"With AIPAC staffers grousing that Benjamin Netanyahu ruined their chances of blocking President Obama's deal with Iran and House conservatives trying to think of other ways to act out now that the battle is lost, advisors to Netanyahu are claiming that, despite appearances, he achieved a fabulous victory. . . . claiming that by opposing the deal they've won a big new security package [from the U.S.] for Israel."
Marshall then explains: "a substantial military aid package" had been in the works long before the Iran nuclear deal emerged. The White House had been offering to discuss it with the Israelis in hopes of making the Iran deal more palatable, but Netanyahu refused to meet with Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss it.
Marshal continues: "[F]rom a certain hardball perspective, now that Netanyahu has suffered a crushing defeat, you might think the deal would be in doubt. But it's not. The White House has made that crystal clear. They'll get all of it anyway. But this is in spite of Netanyahu's antics not because of it.
"All the politics and geopolitics militate that the deal goes through. But it goes without saying that Netanyahu had more leverage to sweeten the deal a month ago than he does now. This is so obvious as to require no explanation.
"In the short term, Netanyahu is likely to pay little additional price for these antics and this defeat. He may even gain some short term political advantage by cynically whipping up fear within the country - even as his top intelligence and military brass disagrees with his dire warnings. But a defeat it is. No question about it. And it's a big one."
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Just think what conservatives would be saying if, instead of Netanyahu and Israel, we were dealing with Russia or Pakistan. They would be screaming about how weak Obama is and how he is just appeasing our enemies, rather than acting in our own security interests. To borrow from the NYT letter quoted above: "How stupid do you have to be not to see the hypocrisy in this?"
Ralph
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