TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli opposition leaders are demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu jettison his congressionally focused strategy of end-running the White House and launch immediate, constructive and intensive engagement with US President Barack Obama and his team aimed at improving a prospective nuclear deal with Iran.
In an April 12 position paper, leaders of the Zionist Camp — the left-of-center party forced to concede in last month's election here to Netanyahu's Likud — gave full support to their government's struggle to extract stronger and verifiable preconditions for a gradual easing of sanctions against Tehran.
The three-part document — essentially a shadow foreign policy platform — emphasizes the consensus in Israel regarding the cardinal threat posed by Iran, not only with respect to its nuclear program, but to its support of proxy terrorist forces at Israel's borders and beyond.
But as much as they back Israel's re-elected leader on substance, they diverge radically on style.
Given the looming June 30 deadline for a comprehensive deal, they urge Netanyahu to stop his caustic and "not significantly influential" sniping and start working with Obama and other world leaders to work through squeeze out myriad loopholes in the framework agreed to by Iran and the P5+1 countries earlier this month.
"It's important to understand that already Iran is only a few months away from a nuclear weapon. [The framework agreement] delays this schedule if Iran decides to break out to a bomb ... and imposes inspections, but these agreements are insufficient.
"The time remaining before a final agreement is critical and Israel must act to minimize the damage and maximize advantages as much as it possibly can."
Opposition leaders insist prohibitions on Iran acquiring nuclear weapons should extend far beyond the terms of the present framework and that a "muscular and viable" military option must remain on the table at all times.
In parallel, they say Israel must work with Washington and world powers on an advance public declaration — including a decision in the UN Security Council — that Iranian violations will be subject to "automatic and unlimited" reinstatement snapback of sanctions.
Through cooperation rather than confrontation, Israel should work to prevent use, development or installation of new centrifuges for a protracted period and a more robust regime for monitoring so-called potential military dimensions (PMDs) at Fordow and related or yet-to-be discovered sites.
As for US-Israel ties, party leaders urge a strengthening of the strategic partnership and an expansion of Israel's deterrent capability that can only be forged only through clear understandings between the two leaders.
Such understandings, they say, will provide "an American umbrella" under which Israel has legitimacy for "unlimited action against threats or violations of the agreement or against our enemies who are supported by Iran."
When asked in an April 15 interview to clarify his use of the term "American umbrella" — which to many connotes some kind of a treaty — Isaac Herzog, head of the Zionist Camp party, said he was not seeking a mutual defense pact.
As Cabinet secretary to then-former Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 1996, Herzog was party to talks with the Clinton administration on the issue, which Israel ultimately rejected as potential US compensation for an Israeli return of the Golan Heights to Syria.
"The issue of a defense pact has been raised over the past decade, but this poses a problem for Israeli leaders in terms of freedom to operate," Herzog said.
"Instead, the focus should be on strengthening Israeli deterrence — which is a critical factor in diplomacy — in terms of intelligence, weaponry and other wherewithal…. But along with the ability to operate, Israel needs to have the recognized right to do so with the legitimacy provided by an American umbrella," he said.
Herzog said he hopes the platform will prod Netanyahu and opponents on Capitol Hill toward a more reasonable approach in the run-up to a prospective comprehensive agreement with Iran.
"As the lead opposition party in Israel, we've been asked by our own voters and many in Europe and especially the United States what our position was on this issue, because all people seem to hear at this point is intense [yammering] by Netanyahu," Herzog said.
Eyal Ben-Reuven, a major general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and a member of the Herzog-Livni defense team who helped draft the document, noted that Obama himself has expressed readiness to further strengthen bilateral ties and work with Israel on fine points of the prospective final deal.
In an April 5 interview with Tom Friedman of the New York Times, Obama sidestepped the issue of a mutual defense treaty, but said he had instructed his team "to work with the Israelis to build on the already unprecedented military and intelligence cooperation that's in place."
"That's what we're talking about," said Ben-Reuven said.
"It's not a defense pact, since we don't want the US to risk sending their soldiers to do our job." Rather, said the newly elected Zionist Camp Party lawmaker, "It's about getting to an agreement that, if our leadership feels we must act, we have the capacity and the legitimacy to do so.
"With the little time left, the best place to get this done is not in Congress, but with the president and with Secretary [of State John] Kerry. It's with the other world leaders. ... All we're saying is leave the personal acrimony and ego battles aside and get to the point where we can influence things for the better."
Email: brome@defensenews.com
Opall-Rome is Israel bureau chief for Defense News. She has been covering U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation, Mideast security and missile defense since May 1988. She lives north of Tel Aviv. Visit her website at www.opall-rome.com.
