Diplomacy

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Veteran U.S. Peace Negotiator: Netanyahu-Trump Meeting Will Focus on Countering Iran Threat

U.S. President Donald Trump’s scheduled meeting on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely emphasize the importance of countering Iranian aggression and maintaining America’s bipartisan pro-Israel consensus, veteran U.S. diplomat Dennis Ross told reporters on Monday.

Ross, who worked as an advisor to Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, predicted that Netanyahu will likely emphasize “not just…enforcement of the [Iran nuclear] deal, but that more needs to be done to deter the Iranians and that in fact some efforts should be made to see if it’s possible to renegotiate” the deal’s sunset clause, which allows Iran after the deal’s 15th year “to build as large a nuclear infrastructure as they want, both in terms of quality and in terms of quantity.” This would leave Iran as a “nuclear threshold state in a position where it could move very quickly to turn that threshold status into a weapon status.”

Ross also highlighted Iran’s regional aggression, noting that Iranian-backed Shia militias are being used in Syria to “make up for the shortage of Syrian military manpower,” helping to keep Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in power.

It is of the highest importance to Israel that Iran and its terrorist proxy Hezbollah not be allowed to set up a new front against Israel in the Syrian Golan Heights, Ross noted. Netanyahu might make a point of stressing the unprecedentedly high level of cooperation that Israel now has with Sunni Arab states, and how this cooperation “vis-à-vis Iran and vis-à-vis ISIS is an asset for the United States and we ought to be thinking about how to take advantage of it.”

Ross was also clear about the importance of bipartisan support for Israel. Netanyahu “is going to want to show that the relationship is not just a relationship with the administration, it’s a relationship with the country,” he said. Ross expects Democrats and Republicans alike to demonstrate their closeness to and support for Israel while Netanyahu is in town.

A Gallup poll released Monday demonstrated near record-high levels of bipartisan support for Israel. According to the poll, 62 percent of Americans have more sympathy for Israel, compared to only 19 percent for the Palestinians. Support for Israel rarely reached 60 percent in the last half-century, but has exceeded that number every year since 2010.

[Photo:  Uri Lenz / FLASH90 ]