JERUSALEM POST
JPost Staff
May 20, 2014
A Democratic senator with a fiercely pro-Israel record who has also distinguished himself as quite hawkish in relation to Iran surprised political observers on Capitol Hill recently when he withdrew legislation that would have deepened US-Israel cooperation on a number of strategic levels, Foreign Policy is reporting on Tuesday.
Senator Bob Menendez (D – New Jersey), who serves as chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, withdrew the US-Israel Strategic Partnership Act from the panel’s agenda after it became apparent that a Republican on the committee, Bob Corker of Tennessee, was planning to include an amendment on the Iranian nuclear talks.
According to Foreign Policy, the amendment – which included Congressional hearings if and when President Barack Obama and the five major Western powers reached a deal with Iran on its nuclear program – would have placed Democrats in the awkward position of choosing between shunning its pro-Israel friends or taking on the White House.
Foreign Policy reported that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee expressed its support for the Corker amendment, whose provisions “underscore the key role that Congress must play in defining the terms of an acceptable deal and its implementation.”
An aide to one senator told Foreign Policy that the amendment “politicizes” the Israel-US strategic relationship – whose maintenance has long been a subject of bi-partisan support.
ArchitectGuy on Israel 