In the News
- Iran talks: Israel spied on U.S.
- Netanyahu sorry for Israeli Arab comments
- Israeli Arabs reject apology
- “Imagine” Ted Cruz as president
- SCOTUS: TX Confederate license plate dispute
- Top pols press DoJ over secret spy program
- Ghani thanks America
- WH science fair: Obama geeks out
Iran Talks: Israel Spied on U.S.
• Soon after the U.S. and other major world powers entered negotiations last year to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, senior WH officials learned Israel was spying on the closed-door talks as part of a broader campaign by PM Netanyahu’s govt to help build a case against the emerging terms of a deal, current and former U.S. officials said (WSJ, me)
• “It is one thing for the U.S. and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal U.S. secrets and play them back to U.S. legislators to undermine U.S. diplomacy,” a U.S. official said
• Israeli officials denied the spying and said they received their info through other means. Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer started lobbying U.S. lawmakers against a deal just before the U.S. and other world powers signed an interim deal with Iran in Nov 2013. Dermer went to Congress after seeing they had little influence on the WH
• After learning about the briefings, the WH dispatched senior officials to counter Dermer, who said the U.S. offer would dramatically undermine economic sanctions on Iran. The officials told lawmakers that Israel’s analysis exaggerated the sanctions relief by as much as 10 times, meeting participants said
Israel Tells Secrets to Congress
• In Nov 2014, the Israelis learned the contents of a proposed deal offered by the U.S. but ultimately rejected by Iran, U.S. and Israeli officials said. Israeli officials told their U.S. counterparts the terms offered insufficient protections. U.S. officials urged the Israelis to give the negotiations a chance. Netanyahu’s top advisers concluded the emerging deal was unacceptable
• Obama admin officials reject that view, saying Israel was making impossible demand that Iran would never accept. In Jan, Netanyahu told the WH his govt intended to oppose the Iran deal but didn’t explain how, U.S. and Israeli officials said
• On 21 Jan, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced Netanyahu would address a joint session of Congress. That same day, Dermer and other Israeli officials visited Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers and aides, seeking a bipartisan coalition large enough to block any deal. A spox for the Israeli embassy, Aaron Sagui, said Dermer didn’t launch a campaign on 21 Jan
• Dermer and other Israeli officials over the following weeks gave lawmakers and their aides info the WH was trying to keep secret, including how the emerging deal could allow Iran to operate around 6,500 centrifuges and that Iran would be permitted to deploy advanced IR-4 centrifuges that could process fuel on a larger scale
• Israel said their sources included the French and British govts, we well as their own intel. “Ambassador Dermer never shared confidential intel with members of Congress,” Sagui said
Netanyahu Lobbies France/Britain
• Current and former U.S. officials confirmed that the number and type of centrifuges cited in the briefings were part of the discussions. But they said the briefings were misleading because Israeli officials didn’t disclose concessions asked of Iran, including giving up stockpiles of nuclear material, as well as modifying the advanced centrifuges to slow output
• The congressional briefings and Netanyahu’s decision to address a joint session of Congress on the emerging deal sparked a backlash among many Democratic lawmakers. In early Feb, Dermer huddled separately with Sens Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to press for their support – noncommittal (i) no (ii)
• Congressional aides and Israeli officials now say Israel’s coalition in Congress is short the votes needed to pass legislation that could overcome a presidential veto, although that could change. In response, Israeli officials said, Netanyahu was pursuing other ways to pressure the WH
• This week, Netanyahu sent a delegation to France, which has been more closely aligned with Israel on the talks, and which could throw obstacles in Obama’s way. The delegation heads to London today. The Obama admin is stepping up its outreach to Paris to blunt the Israeli push
• A letter to President Obama signed by by 367 members of Congress warns that lawmakers must be satisfied that any Iranian nuclear agreement must “foreclose any pathway to a bomb” before they lift sanctions against Tehran (Hill)
Netanyahu Sorry for Israeli Arab Comments
• Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu apologized Monday for warning last week that Arab voters were “being bused to the polling stations in droves” by left wing organizations, comments that have been denounced by President Obama, American Jewish leaders and many Israelis as anti-democratic, race-baiting and fear-mongering (NYT, TRNS, me)
• “I know that my comments last week offended some Israeli citizens and offended members of the Israeli Arab community,” Netanyahu said. “This was never my intent. I apologize for this.” The uproar served as a final act for a divisive ugly campaign of personal attacks
• The apology came hours after President Reuven Rivlin announced that Netanyahu had secured the backing of 67 of the 120 parliament members elected last week and officially designated him to form the next govt. Rivlin, who has reached out to Arabs in Israel, was among those who criticized Netanyahu’s comments about Israel’s 1.4 million Arab citizens
• Monday’s apology was orchestrated by Netanyahu’s political office, not his govt office. Photos and video showed the PM and his wife surrounded by several dozen Arab, Bedouin and Druze leaders, some in traditional headgear, in a courtyard of their official Jerusalem residence
Israeli Arabs Reject Apology
• Ahmad Tibi, a Palestinian member of Israel’s parliament, said none of the people elected Tuesday on a joint list of Arab parties had been invited to the event, and that the group was made up mainly of longstanding Likud supporters (NYT, AP, Reuters, me)
• Tibi called on Netanyahu to stop progress on the so-called nationality bill approved last year, which would emphasize Israel’s Jewishness, and to retract his statement inviting Arabs who demonstrate against Israeli policies, including last summer’s war in Gaza, to leave the country
• The Arab joint list coalition which garnered 13 seats in Tuesday’s election said, according to NRG website, “Racist and separatist legislation and discriminatory policies are Netanyahu’s working plan for the new parliament, and so we are left with no option but to reject his apology and to continue our struggle for equality for the Arab population.”
• WH chief of staff Denis McDonough on Monday said in a speech to the liberal Jewish-American group J Street in DC that the WH remained rattled by Netanyahu’s election eve comment that there would be no Palestinian state created on his watch: “We cannot simply pretend that these comments were never made.”
• McDonough reaffirmed long-standing U.S. policy against Jewish settlement construction on lands claimed by Palestinians, a major sticking point in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. “We will continue to oppose settlement activities since it undermines the prospects of that peace.” McDonough’s comments drew cheers of approval from the audience
• Utah became the only state to allow firing squads for executions when Gov Gary Herbert signed a law Monday approving the method for use when no lethal injection drugs are available, even though he has called it “a little bit gruesome.” (clue?) (AP, me)
“Imagine” Ted Cruz as President
• Not that Imagine. Launching his bid for the GOP presidential nomination, Sen Ted Cruz (TX) at Lynchburg University VA Monday asked Christian conservatives to imagine a U.S. without the IRS, Obamacare or abortion rights – and to imagine they can make that happen by supporting him (AP, CNN, Reuters, WaPo, TRNS, me)
• “I believe in you. I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of America. And that is why, today, I am announcing that I am running for president of the United States of America.” Cruz won’t be the sole contender for long
• Sens Rand Paul (R-KY) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) are eying campaign launches soon. And former FL Gov Jeb Bush, Gov Scott Walker (WI) and Gov Chris Christie (NJ) are expected to follow, among others
• The Canadian-born son of an American mother and Cuban-born father, Cruz would be the first Hispanic president. Divisive within his own GOP, he won praise from tea party activists for leading the effort to shut the federal govt during an unsuccessful bid to block money for the health law
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