Netanyahu's Tactical Use of U.S. 'Strategic' Dialogue
Posted: 09/04/2014 9:58 am EDT
This just in... Yuval Steinitz, Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs, will be leading what he calls a "very large" delegation to Washington next week, ostensibly to lobby against the nuclear deal being envisioned with Iran. As Laura Rozen pointed out to me -- and as Haaretz explains -- Steinitz's mission is technically to participate in the annual U.S.-Israel Strategic Dialogue, and it comes just ahead of resumption of the "P5+1" talks between major powers and Iran.
Steinitz makes a perfect candidate to use working-level talks for political impact, having just bragged to that effect in Jerusalem. Most careerists are experienced enough to know Israel has its hands full with Al Qaeda taking over the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, a precarious truce in Gaza, and the West Bank ready to boil over at any moment. And the United States also has its hands full, too, without undoing the chances for a diplomatic solution on Iran.
The sitting Mossad director, Tamir Pardo, recently echoed former officials, emphasizing that the Palestinian conflict is the single greatest threat to Israel's security, even more than a nuclear-armed Iran. And Israel's security experts are nearly unanimous in dismissing the value of an Israeli air strike on Iranian facilities. So Netanyahu has no real cards up his sleeve that might sway Obama, or strategists from either country.
Steinitz was in Washington just three months ago for the singular purpose of advocating an end to talks (or, adding the demand to eradicate even low-level uranium enrichment, which would end the talks). Now he's back for what should be sharing of intelligence and coordination ahead of the next round of negotiations with Iran, but advertising the seemingly incompatible goal of changing the parameters already agreed to by the P5+1.
In a true cabinet of rivals, Steinitz can do his bit, allowing Prime Minister Netanyahu to remain at arm's length and avoid further angering the Obama administration with direct opposition. Netanyahu had to back down once this year, when the administration convinced Congressional Democrats to abandon AIPAC's all-out drive for new U.S. sanctions on Iran -- which would have derailed the Iran talks already underway.
more...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shai-franklin/netanyahu-makes-tactical-_b_5760226.html
