Sunday Reads: Iran deal roundtable, ISIS or al-Qaeda?, Netanyahu continues to bet against Obama
US
Eli Lake examines the ways in which the US caved in the Iran deal:
Now that the President Barack Obama and his administration are selling the Iran nuclear deal, they say U.S. negotiators held a firm line against Iran's last-minute push for even more concessions. But if you compare the deal today with what was described in a White House fact sheet on the “framework” reached in April it shows that the West ceded a lot of ground to Iran in those final days in Vienna.
David Frum, Jeffrey Goldberg and Peter Beinart debate the flaws and merits of the Iran deal in this interesting roundtable discussion:
If the most important thing is the potential for political change in Iran, and the people who would make that change want this deal, doesn’t that carry weight?
Israel
Nahum Barnea discusses Netanyahu’s lack of post-deal communication with Obama and his decision to continue betting against the nuclear deal:
The final vote will take place in Congress at the end of September or in early October. At that very same time, the UN General-Assembly will convene. Netanyahu plans to arrive for the General-Assembly meeting. So does Obama. Will they speak before the decision is made in Congress, or after it? Will they meet? American diplomats are seeking high and low for a harmless time to schedule a meeting. So far, they're having a hard time finding anything.
Daniel Gordis writes about why many Israelis feel abandoned after the Iran deal:
True, Israelis can now defend ourselves. But our ability to do so was just significantly curtailed.
In ways more harrowing than we might once have imagined, we know we are still surrounded. And increasingly, it feels like we are once again alone.
Middle East
Ahmed Rashid writes about the Arab world’s tough choice in Syria – between ISIS and al Qaeda:
The Arab world, which has been anxiously watching all of this for years now, is coming to some hard conclusions. Assad is finished — this much is clear. So who’s next? If the answer is not the five-dozen moderates trained by the Pentagon, it will be one of the two extremist militias who control the most territory in Syria: Isis and al-Qa’eda (called by its local name Jabhat al-Nusra). A horrible choice, you might argue, but for many it’s the only choice
How does the nuclear debate look from Teheran? The Washington Institute’s Mehdi Khalaji takes a look at the nuances in the Iranian leadership’s initial reactions:
In the United States, the same political body that was in charge of negotiating with Iran is also in charge of implementing the agreement. But in Iran, the president and his negotiators have little authority over foreign policy, the nuclear program, or military activities. Instead, those sectors are under the purview of Supreme Leader Khamenei, who is usually reluctant to take any public responsibility for major decisions… His initial reaction to the new agreement has already sent discouraging signals about Iran's willingness to comply with its commitments in the long term.
Jewish World
Nathan Guttman writes about the rise of Christians United for Israel, “the largest pro-Israel organization in America”:
CUFI, established a decade ago by the pastor John Hagee, has grown to 2.2 million members, most of them evangelicals, and has a budget that exceeded $7 million in 2014, making it the largest pro-Israel organization in America. But until recently, despite its size, CUFI has focused on grassroots operations, deferring to the more established pro-Israel lobbyists such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other Jewish groups to lead in political advocacy efforts in Washington. Now, as CUFI enjoys a surge in membership and in funding, and with the Iran deal making it clear that political differences with AIPAC are becoming more pronounced, the Christian Zionist group is charting its own political path.
Alon Goshen-Gottstein thinks that Ramadan is a good opportunity to see Jewish-Muslim relations from a new perspective:
Holy times, such as the month of Ramadan and the concluding Eid el Fitr, are moments when we can imagine alternatives. To do so, we must often go beyond the example and teaching we see around us. Be assured, if religion has become politicized and violence is one of its primary manifestations, it is no longer religion as something exalted and inspiring. It is religion gone awry, set to the height of spiritual dwarfs, whose small mindedness, ego and group identity have taken over the higher spiritual vision that a religion can carry.