John Kerry was superb on Morning Joe today.

[karynnj]

62. The agreement is JUST about nuclear weapons - it is Israel and the Republicans bashing it for NOT

doing everything else.

That is NOT because the administration is not concerned about funding terrorism. As President Obama says, that is a problem - but it would be a worse problem if they aided terrorism AND they had a nuclear bomb.

Imagine the WORST case under the agreement -- and compare it to the REAL alternative. Not Netanyahu's magical "better agreement", but a situation where most countries drop their sanctions. If only the US ramps ours up AND other countries remove theirs, it is a net win for Iran. We have done very little trade with Iran since the 1980s. In addition, no agreement means no monitoring, no reducing their nuclear stockpile to a small portion of what they now have.It also means the interim agreement ends and is replaced by nothing. In addition, after years of negotiations and the US backing away, do you really think that they would immediately agree to new negotiations any time soon?

So, what happens then -- a call to war. THIS ISSUE REALLY IS ABOUT GIVING PEACE A CHANCE.

My point - The alternative is so bad that it seems strange to reject a plan that actually has a reasonable chance of working for 10 years - as even Netanyahu said - before rejecting it because they could get a bomb in 10 years. This from the man with the bomb cartoon saying before the interim agreement that they would have a bomb in 3 months. ( Speaking of which - given that - why not thank the negotiators for not just keeping them from the bomb they would have had more than a year ago, but having a one year break out?)

As a Jew, I feel a connect to Israel, but as I said to an AIPAC rep speaking at a NJ synagogue I attended 4 years ago, just as I felt I had to speak out when my own country was wrong (Vietnam, Iraq, funding the Contras etc) I could not be a blind follower of another country. Since then, I have seen Israel move more and more to the right. It is a very easy choice for me to support Obama/Kerry over Netanyahu. (In fact, I happily did just that when I got a polling phone call just today. I happily identified as Jewish, strongly favoring Obama and strongly NOT favoring Netanyahu. I've rarely been polled, but I have NEVER been happier to give my responses.)

In fact, the PUBLIC lobbying of our Congress by Israel - after years when we as Jews were told that we should not try to second guess Israel in their policies and elections - is utter chutzpah.