PM: 'We aren't partners at the table; we are a meal on the menu' - Yoni Hersch, Shlomo Cesana, Eli Leon, Daniel Siryoti, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

by Yoni Hersch, Shlomo Cesana, Eli Leon, Daniel Siryoti, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

Netanyahu responds to news that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will skip Israel during upcoming visit to the region • CNN poll: 52% of Americans say Congress should reject deal with Iran • Kerry: "Nothing in this deal is built on trust. Nothing."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz during the public hearing before the House Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday |Photo credit: GettyImages

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday responded to U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, both of whom have lashed out at the prime minister for his opposition to the nuclear deal with Iran.

Upon learning that Kerry will skip Israel on his upcoming visit to the region, Netanyahu said: "Really, Kerry has no reason to come here. This deal has nothing to do with us. We are not influenced by this deal at all. We aren't partners at the table, we are a meal on the menu."

Credit: Reuters

The prime minister's comments were made to reporters during a flight back to Israel from Cyprus on Tuesday. Netanyahu was addressing Kerry's plans to visit Egypt and Qatar and meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi and Gulf State representatives, but not finding the time to visit Israel. 

Israeli officials were also furious at the Obama administration for briefing pro-Israel and Jewish organizations in the U.S., with the aim of convincing them to oppose the Israeli government's move to act in Congress against the deal. According to information passed on to officials in Jerusalem, the administration has been coaching the organizations to adopt a position that takes into account other dominant viewpoints in Israel, such as the belief voiced by several senior defense establishment officials that the deal is a good one.

Regardless, it appears the administration's efforts to sway members of Congress to support the deal have been unsuccessful so far. A new poll released by CNN on Tuesday found that a majority of Americans want Congress to reject the deal with Iran. According to the poll, 52% of respondents believe Congress should vote against the deal, while only 44% said it should be approved.

Meanwhile, the battle between supporters and detractors of the deal is continuing unabated. 

Administration representatives -- Kerry, along with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz -- sat on Tuesday for a second public Congressional hearing on the matter, this time before the House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee. 

"While the administration has professed absolute knowledge about Iran’s program, it is a fact that we have been surprised by most every major nuclear development in Iran’s history," Rep. Ed Royce, the committee's Republican chairman, told Kerry and his administration colleagues.

"Iran has cheated on every agreement they've signed," Royce said, and asked if Tehran "has earned the right to be trusted."

"Nothing in this deal is built on trust. Nothing," Kerry responded. He said the deal ensures that Iran will not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

"Iran has agreed to refrain from producing or acquiring highly enriched uranium and weapons-grade plutonium for nuclear weapons forever," Kerry told the Foreign Affairs Committee. "When it comes to verification and monitoring, there is absolutely no sunset in this agreement. Not in 10 years, not in 15 years, not in 20 years, not in 25 years -- no sunset, ever."

Despite the criticism and objection to the nuclear deal, Obama, on a visit to Ethiopia on Tuesday, appeared more confident than ever about his standing, predicting he could win a third term in office if the law allowed for it. 

"I actually think I'm a pretty good president. I think if I ran, I could win. But I can't," he said. "There's a lot that I’d like to do to keep America moving, but the law's the law."

Iran, in the meantime, has been enjoying its improved status as a result of the deal. 

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, on a one-day visit to Tehran to discuss implementation of the deal, said on Tuesday that "regional and international cooperation with Iran is very important for us."

Mogherini met with her Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and the two agreed to discuss issues such as human rights and cooperation in the energy field. 

Iran, incidentally, appears as determined as ever to withhold making any concessions to the West. Fox News reported on Tuesday that the Islamic republic is insisting that its own officials provide soil samples from the Parchin military facility, a suspected nuclear site, to prove to the international community that no nuclear activity of a military nature is taking place there.

Several senators had initially claimed Iran wanted to conduct its own soil sampling, and officials on Tuesday confirmed to The Associated Press that the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, may agree to these terms if it is allowed to monitor the process.

Yoni Hersch, Shlomo Cesana, Eli Leon, Daniel Siryoti, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff  

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=27203  

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