Americans for Peace Now today called on U.S. Senators to refuse to support or cosponsor the two pieces of Iran legislation – S. 269 and S. 615 – that AIPAC activists will be asking them to support when they come to the Hill for their lobby day tomorrow. Both bills are entirely unnecessary, and both risk undermining the ongoing diplomacy with the P5+1 – leaving the U.S. isolated and bringing Washington closer to the point where it will be forced to choose between a nuclear-armed Iran and another Middle East war.
This week, Alpher dicusses Netanyahu's approach to rallying support against a prospective US-led nuclear deal with Iran and getting himself reelected back home in Israel by speaking this week to the United States Congress; why Netanyahu can’t affect the nuclear deal and what damage he is doing to the strategic relationship between the US and Israel; What challenges from Iran in the Middle East Netanyahu is neglecting, and how this is related to the US; the Israeli public’s response to Netanyahu’s congressional grandstanding and the administration’s angry reproaches; why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems right now to be all about money and if there is a timely US-Israel angle here too.
Americans for Peace Now is outraged by the full-page ad, published in Saturday's New York Times, which accuses
National security Advisor Susan Rice of being "blind" to the Jewish people's genocide.
Hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress on Iran tomorrow, Americans for Peace Now is calling today on Netanyahu to refrain from using his speech to undermine diplomacy with Iran, further deepening the partisan rift on Capitol Hill, and causing further divisions among American Jews.
On Friday, February 27th APN hosted Joseph Cirincione of the Ploughshares Fund and Larry Hanauer of the RAND Corporation on a briefing call regarding the current negotiations over Iran's nuclear quest, Congress' role in the negotiations process, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's effort to use Congress to scuttle the Obama administration's efforts to reach a deal.
Prepare for Netanyahu’s Washington Speeches:
Listen for these 11 Bogus Arguments against an Iran Deal
On March 3rd, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint session of Congress, where he is expected to make the case against a nuclear deal with Iran, at least a deal that could result from the current negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 (the U.S., France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, and the United Kingdom). During this visit to Washington, Netanyahu will make other speeches and find other occasions to speak to the media in which he will no doubt, make the same case. In anticipation of these speeches and statements, it is important to "un-pack" and debunk the bogus arguments against an Iran deal that Netanyahu is most likely to be making. The eleven most prominent of those arguments are examined here. The full document can be printed/downloaded here.
Last week, we ran our first editorial cartoon, "Messiah Complex." Cartoons have been a hot topic recently because of their power to incite and provoke. We will never be gratuitous with this form of expression—but we do plan to use this medium to incite action and to provoke thought. As we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words. This is our aim: to make people think and to act for peace.
This week, we bring you a new cartoon, regarding Rawabi,
which has been a hot topic in the news this week: “Let Them Eat Ice Cream.”
In recent weeks, attention has focused on the outrage surrounding Netanyahu’s March 3rd speech to Congress, and House Speaker Boehner's invitation to Netanyahu. After Netanyahu's speech, focus must revert to the real issues: Iran negotiations, deal or no deal, war or peace. Prime Minister Netanyahu has made clear that any viable, reasonable deal – a deal that both Iran could accept and one that meets the red lines of the P5+1 negotiators – would never reach his standard. With the deadline for a framework agreement with Iran approaching (March 23rd) and with AIPAC getting into gear, pressure is mounting on members of Congress to proceed with new legislation – sanctions and other initiatives – that could kill a deal before it is reached or render any deal dead on arrival.
Friday, February 27th, at 4:00 PM Eastern Time.
To join the call dial 951-797-1058 and enter passcode 147414.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will come to Congress next Tuesday to try to mobilize it against the Obama administration’s efforts to reach a deal with Iran. This week, he described Congress as the “last stop” before a deal that he deems catastrophic for Israel. But will Congress come to Netanyahu’s help? Can Congress thwart such a deal? And what kind of a deal are President Obama and Secretary Kerry trying to secure? In what way does its chief characteristics differ from Netanyahu’s approach?
On March 3nd, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to speak to the US Congress at the invitation of the Republican Leadership, not the White House. It’s a decision that’s driven Netanyahu’s already strained relationship with President Obama to a breaking point.