The much anticipated speech to Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come and gone, but not before it completely discredited President Obama’s Iran negotiations, and not before it ticking off a slew of Obama-supporting congressional Democrats.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D) said she was “insulted” by Netanyahu’s speech, while a bunch of her other colleagues simply stayed away from the address, including Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro. The full list of the AWOL Democrats can we seen here.While Netanyahu stated that Israel had no better friend in the world than the United States, the speech landed a pretty significant black eye to President Obama’s already amebic and failed foreign policy.
Here is a quick recap of the speech, followed up with a video.
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“So at a time when many hope that Iran will join the community of nations, Iran is busy gobbling up the nations,” he said. “We must all stand together to stop Iran’s march of conquest, subjugation and terror.”
He also dismissed the idea that Iran can be trusted because it’s fighting the Islamic State.“Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam,” he said. “In this deadly game of thrones, there is no place for America or for Israel, no peace for Christians, Jews or Muslims who don’t share the Islamists’ medieval creed. No rights for women, no freedom for anyone.”
“So when it comes to ISIS, the enemy of your enemy is your enemy,” he said.Turning to the agreement, Netanyahu said publicly known details about it show two major flaws. The first is that it would leave Iran with a functioning nuclear apparatus that would give Iran a short “breakout” time to get to a nuclear weapon whenever it wants.
“Because Iran’s nuclear program would be left largely intact, Iran’s breakout time would be very short, about a year by U.S. assessments, even shorter by Israel’s,” he said. He also dismissed the agreement’s idea of using inspectors to make sure Iran is complying with the agreement, and said those inspectors would not be able to stop any violations they might find.
The second major flaw, which many Republicans have noted in Congress, is that it would appear to expire after a decade, leaving Iran free to pursue weapons after 10 years.
Instead, he said giving Iran this deal and easing economic sanctions would let Iran continue to terrorize the world, enjoy a healthier economy, and would even force others in the Middle East to pursue their own weapons programs.
“A decade may seem like a long time in a political life, but it’s a blink of an eye in the life of a nation,” he said. “It’s a blink of an eye in the life of our children.”
“We all have a responsibility to consider what will happen when Iran’s nuclear capabilities are virtually unrestricted and all the sanctions will have been lifted,” he added.
Netanyahu said Secretary of State John Kerry himself has agreed that Iran could legitimately produce nuclear material after the deal expires, and said countries must not count on Iran changing because of the huge concessions the U.S. is preparing to make.“This deal not a farewell to arms, but farewell to arms control,” he said.
Netanyahu said a deal should instead be based on new commitments from Iran to stop its aggressive actions against its neighbors, stop supporting terrorism around the world, and stop its threats to destroy Israel.
“If Iran wants to be treated like a normal country, let it act like a normal country,” he said.
He noted that the Obama administration has said repeatedly that no deal is better than a bad deal, and concluded by saying that as it stands now, the emerging agreement is bad and should be rejected.
“Well, this is a bad deal, this is a very bad deal and we’re better off without it,” he said. And while some have said war is the only alternative to an agreement, Netanyahu dismissed that and said, “The alternative to a bad deal is a much better deal.”-Blaze