By Guy Taylor and Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times - Monday, March 23, 2015
The Obama administration toed a hard line Monday against Benjamin Netanyahu for his comments about Israeli Arabs and Palestinian statehood leading up to Israel’s election last week, but downplayed concerns over “death to America” remarks Iran’s supreme leader made over the weekend.
The White House also seemed to warmly welcome input from 367 House members reiterating Congress‘ role in reaching a final nuclear agreement with Tehran, despite its vigorous attacks on an earlier letter to the Iranian leadership from 47 GOP senators explaining that any deal Iran may strike with the U.S. needs to be submitted to Congress to be binding.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Mr. Netanyahu was right to apologize for rallying his supporters by saying too many Arabs were voting — but that Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s remarks merely “underscore why it is so critically important” that the U.S. and other world powers “succeed in preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”
While he suggested anti-American language from Iran is something Washington can wait to deal with after the achievement of a potential nuclear agreement with Tehran, Mr. Earnest said Mr. Netanyahu needed to move quickly toward assuring Israeli Arabs that no harm was meant by his election-eve pronouncements against them.
Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly made clear his disgust with the parameters of the administration’s ongoing talks with Tehran on its nuclear program, and this has led to several testy exchanges, a controversial speech by the Israeli leader to Congress and Democratic political operatives traveling to Israel to work against Mr. Netanyahu in his re-election campaign.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to dial back his pre-election rhetoric, telling an audience in Jerusalem that he is aware that his comments had "hurt some citizens of Israel" and that he was "sorry." In urging his supporters to get out and vote, he had said Arabs were voting in "droves" in an effort to oust him from office. (Associated Press)
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to dial back his pre-election rhetoric, ... more >
In a letter to President Obama signed by House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Rep. Edward R. Royce, ranking Democrat Rep. Eliot L. Engel and 365 others, the lawmakers stressed that Congress will review any agreement with Iran to determine whether it adequately curtails the country’s nuclear program before agreeing to lift economic sanctions.
The letter comes at a crucial moment in negotiations with Iran, with the deadline for a preliminary deal to slow Tehran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief looming on March 31.
Administration officials continue to say the chances for success are 50-50 at best. They worry that too much interference from Congress — including new legislation requiring the House and Senate to sign off on the deal — could reduce those odds.
But lawmakers are making clear their voices will be heard.
“The United States has had a long-standing interest in preventing Iran from achieving a nuclear weapons capability,” the bipartisan group of lawmakers said. “Over the last 20 years, Congress has passed numerous pieces of legislation imposing sanctions on Iran to prevent that outcome, ultimately forcing Iran into negotiations. Should an agreement with Iran be reached, permanent sanctions relief from congressionally mandated sanctions would require new legislation. In reviewing such an agreement, Congress must be convinced that its terms foreclose any pathway to a bomb, and only then willCongress be able to consider permanent sanctions relief.”
The White House reacted much differently to the House letter than it did two weeks ago, when 47 Senate Republicans, led by freshman Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, wrote directly to Iran’s leaders and said any deal reached with this president would not last into the next administration.
That letter, administration officials said, was designed to torpedo an agreement.
But Mr. Earnest indicated Monday that the House letter was appropriate and different in several key areas from the Senate version.
“There are a variety of differences. The first is this is a bipartisan letter. The Cotton letter was a letter that was signed by 47 Republicans,” Mr. Earnest told reporters. “The second is, the letter from Sen. Cotton was one that was directed to our adversaries in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is a letter that members of Congress signed and sent to the president. The other thing is the goal of the [Cotton] letter was actually to undermine the talks.”
Mr. Earnest went on to say that the president expects Congress to play “its rightful role” in lifting Iranian sanctions.