Lobbying 2015: Israel collides with White House over Iran
America’s historically bipartisan pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC, has launched a $20 million campaign to kill an Iran deal that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly decried as a “bad deal” for Israel.
Israel has launched a full-on campaign to kill President Barack Obama’s historic Iran deal despite growing worries about collateral damage.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is expected to spend north of $20 million on a risky gambit that could end up weakening decades of bipartisan support for the country. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, has dispatched his top military and diplomatic brass to help convince Congress to tear up the international agreement.
“In the coming decade, the deal will reward Iran, the terrorist regime in Tehran, with hundreds of billions of dollars,” Netanyahu said in a TV address the day the deal was signed. “This cash bonanza will fuel Iran’s terrorism worldwide, its aggression in the region and its efforts to destroy Israel, which are ongoing.”
The Obama administration, meanwhile, hasn’t been shy about telegraphing to Netanyahu that he’s playing with fire.
