clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

US Jewish community split over Iranian nuclear deal

August 4, 2015 at 12:03 pm

The Iranian nuclear deal has torn the Jewish community in the US apart with one camp accepting the deal while the other doesn’t, senior community leader said.

According to Israeli media, chairman of the National Jewish Democratic Council Greg Rosenbaum said: “Meetings to discuss common issues are being cancelled because people do not want to argue about the deal.”

Israeli newspaper the Jerusalem Post reported Rosenbaum saying: “We have passed the point of civil discussion, and now are almost at fratricide… I am not sure we can repair the rift.”

The paper reported that Rosenbaum knows that some Jewish organisations are not holding meetings on other issues “because they fear they are going to get into a discussion on Iran”.

“It is really turning into a civil war,” Yedioth Ahronoth reported Rosenbaum as saying. “As supporters of the agreement with Iran, we are getting phone calls with threats, calling us Nazis. They tell us that after Iran will destroy the Jewish people, they are hoping that we will be the first to be put into coffins.”

Rosenbaum, who is also a member of AIPAC, said he is very concerned about the impact of the deal on the US Jewish community which is torn between its support for President Barack Obama on the one hand, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the other.

“The battle over the agreement with Iran… will have future implications for the ability of the community to mobilise to defend Israel within the [American] government,” Rosenbaum said.