Israel to sustain lobby push on Iran

Israel will keep up its lobbying push on Iran next week in a series of congressional briefings with pro-Israel lawmakers.

Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer is scheduled to meet with both the Republican Israel Caucus and the Democratic Israel Working Group, the Hill has learned. The push started earnest last week with the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC and visiting Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett pressing lawmakers to buck the White House and pass tough new sanctions on Iran.

“I think we’re at the last point where we still have major leverage, and I’m absolutely convinced that if we ratchet up the pressure, they’ll have to give up the entire program,” Bennett told lawmakers at a meeting last week, according to The Jerusalem Post. “The bad deal is to click the pause button.”

The lobbying effort has been largely successful, with a growing number of Democrats joining calls for the Senate to quickly pass new sanctions mirroring a bill the House passed by 400-20 in July. The White House says passing new sanctions now would undermine diplomatic talks on Iran’s nuclear program and could lead to war.

Tensions are also growing between the Obama administration and Israel over the subject of peace talks with the Palestinians. The administration this past week slammed proposals for 20,000 new settlements in the West Bank and pro-peace groups will take to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to argue that Israel is largely responsible for a breakdown in talks initiated three months ago by Secretary of State John Kerry.

The briefing by the Arab American Institute is being held in cooperation with the office of Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). It will include residents from the Palestinian village of Wadi Foquin and the nearby Israeli town of Tsur Hadassa.