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Prime Minister Netanyahu and AIPAC are not the exclusive voice of Israel and the Jewish people respectively. In fact, a recent poll shows that 60% of Jewish Americans support the Iran deal.
Below are key quotes from top Israeli military and intelligence officials who support the agreement:
Efraim Halevy, former head of the Mossad (7/20/15):
“The attempt to change the rules of the game and to include further demands from Iran in the agreement, such as recognition of Israel and stopping support for terrorism, shows that Netanyahu has no interest in any agreement whatsoever. For if the nuclear issue is of cardinal existential importance, what is the point of canceling an agreement that distances Iran from the bomb in order to try to include in it clauses that pertain to terrorism, which certainly does not pose an existential threat to Israel? Other economic and financial sanctions were established in response to terrorism, and they will remain in place.” http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4681951,00.html
Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Amram Mitzna, former Member of the Knesset and former Mayor of Haifa (7/30/15):
“No agreement is perfect, and defenders of the deal should not sugarcoat its serious implications. But as head of IDF operations and planning, I learned well the capabilities and also the limits of military power. And I saw firsthand the enormous security benefits that can be achieved through diplomacy. I must state loud and clear — this agreement is better than no agreement and must not be rejected. If implemented, it will block all of Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon, and extend the time Iran would need to build a bomb from only two months to more than a year.” http://blogs.rollcall.com/beltway-insiders/for-israels-sake-dont-reject-the-iran-agreement-commentary/
Amos Yadlin, former Israeli Air Force general, IDF military attaché to Washington, D.C. and head of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate (7/20/15):
“If Israel opts to intervene officially by attempting to influence Congressional opinion, it can expect a twofold loss. If it succeeds in thwarting the agreement, Iran will remain closer to a nuclear bomb in the coming years, and the chances of a collapse of the sanctions regime will increase, as Israel will be accused of thwarting an agreement that was already approved by all the major powers and the UN Security Council.” http://www.inss.org.il/index.aspx?id=4538&articleid=10100
Ami Ayalon, former head of Shin Bet (7/21/15):
“when it comes to Iran’s nuclear capability, this [deal] is the best option. When negotiations began, Iran was two months away from acquiring enough material for a [nuclear] bomb. Now it will be 12 months…Israelis are failing to distinguish between reducing Iran’s nuclear capability and Iran being the biggest devil in the Middle East.” http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/21/ex-intel-chief-iran-deal-good-for-israel.html
Yitzhak Ben Yisrael, Chairman of the Israel Space Agency and Chairman of the National council for Research and Development in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Space (7/15/15):
“There is a dialogue of the deaf. The agreement is not bad at all, and even good for Israel… The US leader said that the agreement removes the nuclear threat for a decade or two, and he is correct. In terms of the narrow nuclear issue, it removes the danger for a long time, and prevents a nuclear bomb for the next fifteen years. And it’s not bad at all.” http://peacenow.org/entry.php?id=12886#.VcDRXZNVhHy
Omer Bar Lev, Member of the Knesset and former commander of Special Forces unit (7/18/15):
“A U.S. decision not to accept the deal would only bind the U.S. In other words, the other five world powers, including the U.N and minus the U.S., would accept the deal and lift the sanctions. Iran would profit twice: the sanctions would be removed, yet it would not be bound by the deal (since the U.S. did not ratify it). Iran would quickly reach atomic bomb capacity. Israel’s loss would be triple – the sanctions would be lifted and Iran would get hundreds of billions of dollars, Iran would have an atomic bomb, and Israel-U.S. relations would be even worse.” http://www.molad.org/images/upload/files/MoladAipacstatement.pdf
In addition, on August 3, a petition signed by dozens of retired Israeli generals urging Netanyahu to accept the Iran deal for the sake of US-Israeli relations was released. Click here to view the document.
See here or here for a more extensive list of former Israeli officials who see the Iran deal as a positive development for Israel’s security
