re: #54 lawhawk

Totally expected - of course, no alternative is suggested or implied. Only that the deal doesn’t benefit Israel.

It is possible that the deal might empower Hamas and Hizbullah as it frees up funds due to lifting of sanctions at some point down the road. That would harm Israel’s security goals, but it’s not like those groups haven’t started wars during the past few years when sanctions were already in place.

And if the rise of ISIL is a bigger threat to the region and Israel, then getting Iran into that fight might overcome the concerns the other way.

And any sort of binding and long-lasting Middle East peace agreement is going to have to come from the governments of the Middle East. It is not going to happen due to outside governments prodding this or that country. I am still awaiting the citizens of the US, and especially the President, to realize this. For a while I thought Obama “got it” and wasn’t going to make the standard mistake of the administrations since Carter of thinking they were going to trigger some breakthrough deal that would cement their reputation as a foreign policy god.