IRAN-NUCLEAR/ISRAEL-PRESIDENT Israeli President Rivlin eases rhetorics over Iran nuclear deal

Record ID: 144280

  • Title: IRAN-NUCLEAR/ISRAEL-PRESIDENT Israeli President Rivlin eases rhetorics over Iran nuclear deal
  • Date: 11th August 2015
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (AUGUST 11, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ISRAELI PRESIDENT REUVEN RIVLIN ENTERING HALL, SHAKING HANDS WITH U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAJORITY LEADER KEVIN MCCARTHY DELEGATES AND JOURNALISTS SEATED AT MEETING RIVLIN ADDRESSING MEETING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI PRESIDENT REUVEN RIVLIN, SAYING: "In less than 50 days Congress will vote on a joint comprehensive plan of action known as the Iranian nuclear deal. Whatever, whatever, whatever, the Congress decides it will be your decision, your decision as Americans, your decision as representatives of the people who have voted for you." RIVLIN ADDRESSING MEETING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI PRESIDENT REUVEN RIVLIN, SAYING: "We as your allies and partners must make sure that whatever the result of this vote our strategic alliance stands and grows even stronger. Israel cannot become a decisive issue in American politics. May we continue to be proud of our common values, of our friendship." CREWS LISTENING RIVLIN AND MCCARTHY SITTING ON STAGE PRESIDENT'S RESIDENCE ROAD SIGN FLAGS FLYING OUTSIDE PRESIDENT'S RESIDENCE
  • Embargoed: 26th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAB03OKRS4QP6JG69WCKI6F9TXL
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: President Reuven Rivlin sought to ease tension between Israel and the US over Iran nuclear deal during a meeting on Tuesday (August 11) in Jerusalem with House of Representatives Majority Leader Kevin Mccarthy.
    Rivlin, who last week said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's anti-Iran drive was straining U.S. ties and isolating Israel, said that Israel should stay away from interfering in U.S. Congress vote on whether to reject the nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran expected in September when lawmakers return to Washington.
    Netanyahu has been pushing lawmakers to oppose the nuclear agreement, which he considers a threat to his country's survival. Some pro-Israel groups have also been spending millions of dollars on an advertising campaign to push members of Congress to vote no.
    "In less than 50 days Congress will vote on a joint comprehensive plan of action known as the Iranian nuclear deal. Whatever, whatever, whatever, the Congress decides it will be your decision, your decision as Americans, your decision as representatives of the people who have voted for you," Rivlin told Mccarthy and his Republican delegation.
    "We as your allies and partners must make sure that whatever the result of this vote our strategic alliance stands and grows even stronger. Israel cannot become a decisive issue in American politics. May we continue to be proud of our common values, of our friendship," he added.
    In a special series of interviews given to Israeli media outlets last week marking the first anniversary of his presidency, Rivlin suggested that Netanyahu has been overzealous in opposing the Iran nuclear deal, opening a "battlefront" with Washington and isolating his country.
    Rivlin, who holds the largely ceremonial head of state post, argued in three separate newspaper interviews that Netanyahu's vigorous campaign against last month's nuclear deal could ultimately hurt Israel.
    A former right-wing politician with a history of strained ties to the prime minister, Rivlin has voiced his own reservations about the deal but put it in a wider diplomatic context in the interviews.
    "I am very worried about the battlefront that has opened up between (U.S. President Barack) Obama and Netanyahu and the (state of) relations between the United States and Israel," he told the Maariv newspaper. The prime minister has waged a campaign against the United States as if the two sides were equal and this is liable to hurt Israel."
    "I must say that he understands the United States better than I do, but, nonetheless, we are largely isolated in the world," Rivlin said in some of his most critical comments about Netanyahu's strategy on the Iranian issue since becoming president a year ago.
    Obama has been engaged in his own lobbying effort, including a combative speech on August 5 in which he said abandoning the agreement would open up the prospect of war.
    He defended the agreement as a "hard-won diplomatic solution" that has gained almost unanimous international support.
    Obama acknowledged his administration's split with Netanyahu, but said that the Israeli leader, though sincere, was wrong.
    Netanyahu, in a webcast to U.S. Jewish groups on August 4, said it was his duty to make Israel's position heard. He cautioned the nuclear deal would not do enough to curb Iranian atomic projects with bomb-making potential.
    In another interview, with the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Rivlin urged the prime minister to patch up his relationship with Obama.
    The U.S. Congress has until Sept. 17 to consider a resolution of disapproval of the Iran deal, which would eliminate Obama's ability to waive all sanctions on Iran imposed by the U.S. Congress, a key component of the agreement.
    Lawmakers will begin debating whether to reject the deal when they return from their August recess on Sept. 8.
    Obama has promised a veto if the resolution is passed by the House and Senate.
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