[BwayDems] Jerrold Nadler, New York Congressman, Endorses Iran Nuclear Deal

Sun Aug 23 16:43:18 EDT 2015

I think that it is absolutely marvelous that Jerome Nadler has supported
this deal. It's absolutely groundbreaking for a New York Jewish Congressman
to go against the extreme right wing, war mongering AIPAC.  If he is
contested in his next election I will double my efforts on his behalf. I
believe that this agreement is crucial for the security of Israel.
Joe Nunley

On Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 1:01 AM, Paula Diamond Roman <
valleygirl109 at rocketmail.com> wrote:

> N.Y. / Region Jerrold Nadler, New York Congressman, Endorses Iran Nuclear
> Deal
> By ALEXANDER BURNSAUG. 21, 2015
>
> Representative Jerrold Nadler was being pulled hard from all sides.
>
> Close allies in the pro-Israel
> <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/israel/index.html?inline=nyt-geo>
> community told him a nuclear deal with Iran
> <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/index.html?inline=nyt-geo>
> would doom the Jewish state. His Jewish colleagues in New York’s
> congressional delegation had all condemned the pact. Then there was the
> lobbying from President Obama, first with a phone call, followed by a
> face-to-face talk in the White House — Mr. Nadler’s first such meeting in
> Mr. Obama’s tenure.
>
> Facing extraordinary pressure, Mr. Nadler on Friday became the lone Jewish
> Democrat from New York to endorse the president’s proposed agreement with
> Iran
> <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/index.html?inline=nyt-geo>,
> which would lift economic sanctions in exchange for Iran’s taking steps to
> abandon a path to nuclear arms.
>
> The decision by Mr. Nadler, 68, a long-tenured liberal whose district is
> believed to have the largest Jewish population
> <http://www.jewishdatabank.org/studies/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=3071> in
> the country, may make it easier for other House Democrats to support the
> agreement, including non-Jews who remain undecided on the deal. He has a
> history of energetic support for Israel
> <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/israel/index.html?inline=nyt-geo>,
> and has played a pivotal role as an emissary between liberal Democrats and
> more conservative supporters of Israel.
>
> Without Mr. Nadler’s endorsement, proponents of the deal would have faced
> a shutout of the Jewish members of New York’s congressional delegation,
> whose views carry considerable weight on issues related to the Middle East
> and Israel. Senator Chuck Schumer
> <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/charles_e_schumer/index.html?inline=nyt-per> has
> announced
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/08/us/politics/opposing-iran-nuclear-deal-chuck-schumer-rattles-democratic-firewall.html>
> he will vote in disapproval, and so have
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/us/politics/netanyahu-appeals-to-american-jews-to-oppose-iran-nuclear-deal.html>
> Representatives Eliot L. Engel, Nita M. Lowey and Steve Israel, who are all
> senior members of the Democratic caucus.
>
> In an interview, Mr. Nadler said his position on the Iran deal was a
> wrenching decision, putting him at odds with constituents who fear for
> Israel’s security. While he called the deal an imperfect option, he said he
> believed it was the best chance for averting a nuclear-armed Iran.
>
> “What helps Israel and averts another potential Holocaust is whatever is
> most likely to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb,” Mr. Nadler said.
> “My conclusion is that this deal — of the available alternatives to us, not
> what might or should have been — is the best.”
>
> Mr. Nadler’s decision is emblematic of the challenge facing liberal Jews
> in Congress, and beyond, as they weigh the merits of the agreement. Many
> feel torn between their hope for avoiding another Middle East war and their
> support for Mr. Obama, versus their deep relationships with a pro-Israel
> community intensely opposed to the deal.
> But the congressman is in a particularly delicate position: His district
> stretches down the West Side of Manhattan and into Brooklyn, spanning
> Jewish communities from the liberal Upper West Side to ultra-Orthodox
> Borough Park. He said he expected many constituents to be angry about his
> stance.
>
> “Not only angry — sad, disappointed: ‘We believed in you. We’ve always
> supported you, and now you’ve abandoned us,’ ” Mr. Nadler said, speaking in
> a soft and level tone. “That’s very difficult to deal with, not just
> politically but emotionally.”
>
> Mr. Nadler said he had shared a set of concerns about the deal with the
> White House and had been pleased by the response. Mr. Obama sent a letter
