Rivlin: Netanyahu’s battle against Iran deal could ultimately hurt Israel

Critics in this country and overseas who demand a better deal now have an opportunity – and an obligation – to describe it in detail.

Netanyahu has argued that the deal officially, brokered between US Secretary of State John Kerry on behalf of the P5 +1 nations and Iran’s chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, provides Iran with multiple means of becoming a nuclear threshold state and infuses it with billions of dollars with which to finance its proxies throughout the Middle East.

In his speech at American University this afternoon, Obama was most forceful in his denunciation of the “mindset” that got us into the Iraq war, a mindset that believes in unilateral action, that exaggerates threats, and whose advocates mislead Americans about the costs of war. New Russian S-300 surface-to-air missiles will complicate any attack, and Iran may soon have a ballistic missile deterrent.

“The truth is, that Iran has always found a way to fund these efforts”, Mr Obama said, in a speech to defend the Iran nuclear deal. Instead, they would seek economic advantages in buying oil from, and doing business with, Iran, strengthening the regime’s hard-liners. It also would isolate the United States, limiting its ability to apply pressure on Iran to achieve positive change.

In a phone interview with NY1 Friday afternoon, Cuomo said that Senator Schumer, who announced his strong opposition to the deal in a statement Thursday night, has made a “persuasive” case against the global accord. The pro-Israel lobby AIPAC recently set aside million to saturate newspapers and the airwaves with calls to kill the deal. He also pushed back against the Obama administration’s counter-argument that the deal was the only way to avoid eventual war with Iran. And he said that numerous critics of the deal are the same people who exaggerated intelligence and misled the country about the costs of the war in Iraq. These things shouldn’t happen again.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has launched a campaign to mobilise Jewish Americans against the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers championed by President Barack Obama, which is facing review by the US Congress.

This is a landmark non-proliferation agreement with intrusive inspections and verification measures, which is why there is consensus support from nuclear security experts and the leaders of six of the most powerful countries in the world, including key U.S. allies.

However, if the administration can win the backing of a significant number of congressional Democrats, it will secure the one-third of votes needed to sustain a presidential veto.

Targets. A war with Iran would have at least three fronts. That’s the argument they’ve been making during the whole negotiation.