The national security adviser to President Barrack Obama, Susan Rice recently addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy conference using Hebrew phrases and kind anecdotes about her trips to Israel.
Afterwards Rice raised the tempo by telling AIPAC representatives about how their lobbying activities are a risk and could jeopardize any ongoing discussions to minimize Iran’s nuclear program.
“We cannot let an unachievable ideal stand in the way of a good deal,” Rice said.
Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s detested address to a combined session of Congress on Tuesday, AIPAC petitioned its members to back two legislations; one for developing new Iran sanctions in case the nuclear agreement is not achieved and two; authorize congressional review in the event that an agreement is signed. watch cnbc live to see impact on business stock exchange.
The delegates appreciated Rice by offering her a standing ovation when she uttered, “I know that some of you will be urging Congress to insist that Iran forego its domestic enrichment entirely.” But she cut off the applause, saying that barring Iran from developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is not “a viable negotiating position.”
“As desirable as that would be, it is neither realistic nor achievable,” Rice said.
Again the delegates applauded her when she said, “I know some may argue that we must impose sanctions and walk away. “But, my friends, let’s remember that sanctions, unfortunately, have never stopped Iran from advancing its program,” she said.
“Here’s what’s likely to happen without a deal: Iran will install and operate advanced centrifuges,” Rice continued. “It will rebuild its uranium stockpile and we will lose the unprecedented sanctions and transparency we have today.”
According to Rice, the process by which the House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) recently used to bring the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to US without alerting the White House brought some level of partisanship in the US-Israel relationship which goes beyond the politics. The process was destructive to the US-Israel relationship, according to Rice’s opinion.
Rice stated that she felt that Congress had “played a hugely important role” in approving sanctions on Iranian government. “They shouldn’t play the spoiler now,” Rice said.
The US ambassador to United Nations, Samantha Power, in her address to AIPAC majorly focused on the administration’s activities in protecting Israel in the global community, and only made a brief mention of their discussions with Iran.
Contrary to Power, Rice allocated a significant period during her speech to reaffirm to the AIPAC attendees of the US idea that “a bad deal is worse than no deal” and was in discussions for a good deal.
“We understand the unique concerns of our Israeli friends and partners,” Rice said. “As President Obama has repeated many times, we are keeping all options on the table to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.”
This is not the first time Rice had given a not-so friendly talk to Israel. Back in 2013 she pissed off Israelis and their partners when she stated that the then faltering Israel-Palestinian discussions were because of Israeli’s continued construction of settlements in regions that Palestinians had interest in. All the breaking news covered on Msnbc.
