February 14-2014
The campaign to impose more sanctions on Iran while nuclear talks continue was formally buried last week as the main pro-Isarel lobby declared that it no longer supported new sanctions.
It was a dramatic back down by the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and a stunning victory for President Obama.
AIPAC’s decision came in face of strong Republican backing for new sanctions.
But what few noticed was the large number of American Jews who agree with Obama and oppose the Republican push and AIPAC’s support for it.
Of the 90 Christians in the US Senate, 56 or 62 percent—almost two-thirds—have signed on as sponsors of the bill to impose new sanctions. But of the 10 Jewish members of the Senate, a mere three—less than one-third—have supported the bill.
Within the American Jewish community, more and more leaders have been asking why Jews—who are overwhelmingly liberal and Democrat—should support Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, a staunch conservative, against Barack Obama, a man most Jews have voted for twice,
The message from the US Jewish community appeared to get through to AIPAC, which backed off its call for new legislation last Thursday,
The sanctions bill has among its sponsors 43 of the 45 Republicans in the Senate and 16 of the 55 Democrats. But more and more of the Democrats have been speaking out publicly in opposition to voting on the bill now. They say they just want it kept in reserve in case Iran violates the interim nuclear agreement or declines to negotiate seriously on a permanent agreement.
The issue has now ceased to be bipartisan and is now a Republican issue. AIPAC backed away from the bill just hours after 42 of the 43 Republican senators sponsoring new sanctions—and none of the Democrats—signed a letter demanding an immediate vote.
The bill’s main author, Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who chairs the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, took the floor to complain about the GOP push.
AIPAC then issued its statement: “We agree with the Chairman that stopping the Iranian nuclear program should rest on bipartisan support,” it said, “and that there should not be a vote at this time on the measure.”
An AIPAC official told The Hill, “We have not and are not calling for [an] immediate vote.” It may never have called formally for an immediate vote in the past, but it never formally opposed the vocal push for an immediate vote until last Thursday.
Menendez said, “I have long thought of this as a bipartisan national security issue — not a partisan political issue…. I hope that we will not find ourselves in a partisan process trying to force a vote on a national security matter before its appropriate time.”