AP10ThingsToSee - Secretary of State John Kerry pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015, before the House Appropriations subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Agencies. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)[/caption]WASHINGTON Secretary of StateJohn Kerrytried to lower the temperature on Sunday in the three-way fight among congressional Republicans, the Obama administration and Prime MinisterBenjamin NetanyahuofIsrael, saying that Mr. Netanyahu was welcome to speak in the United States.
But Mr. Kerry also said that it was odd, if not unique that the administration learned of the Israeli leaders coming address to Congress not through diplomatic channels, but from Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, and that the administration was not included in the process.
Mr. Kerrys comments, on the ABC program This Week, were the latest salvo in the escalating back-and-forth over Mr. Netanyahus decision to accept the invitation from congressional Republicans to speak on Tuesday about his concerns over negotiations withIranon itsnuclear program.
Mr. Netanyahu is expected to criticize an emerging agreement that many inIsraelfear will leaveIranwith a substantial infrastructure with which to pursue the development ofnuclear weaponswhen the accord expires. But many Obama administration officials believe the negotiations could lead to one of the presidents most significant foreign policy achievements.
Critics of Mr. Netanyahus decision describe it as a sign of disregard from an ally that relies heavily on American aid and diplomatic backing.
Mr. Kerry made that point during his television interview, which was broadcast as he left for talks in Switzerland with Irans foreign minister. We have intervened on Israels behalf, in the last two years, more than several hundred a couple of hundred times in over 75 different fora in order to protect Israel, Mr. Kerry said, adding that the administration is not seeking to politicize this.
To buttress this point, a senior State Department official said Mr. Kerry would defend Israel on Monday before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, which the United States asserts has been biased against Israels record.
Mr. Kerry plans to make a strong statement about our hope that the council will continue to shift its focus away from Israel and really focus on the bad human rights violators, said the official en route to Geneva, who cannot be identified under the agencys protocol for briefing reporters.
Mr. Obama has maintained that a nuclear deal with Iran can help assure Israeli security, particularly given that neither the United States nor its European allies in the Iran negotiations are interested in military action to halt Tehrans nuclear ambitions. Mr. Kerry said that Israel is safer because of the short-term agreement that world powers reached with Iran in 2013, and that the United States is trying now to get an improved deal.
One potential compromise under consideration would see Irans nuclear enrichment curtailed for at least 10 years and then gradually eased during the later years of the accord in return for an eventual lifting of economic sanctions.
Our hope is that diplomacy can work, Mr. Kerry said. And I believe, given our success on the interim agreement, we deserve the benefit of the doubt to find out whether or not we can get a similarly good agreement with respect to the future.
Mr. Kerry spoke by phone with Mr. Netanyahu on Saturday, the State Department said. A senior State Department official, who declined to be identified in describing a private telephone conversation, said the discussion focused on the current state of the Iran talks, Mr. Netanyahus visit to Washington and Mr. Kerrys concern about the financial plight of the Palestinian Authority.
Mr. Kerry often speaks with Mr. Netanyahu but the growing tensions in American-Israeli relations because of the Iran talks have made the conversations more significant.
The United States and its negotiating partners are striving to meet an end-of-March deadline for negotiating the outline of an accord.
By The New York Times