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/21/world/middleeast/in-letter-obama-tells-congress-us-will-still-press-iran.html>
> to him this week vowing to strengthen the arrangement with Iran in ways
> that would not require reopening the deal.
>
> In a statement, Mr. Obama said that he had sought to address Mr. Nadler’s
> “specific concerns relating to Israeli security and the U.S. commitment to
> countering Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region.”
>
> “I wanted to respond to the thoughtful questions Jerry raised, and I am
> pleased that our discussions were ultimately productive,” the president
> added.
>
> But Mr. Nadler said the lobbying from Mr. Obama, who is viewed by many on
> Capitol Hill as a relatively aloof figure, had not determined his vote. Mr.
> Nadler noted that the president’s outreach on the Iran deal was the first
> time he had received a phone call or personal meeting from him during Mr.
> Obama’s six and a half years in office.
> “I would have voted for this proposal even if he had not made these
> improvements,” Mr. Nadler said of the president’s letter.
>
> Mr. Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a
> prominent opponent of the deal, said Mr. Nadler would face a backlash over
> his vote. But Mr. Engel defended his colleague’s credentials as a champion
> of Israel.
>
> “There will be other issues and other ways that Jerry can express himself,
> in terms of being a Zionist all these years,” Mr. Engel said, adding: “I
> won’t second-guess him. He’s got a good heart when it comes to Israel.”
> Criticism came swiftly on Friday. State Assemblyman Dov Hikind of
> Brooklyn, an Orthodox Jewish Democrat who has led demonstrations against
> the nuclear deal, vowed to support a well-financed Democratic opponent
> against Mr. Nadler.
>
> “There are millions of dollars that will be there,” Mr. Hikind said. “This
> is huge, absolutely huge, for people in our community.”
>
> The American Israel Public Affairs Committee <http://www.aipac.org/>, the
> powerful pro-Israel group that has whipped votes in opposition to the deal,
> declined to comment on Mr. Nadler’s position.
>
> Mr. Nadler said he was persuaded that the agreement would give
> international powers the ability to block Iran’s access to weapons-grade
> uranium and plutonium, perhaps stopping the country from obtaining an
> atomic bomb permanently. He expressed some reservations about the deal’s
> effectiveness over the long term, as it lifts certain restrictions on
> Iran’s activities toward the end of a 15-year agreement.
>
> Still, he said, the worst-case outcome is that the deal “postpones a
> possibly apocalyptic problem for a dozen years.”
>
> In announcing and explaining his support for the agreement, Mr. Nadler
> posted a nearly 5,200-word essay
> <https://medium.com/@RepJerryNadler/congressman-jerrold-nadler-statement-on-the-p5-1-joint-comprehensive-plan-of-action-f7ca527e3f50>online.
> He lamented the “poisonous rhetoric” surrounding the debate over Iran.
> Voices on the left, he said, “are making anti-Semitic accusations of dual
> loyalty or treason” when Jewish lawmakers oppose the deal.
>
> On the other hand, Mr. Nadler said, choosing to support the plan “does not
> make someone anti-Israel.”
>
> If Mr. Nadler’s declaration sets him apart from some of his influential
> colleagues, and perhaps from many of his constituents, it is not an
> entirely unfamiliar position: In 2002, he was New York’s only Jewish member
> of Congress to vote against authorizing war in Iraq.
>
> Supporters of the nuclear deal with Iran have sought to present it as a
> similar vote, to forestall the prospect of military action through a
> negotiated agreement.
>
> In some respects, Mr. Nadler’s district is a snapshot of the deepening
> divisions among American Jews nationwide, as conservative supporters of
> Israel have grown more caustic in their attacks on Mr. Obama and his
> policies, and liberal Democrats become more openly critical of the Jewish
> state and its leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
>
> Old-school liberal Zionists, like Mr. Nadler, do not fit easily into
> either ideological camp. The congressman, who has been entrenched in his
> seat since 1992, said it was possible that his vote could generate a
> challenge in the Democratic primary election next year.
>
> Brad Lander, a Democratic city councilman who represents a portion of Mr.
> Nadler’s congressional district, predicted that Mr. Nadler would weather
> the political storm. Councilman Lander, who is Jewish, said the congressman
> has long navigated a “great tradition of dispute within our community.”
>
>
>
> A version of this article appears in print on August 22, 2015, on page A14
> of the New York edition with the headline: At Odds With Colleagues,
> Lawmaker Backs Iran Deal
>
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