“Congress welcomes the prime minister, and we are eager to show our support. Republicans will continue to push for additional sanctions to keep the pressure on Iran.”
Congress Is Right To Show Strong Support for Our Ally Israel
By Senator John Barrasso
March 2, 2015
‘I have Israel’s back.” President Obama claimed during the 2012 campaign. But this week, Obama and his administration are turning their back on Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu during his visit to Washington.
While the prime minister won’t have a meeting at the White House, he will have a supportive audience on Capitol Hill. He will receive a warm welcome from members of Congress who are concerned about Israel’s security and value our important relationship.
In his speech to Congress, the prime minister will address the ongoing negotiations with Iran over its illicit nuclear program.
If the president’s past negotiations with our adversaries are any guide, Israel is right to be apprehensive.
The Obama administration started negotiating with Iran more than five years ago. A series of increasingly tough sanctions have damaged the Iranian economy and finally convinced the Iranians to discuss their nuclear program seriously.
In 2013, the president announced a six-month interim agreement. The U.S. would suspend enforcement of some sanctions that had brought Iran to the table. In exchange, the Iranians would freeze and reverse specific elements of their nuclear program.
This deal was supposed to provide time for a final agreement to be negotiated within a year. But the six-month interim agreement is now in its 17th month.
President Obama mishandled these negotiations from the very beginning by conceding Iran’s right to enrich uranium. He appears to be compounding the problem as he chases a comprehensive agreement to polish his legacy.
Information has leaked out occasionally about the negotiations. Each time, there seems to be another point on which the U.S. has capitulated to the Iranian position.
Iran has gotten about $10 billion in much-needed hard currency since signing the interim agreement. It’s gotten additional income from the suspension of other sanctions. We have no way to stop Iran from using this money to support terrorists that threaten Israel or to prop up Bashar Assad in Syria.
The Obama administration has said that its goal is to keep Iran one year away from being able to construct a nuclear weapon. That’s the same level that the administration said Iran was at in 2013, when sanctions were still fully in force.
Apparently, the president is aiming for a final deal that suspends sanctions on Iran and does not constrain its nuclear program any more than before the interim agreement.
The administration has also undermined Israeli security when it comes to Middle East peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
U.S. law prohibits sending any money to international organizations that admit the Palestinians as a state. The idea was to support the peace talks by letting the two sides work out their differences without others putting a thumb on the scale.
So it was a problem when the Palestinians sought, and received, recognition as a full member state in the United Nations group UNESCO in 2011.
The Palestinians’ actions triggered the law and stopped U.S. payments to UNESCO. In every budget request he has made since then, President Obama has tried to restore the money.
It would excuse the Palestinians and the U.N. from the consequences of their actions. It sends the signal that the U.S. does not, in fact, have Israel’s back.
“Don’t tell me what you value,” Vice President Biden has said. “Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” By that standard, it’s obvious that President Obama does not value supporting Israel in the Middle East peace negotiations.
National Security Adviser Susan Rice said last week that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit is too partisan and “destructive of the fabric of the relationship” that Israel has with the U.S. Members of Congress disagree.
Congress welcomes the prime minister, and we are eager to show our support. Republicans will continue to push for additional sanctions to keep the pressure on Iran.
We intend to do all we can to ensure that the vital alliance between the U.S. and Israel remains strong.
Barrasso is a Republican from Wyoming and chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee.
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