White House calls in Jewish leaders for urgent Iran briefing
White House calls in Jewish leaders for urgent Iran briefing | The Times of Israel.
Amid growing signs of US-Israel tensions on thwarting Tehran’s nuclear program, small group of leaders invited for talks at short notice with National Security Council staff
WASHINGTON — Amid an escalation of signals that the Obama and Netanyahu governments are parting ways on Iran strategy, the White House called in American Jewish leaders for a briefing on short notice.
A small coterie of Jewish organizational leaders was set to meet Tuesday afternoon with top staff at the National Security Council to discuss Iran, according to the White House and officials of the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
The emphasis appears to be on groups that deal closely with Israel and its security concerns. A number of groups normally high on the list for White House briefings were not invited, including representatives of the Reform and Orthodox movements.
The invitation follows a tense, albeit coded, public exchange between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the last two days over Iran, as well as persistent backing by pro-Israel groups for a congressional bid to enhance Iran sanctions despite White House pleas to put new sanctions on hold.
On Sunday, addressing his Cabinet, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu derided in unusually sharp terms the attempts to talk Iran down from 20 percent to 3.5 percent uranium enrichment.
“The Iranians are intentionally focusing the discussion on this issue. It is without importance,” said Netanyahu, who has insisted that Iran must dismantle all enrichment capabilities as part of a deal to end sanctions aimed at ending its suspected nuclear weapons program.
Netanyahu did not specify Kerry as advancing the proposal, but made it clear his remarks were made in the context of talks he had with Kerry last week in Rome.
“This was the focus of the long and detailed talks I had with John Kerry,” he said.
Kerry appeared to return the jab in an address Monday evening to the Ploughshares Fund, a group that advocates nuclear disarmament.
“The president has charged me to be and has welcomed an opportunity to try to put to the test whether or not Iran really desires to pursue only a peaceful program, and will submit to the standards of the international community in the effort to prove that to the world,” Kerry said.
“Some have suggested that somehow there’s something wrong with even putting that to the test,” he said. “I suggest that the idea that the United States of America is a responsible nation to all of humankind would not explore that possibility would be the height of irresponsibility and dangerous in itself, and we will not succumb to those fear tactics and forces that suggest otherwise.”
In recent days a number of leading Jewish groups, including AIPAC, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the Jewish Federations of North America, have reiterated support for advancing through Congress new and enhanced Iran sanctions, although the Obama administration has made clear publicly that it would prefer Congress put off dealing with the legislation until after the next round of talks in mid-November.
US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, in May. (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/Flash90)
On Monday, US President Barack Obama spoke with Netanyahu by phone about Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and other Mideast issues. The phone call was part of their “regular consultations,” said a White House statement. “The two leaders agreed to continue their close coordination on a range of security issues.”
In Rome last week, Netanyahu held a marathon session of discussions with Kerry, much of which were focused on the Iranian threat. In his speech to the UN General Assembly last month, Netanyahu said, “We all want to give diplomacy with Iran a chance to succeed, but when it comes to Iran, the greater the pressure, the greater the chance.” He added: “When it comes to Iran’s nuclear weapons program, here’s my advice: Distrust, dismantle and verify.”
Olli Heinonen, former deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Association, said Monday that Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build an atomic weapon within two weeks and had, “in a certain way,” already reached the point of no return in its nuclear program.
Rebecca Shimoni Stoil and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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WarSclerotic 
October 29, 2013 at 10:55 PM
Interesting development and in accord with our hypothesis that Israel might just been cooking something. However, those meetings and other actions that this ”administration” is taking right now, are not been prepared enough, they are too late and too little.
Look, the plethora of the issues that Jarrett-Obama have to address right now is so wide and problematic that even that women, Valerie, ”The Iron Lady” in the WH, cannot solve them all.
However, she is not stupid and even she understands that Netanyahu can react in unpredictable ways like starting a war, for example. The last thing that Valerie Jarrett needs now, when preparing the ground for the Iranian – US agreement, is a war between Iran and Israel. She knows too well that after such an action, her dream to reach an agreement with Iran will vanish in the sands of the Iranian desert. So, Valerie has a real problem here: how to please the Iranians without pissing on the Israelis and how to assure the Israeli part that America will have the back of the Israelis without trying to fuck them from that position. In our opinion, this problem cannot be solved, because the known factors were poorly chosen and the number of the variables are too high.
So Valerie will take the gamble : She will go with the Iranian thingy all the way to the end, hoping that Bibi will not have the balls to attack Iran as he promised. On this road, she will try to sell some sand to the Israelis and hoping she will get lucky. We hope she wont.
October 29, 2013 at 11:10 PM
It appears Obama is working to undermine Mr. Netanyahu. No surprise here. This is how this community organizer-in-chief operates. If he doesn’t get his way, he’ll move to punish Israel in some way. Wait and see. Again, no surprise. He’s already punishing his own people and has done so since entering office. Obama will do anything it takes to consolidate his power and impose his own brand of socialistic tyranny upon this land. 👿
October 30, 2013 at 12:22 AM
….Lest us not forget Big Valerie has more childhood contacts, more back-channel comms with Iran…than nearly any WH member in a generation. Bibi has the moral anchor, the imperative to resoundingly destroy something evil, especially as Arak is coming on-line. And the O-man? He’ll follow the path of least resistance.
October 30, 2013 at 1:11 AM
Looks to me that Obavez is trying to use those leaders to put pressure on Bibi not to do anything ‘stupid’ (from his point of view).
I wouldn’t be in the least surprised when we see more leaks concerning Israel the coming days and weeks.
I agree with both Luis and Steve and only want to add that this is precisely the problem with Obavez. He see the Americans not as ‘his own people’. Why else does he not give a shit about Americans murdered in Benghazi.
But there is hope. As with all tyrants hubris leads him to overreach.
ObavezCare could be the point where the pendulum starts to swing into the other direction.
The American Spectator. Obamacare and the Death of Liberalism
http://spectator.org/archives/2013/10/29/obamacare-and-the-death-of-lib/
October 30, 2013 at 4:06 AM
Y’all tell Bibi to watch his phone conversations….
http://weaselzippers.us/2013/10/29/white-house-wont-say-if-nsa-listens-to-benjamin-netanyahus-telephone-calls/