Livni: We must remember Iran is the enemy, not the US

Zionist Union Member of Knesset Tzipi Livni on Saturday joined a growing number of officials warning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against further alienating the United States over the Iran nuclear deal, just days after President Barack Obama singled out Israel as the only nation that had openly opposed the agreement.

Livni, who previously served as foreign minister and Israel’s chief negotiator with the Palestinians, stressed that it was important to remember that Iran is the enemy and not the United States, Army Radio reported. She said it would be a mistake to avoid any discussion of Israel’s security expectations in the wake of the agreement.

“One cannot simply engage in arm wrestling in Congress without addressing the consequences of the nuclear deal with Iran,” Livni said at an event in Neve Monson, the radio reported.

Livni was referring to Netanyahu’s appearance before both houses of Congress on March 2, in which he exhorted American lawmakers to oppose the talks on the agreement, which would “all but guarantee” that Tehran gets nuclear weapons. The invitation to address lawmakers was issued by Republican House Speaker John Boehner, not the White House, which perceived it as a breach of protocol.

While Israeli and American leaders have insisted that disagreements between the two countries were at a policy level only, and that relations remained as close as ever, some fear that the acrimony expressed could have a direct impact on Israel’s security.

Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman made similar criticism of Netanyahu on Saturday, claiming that his actions cause “serious damage to our national security and to Israel’s ability to protect itself in the international scene.”

Writing on his Facebook page, the former foreign minister said that there was a “serious danger ” that the US would not veto United Nations resolutions unwelcome to Israel.

“At the end of September, the UN General Assembly will convene, during which there will debates in the Security Council,” he wrote. “During the assembly, there are liable to be initiatives like those by France, New Zealand and the Palestinians themselves that could well be passed. [These will] present Israel will tough parameters for an agreement with the Palestinians, or the Palestinians could even ask for recognition as a full member of the UN. There is a serious danger that this time there will be no American veto and such a scenario will materialize.”

Obama said in his speech Wednesday that “a nuclear-armed Iran is far more dangerous to Israel, to America, and to the world, than an Iran that benefits from sanctions relief. I recognize that Prime Minister Netanyahu disagrees. I don’t doubt his sincerity. But I believe he is wrong.”

President Reuven Rivlin said Thursday that he has warned Netanyahu against butting heads with the US over Iran at the expense of Israeli interests, noting that close ties with Washington are of utmost importance to Israeli foreign policy.

Speaking to Haaretz in one of a battery of interviews given to the Hebrew press, Rivlin criticized Netanyahu’s behavior, saying that “conflicts, even just ones, which in the end can come at the expense of the State of Israel, are things that we must be very cautious about and hold back on personally.”

Also this week, a senior leader of the American Jewish community said that while Netanyahu has every right to warn US Jews of the perceived dangers in the agreement with Iran, his bombastic approach to the American political process is making some of his coreligionists uncomfortable.

“I think that Israeli officials should make the case, on the content, on the substance, and we will do the good job of translating it into activity,” Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations, said in a briefing for members of the Israeli Diplomatic Correspondents Association.