Israel And Its
Lobby Lose The Iran Deal All Over Again, In News Of
Damning Wiretaps
By James North and Philip Weiss
December 31, 2015 "Information
Clearing House" - "Mondoweiss
" - You’d think that there would be widespread
outrage over the story everyone’s talking about
today, the
Wall Street Journal scoop that the Obama
administration spied on Israeli Prime Minister
Netanyahu during the Iran Deal negotiations so as to
counter his efforts to sink it. The wiretaps reveal
that Israeli officials were up to their necks in the
US political process; they “coordinated talking
points with Jewish-American groups against the deal;
and asked undecided lawmakers what it would take to
win their votes, according to current and former
officials familiar with the intercepts.”
The president
approved the wiretaps.
Privately,
Mr. Obama maintained the monitoring of Mr.
Netanyahu on the grounds that it served a
“compelling national security purpose,”
according to current and former U.S. officials.
That’s right;
there’s a compelling national interest in stopping
the Israel lobby.
Many have said
that President Obama lacks spine? Well, it sure
looks like the leak to reporters Adam Entous and
Danny Yadron came from the administration, and it’s
hard to believe that a leak of this magnitude was
not approved by the president. Just when the Israel
lobby thought that it was starting to get back to
business as usual, the Obama administration has
reminded them that something has fundamentally
changed in the U.S.-Israel relationship. Not only
did we beat the lobby and Israel on the Iran Deal,
but: we’re exposing your tactics, and patriotic
Americans are going to be very upset by what they
see.
Remember that
Obama in his highlight
moment of the Iran Deal told Americans it would
be an “abrogation of my constitutional duty” to
defer to Israel’s interests on the Iran Deal. You’d
think it would be a scandal that the Israeli PM was
intriguing with Republicans — and surely some
Democrats– in the way the WSJ has documented; but
instead the official reaction is likely to be how
outrageous it was for Obama and the NSA to be
listening in on the supposed only democracy in the
Middle East.
Some of the
details from the article:
The U.S.,
pursuing a
nuclear arms agreement with Iran at the
time, captured communications between Mr.
Netanyahu and his aides that inflamed mistrust
between the two countries and planted a
political minefield at home when Mr. Netanyahu
later took his
campaign against the deal to Capitol Hill.
The
National Security Agency’s targeting of Israeli
leaders and officials also swept up the contents
of some of their private conversations with U.S.
lawmakers and American-Jewish groups. That
raised fears—an “Oh-s— moment,” one senior U.S.
official said — that the executive branch would
be accused of spying on Congress…
White
House officials believed the intercepted
information could be valuable to counter Mr.
Netanyahu’s campaign…
Much of the
article substantiates the allegations swirling at
the time of the deal, that Netanyahu was getting
inside information on the secret negotiations. The
eavesdropping revealed to the White House:
How Mr.
Netanyahu and his advisers had leaked details of
the U.S.-Iran negotiations — learned through
Israeli spying operations — to undermine the
talks; coordinated talking points with
Jewish-American groups against the deal; and
asked undecided lawmakers what it would take to
win their votes, according to current and former
officials familiar with the intercepts.
The notorious
Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer was caught on the
tapes:
Mr. Dermer
was described as coaching unnamed U.S.
organizations — which officials could tell from
the context were Jewish-American groups — on
lines of argument to use with lawmakers, and
Israeli officials were reported pressing
lawmakers to oppose the deal…
Israel’s
pitch to undecided lawmakers often included such
questions as: “How can we get your vote? What’s
it going to take?”
Again, no
names of US legislators, but this article contains
the explicit threat that Israel could expose
individuals down the road. The practice is sure to
anger Americans and drive an even deeper wedge into
the Jewish community over the role of the lobby.
Patriotic Jewish Americans are going to be
embarrassed yet again by the extent to which Israel
tries to subvert our government, using American
Jewish friends to do so. And many will walk away
from the lobby over this kind of business. The large
wavering middle of pro-Israel forces is going to be
set back. J Street made the right call on the Iran
Deal (reluctantly, I’ve heard) but it will reap a
dividend.
Notre Dame
professor Michael Desch’s interpretation: “The lobby
and Congress will no doubt try to spin it as more
evidence of Obama’s anti-Israel animus. But the
story constitutes powerful evidence of 1) divergence
of US and Israeli interests on important issues like
Iran and 2) close coordination of the lobby and
Government of Israel in trying to influence US
domestic politics.”
Scott
Horton refers to the last big eavesdropping
scandal, when then-congresswoman Jane Harman
promised a suspected Israeli agent that she would
attempt to stop a federal case against American
Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) staffers in
exchange for that agent’s political influence in
getting her a committee chair. Jeff
Stein reported the story:
Rep. Jane
Harman, the California Democrat with a longtime
involvement in intelligence issues, was
overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected
Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice
Department to reduce espionage-related charges
against two officials of the American Israeli
Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful
pro-Israel organization in Washington.
Harman was
recorded saying she would “waddle into” the
AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a
difference,” according to two former senior
national security officials familiar with the
NSA transcript.
In
exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said,
the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help
lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House
minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the
Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections,
which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.
The suspected
Israeli agent was inferred
(it was the opinion of Josh Marshall and Ron Kampeas)
to be Haim Saban, the giant contributor to the
Democratic Party. So a “suspected Israeli agent” is
also a giant Democratic funder with influence over
the Congress? We’re headed for a showdown between
the lobby and the grassroots, inside the Democratic
Party. And praise to the Obama administration, who
we guess is fueling the controversy out of
“compelling national” interest.
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