbollah have thousands of them. The US is mostly powerless in this new world, especially to save a tiny country hated in the region.