J Street defends Iran deal in full-page NYTimes ad
Liberal Jewish lobbying group rolls out multi-million dollar media campaign to prevent Congress from ‘sabotaging’ nuke pact
As high-stakes lobbying efforts kicked into gear on Capital Hill Thursday, the liberal Jewish American lobby J Street ran a full-page advertisement in The New York Times urging Congress to refrain from “sabotaging” the Iranian nuclear agreement.
The “pro Israel, pro peace” advocacy group’s ad suggested that the Jewish state will be better off with the pact, and that Tehran will be stripped of its uranium, plutonium and centrifuges and undergo a 24/7 monitoring regime.
The deal “makes the US and Israel safer” and leaves the Islamic Republic with “zero pathways to the bomb,” the ad states, echoing US President Barack Obama.
J Street has found itself on the opposing side of the aisle as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Israeli ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, try to persuade lawmakers that the nuclear deal with Iran endangers the Jewish state.
One of the deal’s most strident critics, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has called the accord a “stunning historic mistake.”
J Street, however, praised the deal for finding diplomatic solutions, rather than military ones, to the “tough issues” rattling the Middle East.
The ad is “the latest phase of [our] multimillion dollar campaign to ensure that the US Congress does not sabotage the nuclear deal,” the group said in a press release Thursday, pointing to a series of TV ads and a new website built to back the accord.
Congress has two months to ratify the deal, which was signed by the US, the Islamic Republic and five other world powers last week.
President Barack Obama has vowed to use his veto power to block any domestic opposition to the agreement.
An advertisement partially financed by AIPAC lambasted the agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, which was signed by Tehran and world powers last week.
The 30-second spot warns that the agreement allows Iran to keep its nuclear facilities, its military sites “can go uninspected,” and “restrictions end after 10 years.”
The ad was produced by a group called Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran, whose website warns that the “deal has too many loopholes,” “will make the world less safe” and “will fuel a dangerous nuclear arms race in the Middle East.”
Sara Miller contributed to this report.
