The Iranian Candidate?
The Iranian Candidate?Reuters

A Washington Times article by Judson Phillips that points to US President Barack Obama as a collaborator with Iran, which the writer defines as an enemy state, appears to have fallen on sympathetic ears in pro-Netanyahu circles in Israel.

The main headline in the website of Israel Hayom, a newspaper considered to have close ties to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, cites the Times article, which states that “Barack Obama is more than just sympatric to Iran. He is the Iranian Candidate. Mr. Obama is more concerned about Iran than he is about America.”

“It is not an understatement to call Iran America’s enemy,” writes Phillips. “This is a nation whose leaders regularly lead chants of 'Death to America.' Iran was responsible for a number of terrorist acts against America, including the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut in 1983.

“Mr. Obama has been working overtime to help the Iranians. He has released frozen Iranian assets in America. Every deal he makes is much more favorable to Iran than it is to the West,” writes Phillips, a conservative lawyer who founded the Tea Party Nation in 2009.

Israel Hayom goes on to quote an analysis by David Kirkpatrick that appeared in the New York Times Tuesday, which notes that the proposed deal with Iran “would trade relief from economic sanctions on Iran for insurance against the risk that Iran might rapidly develop a nuclear bomb."

"But many Arab analysts and diplomats say that security against the nuclear risk may come at the cost of worsening ongoing conflicts around the Middle East as Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Muslim allies push back against what they see as efforts by Shiite-led Iran to impose its influence - often on sectarian battle lines," wrote Kirkpatrick.

Netanyahu spoke out forcefully Wednesday regarding the emerging deal in talks between the P5+1 powers and Iran at Lausanne.

"Yesterday an Iranian general brazenly declared and I quote: 'Israel's destruction is non-negotiable', but evidently giving Iran's murderous regime a clear path to the bomb is negotiable," Netanyahu said of the comments by the Commander of Iran’s Basij (volunteer) Force, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi

"This is unconscionable," Netanyahu declared.

"I agree with those who have said that Iran's claim that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes doesn't square with Iran's insistence on keeping underground nuclear facilities, advanced centrifuges and a heavy water reactor," he added. "Nor does it square with Iran's insistence on developing ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) and its refusal to come clean with the IAEA on its past weaponization efforts."

Turning from Iran's nuclear program to its increased use of terrorist and other proxies to expand its control over the wider Middle East, the PM noted how "at the same time, Iran is accelerating its campaign of terror, subjugation and conquest throughout the region, most recently in Yemen," where Shia Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, have ousted the Yemeni government.

"The concessions offered to Iran in Lausanne would ensure a bad deal that would endanger Israel, the Middle East and the peace of the world," he continued, echoing statements he made earlier this week in which the PM warned the deal under discussion is worse than he had feared.

"Now is the time for the international community to insist on a better deal," Netanyahu emphasized.