US
Robert Satloff believes that the Iran deal can still be improved without going back to the negotiation table:
The key point is that a “no” vote on the Iran deal has little practical impact until next year. Between now and then, such a vote buys time, adding up to nine months to the strategic clock. If, before the vote, Obama refuses to adopt a comprehensive set of remedial measures that improves the deal, then a resounding vote of disapproval gives the president additional time to take such action and then ask Congress to endorse his new-and-improved proposal.
Law Professor Orde Kittrie gives the legal perspective on the same issue:
The Iran nuclear deal could be significantly improved by a supplementary agreement containing amendments and understandings designed to mitigate the deal’s key gaps and ambiguities regarding verification and compliance. This step would be consistent with the Constitution, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act and past U.S. diplomatic practice, and would be no surprise to the international community.
Israel
Ben Dror Yemini describes Netanyahu's appointment of Danny Danon as Israel’s next ambassador to the UN as an 'own goal scored against Israel':
When Avigdor Lieberman said Israel should accept John Kerry's peace deal draft a year and a half ago, it was Danny Danon who put his foot down to Netanyahu and clarified he will not allow that to happen. When Naftali Bennett is talking about annexing Area C of the West Bank, Danon is talking about an annexation of even more territories. So Netanyahu decided to appoint him, of all people, to represent Israel?
Jacky Hugi writes about Israel and Egypt’s clandestine love affair:
As far as the Egyptians are concerned, Israel has the same status as a mistress. It is only behind closed doors, in the innermost sanctum of the bedroom, that the lover opens up to her, pours out his heart and sometimes even puts his life in her hands. There is nothing to prevent Egypt from exchanging intelligence with Israel or cooperating with it in the fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Iran’s influence in the region or Sunni radicals in the Sinai Peninsula. The two countries might even work together to steal a horse or two from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But all that happens under the cover of night. God forbid that news of it gets out, because if it did, the man would be branded with an indelible mark of shame.
Middle East
Colbert King discusses the dire state of Christians in the Middle East:
Followers of Christ in Iraq, quiet as it has been kept, have borne a large brunt of the pain resulting from the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Before 2003, as many as 1.4 million Christians lived in Iraq. Today, because of killings and panicked flights from terror, that number is below 500,000.
Daniel Benjamin tries to refute the idea that Iran will now have $150b available for terrorist activities:
The United States needs to remain watchful and engaged in the Middle East, but the nuclear deal ought to stand or fall on its own merits — on such questions as whether the verification strictures, enrichment requirements, and disposal of possible weapons materials are sufficient. Those who argue that the terrorist consequences are too great to countenance a deal are mistaking their loathing for the Iranians — who have provided plenty of reasons to be loathed — for real analysis.
Jewish World
Famed neurology professor Oliver Sacks writes a personal piece about the wonders of Shabbat:
And now, weak, short of breath, my once-firm muscles melted away by cancer, I find my thoughts, increasingly, not on the supernatural or spiritual, but on what is meant by living a good and worthwhile life — achieving a sense of peace within oneself. I find my thoughts drifting to the Sabbath, the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, and perhaps the seventh day of one’s life as well, when one can feel that one’s work is done, and one may, in good conscience, rest.
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman presents the case for Rabbinic neutrality on Iran:
Iran might be many months or years away from a nuke, but within the American Jewish community, damaging meltdowns are occurring with alarming regularity. And right now, that concern must be weighed into this entire picture. Rabbis need to be the “adult in the room,” especially when so many federations and Jewish organizations are choosing to go the partisan route.
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