Jerusalem has been playing nice with Washington over Iran talks for a year now, starting with when Naftali Bennett was prime minister and Lapid was foreign minister.
The idea was not to launch a public campaign against the Biden administration’s effort to return to a nuclear deal with Iran, even though there is consensus in the government and among the leaders of Israel’s defense establishment that the deal is bad. Rather, they would try to work with the White House behind the scenes to try to mitigate the damage or even convince the administration to change tack, without damaging the US-Israel relationship.
That idea has faced criticism throughout the past year, but with Washington and Tehran seemingly very close to sealing a deal and a congressional vote on lifting Iran sanctions likely on the way – even if the chance of getting a veto-proof two-thirds majority is extremely slim – the calls to do more to push back against the Biden administration have only grown.
In a surprising turn of events, the call for more aggressive action against an Iran deal is coming from inside the house, or at least the Prime Minister’s Office.
The deal will still be bad, even if the US insists on certain details, and Barnea expressed hope it will not be reached at all.
Barnea said the US was accepting a deal “that will be based on lies,” which will “increase the danger” for Israel.
“The US can get up and leave [the Middle East] one day; we cannot leave,” Barnea said, in what can be seen as a hint at one of the Biden administration’s greatest blunders in Afghanistan.
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