Re: Netanyahu’s speech

Posted

I objected to PM Netanyahu’s speech to Congress and supported the 60 lawmakers, including Senator Whitehouse, who boycotted the talk to express their support for their own president over a foreign leader.  House Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu to give the speech without consulting the White House, with the express purpose of sabotaging the Iran talks.

The Bibigate speech did clarify once again – as if we did not already know – that Netanyahu has no alternative plan for dealing with the Iran nuclear issue.  Netanyahu says he wants us to walk away from the Iran talks and just place more sanctions on Iran.  But this is both a fantasy and disingenuous.  If there is no deal, the global sanctions regime will collapse.  Russia, China and India, for example, will not maintain sanctions in the absence of an agreement, and Bibi knows this. 

What he really wants is for the U.S. to engage in a military strike.  But this is not going to happen. The P5 – Russia, China, the U.S., Britain and France – are united in supporting a negotiated solution that imposes significant constraints on Iran’s nuclear program and an intrusive inspection regime. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate, also very much wants a deal.  The agreement that is likely to emerge will make us all, including Israel, much safer than no deal.

Netanyahu has consistently been wrong on Iran and Iraq over the last 12 years, and he is wrong now. 

Nina Tannenwald

Director, International Relations Program

Brown University

Providence, R.I.