"Israel" shows considerable weakness during Iran Nuclear Deal negotiations in Vienna

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"Israel" has gone from threatening military action to the meaningless condemnation of any revival of the Iran Nuclear Deal, reflecting the perhaps waning influence of both the Israeli regime itself and the pro-"Israel" Lobby in Washington.

In a speech delivered to Jewish American Leaders on February 2, Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, reiterated his claim that "Tel Aviv" will “defend itself” against Iran and explained that “For Israel and all the stability-seeking forces in the Middle East — the emerging deal as it seems is highly likely to create a more violent, more volatile Middle East,” showing a sign of acceptance that the Nuclear Deal as a reality. This is far from the performative opposition displayed by a seemingly desperate former Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, who paid a visit to US congress to oppose the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA) deal, without even informing then-President Barack Obama.

Back in 2015, the JCPOA, or Iran Nuclear Deal, was agreed upon irrespective of "Israel" and the pro-"Israel" Lobby in Washington badgering the American government to abandon it. On top of this, Netanyahu’s actions did cause a real schism in US politics over the previously thought to be a bipartisan relationship between Washington and "Tel Aviv". Despite the AIPAC Lobby, known to be perhaps the most powerful on issues of foreign policy, putting all its weight behind a staunch opposition to the Iran Nuclear Deal in the lead up to its signing in 2015, they were unsuccessful. This time around, AIPAC has distributed a position paper in Washington, but in terms of a publicized and vocal opposition, their efforts have been little.

"Tel Aviv’s" political and military establishments have repeatedly claimed to have readied themselves for striking Iran’s nuclear facilities, but even Israeli officials have admitted that they are not ready for such an escalatory step. As for AIPAC, it’s most likely silent and less daring due to its fear of driving the Democratic Party further away from its sphere of influence. Although Washington will undoubtedly continue its unconditional support for the Israeli occupation, "Israel’s" power in influencing the US is most certainly decreasing and its signs of retreat in opposition to the Iran nuclear deal are perhaps proof of this.

An attempt was made in January by the anti-Iran group, known as United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), in order to push an additional layer of complications into the Nuclear Deal negotiations, taking place in Vienna, surrounding the issue of Western dual-nationals held by Tehran. Yet, instead of having a detrimental effect on the JCPOA negotiations, it seems to have opened up an opportunity for Tehran to tighten its relationship with Qatar, having Doha work as an intermediary in a potential prisoner swap deal with the United States.

If "Israel" thought it could threaten Iran into submission, it was clearly proven in the past weeks to have exhibited serious weakness on the issue of air defense systems. The Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, announced just last week that they had flown one of their drones 70 kilometers deep into Israeli held territory and withdrew the drone after 40 minutes. This was despite Israeli attempts to down the drone and demonstrated the weakness of the occupying regime in its ability to mount a considerable defense. If a reconnaissance drone can overcome Israeli air defense systems for 40 minutes, it’s easy to imagine what would happen if attack drones took to the skies.

"Israel’s" insistence on aggression and overplaying their hand has actively backfired on them and places them in a weaker position than ever before. "Israel’s" political establishment is now extremely weak, it’s in a moment of real crisis with a coalition of parties that could stab each other in the back and disagree on so many issues of approach that playing with fire right now is a terrible option. Therefore we are seeing "Tel Aviv" and the pro-"Israel" lobby nowhere near as aggressive as they were preceding the JCPOA’s signing in 2015 and if they are wishing to go too far to kill its revival now, this could have devastating consequences. "Israel" will just have to live with the fact that Washington will do what it wants on the JCPOA issue and they can only hedge their bets on the return of a Republican Party candidate, like Donald Trump, to do their bidding in the future on this front.