Israel's
consul general in Philadelphia sent classified telegram to Jerusalem
with grave warning about sentiments in U.S. Jewish community toward
Israel's campaign against nuclear accord.
Barak Ravid |
Jewish
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) hugs a Code Pink activist at an event of
activists delivering more than 400,000 petition signatures to Capitol
Hill in support of the Iran nuclear deal, July 29, 2015Credit: Reuters
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Israel’s
consul general in Philadelphia, Yaron Sideman, warned Jerusalem this
week that the American Jewish community is divided over the nuclear
agreement with Iran, and does not stand united behind Israel in the
controversy.
Sideman sent a classified, sensitive telegram to Jerusalem on Tuesday with a grave warning about the sentiments in the Jewish community toward Israel’s campaign against the deal.
“At
this crucial point of the Iranian issue – which for years has been at
the core of Israeli foreign policy and was described countless times by
the Israeli leadership as an existential threat – the Jewish community
in the United States is not standing as a united front behind Israel and
important parts of it are on the fence,” Sideman wrote in the telegram,
a copy of which reached Haaretz.
Sideman’s
telegram reflects what Israeli diplomats in North America and the
Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem are reluctant to say out loud. Many
diplomats feel that the American Jewish community is caught in a vise
between Israel’s fight against the agreement with Iran and the internal
American political conflict over it.
Sideman
wrote that a CEO of one of the Jewish federations in the Philadelphia
region told him that in his view, Israel’s status vis-à-vis the Obama
administration is at a low point, which could adversely affect the
Jewish community.
He
cited the Jewish leader telling him, “In the next year and a half
(until the end of President Barack Obama’s term) Israel’s and the Jewish
communities’ maneuvering space regarding advancing Israel’s interests
is extremely limited to non existent.” Thus, Sideman continued, “He
isn’t interested in taking steps that would worsen the situation and
harm the Jewish community’s status even more.”
The
consul general said the CEO, who is inclined to support the deal with
Iran, objects to exerting pressure on Democratic lawmakers in the
federation’s jurisdiction, for fear it would harm the Jewish community.
“The practical meaning is that certain lawmakers don’t hear from him and
from other key figures in the Jewish community within their frame of
reference,” he wrote.
Sideman,
who has been serving for several years as consul general in
Philadelphia, was formerly director of the consulate’s department in
charge of relations with the U.S. Congress. His diplomatic reports in
the past also reflected his evaluations courageously and candidly.
For
example, before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress
some two weeks before the Israeli election, Sideman warned of the
growing criticism of the speech in the Jewish community and among
Israel’s non-Jewish friends.
Barak Ravid
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