Menendez is defying Biden over Iran because he owes his political life to Israel lobby and Saban

Last week it came out that New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez was working to “sabotage” Joe Biden’s effort to return to the Iran deal even if he “risks setting the US on a course toward war with Iran.” And meantime, 70 Democrats in the House have signed a letter telling Biden that he shouldn’t reenter the Iran deal that the leading Israel lobby group “AIPAC was behind,” per J Street.

“Biden may already be taking a somewhat harder line on Iran in fear of Menendez’s wrath, Politico reported earlier this month.”

In that Politico article, two top Biden aides, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, gave over-the-top praise of Menendez as a “sounding board” and “principled” guide, respectively.

Some important context is missing here: the fact that in 2015 Menendez had a war with the Obama administration over the Iran deal, was indicted by Obama’s Justice Department, and the rightwing Israel lobby backed Menendez to the hilt, and Menendez won in court.

Politicians have long memories — put another way, revenge is a dish best served cold — and all the players are now reassembled and trying to get even.

Here’s that back story.

In early 2015, Menendez took a vehement position against the Iran deal even though it was Obama’s signature project. Menendez “accused the president of getting his foreign policy messaging ‘straight out of Tehran,’” per the Atlantic, and in a March speech to AIPAC, suggested that Obama was trying to “intimidate” him to sell out Israel.

“When it comes to defending the U.S.-Israel relationship, I am not intimidated by anyone—not Israel’s political enemies and not by my political friends when I believe they’re wrong…

In that speech, (the Atlantic reported), Menendez took Benjamin Netanyahu’s side against Obama over Netanyahu giving a speech against the deal to a joint session of Congress.

The senator also took an overt shot at Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, who spoke to AIPAC just before he did, saying, “I take issue with those who say the prime minister’s visit to the United States is ‘destructive to U.S.-Israel relations.’” Rice called the visit and the politics around it “destructive” in an interview last week with PBS.

Menendez’s praise for Israel would make other senators blush.

In a call to action for his fellow members of Congress, Menendez vowed never to back down from a brawl to defend the U.S. and Israel’s “sacrosanct” and “untouchable” relationship.

“As long as I have an ounce of fight left in me, as long as I have a vote and a say and a chance to protect the interest of Israel, the region, and the national security interests of the United States—Iran will never have a pathway to a weapon… It will never threaten Israel or its neighbors, and it will never be in a position to start a nuclear-arms race in the Middle East. Not on my watch.”

Then in April Menendez was indicted on corruption charges by the Justice Department! Menendez spent the next two-and-a-half years fighting for his freedom, against the government’s charge that he had used his office to help a doctor friend (on Medicare payments and a deal in the Dominican Republic) in exchange for lavish gifts. The case ended in a mistrial.

And who rushed to Menendez’s defense? The Israel lobby. Even the New York Times was blunt about this. “Pro Israel Billionaires from Both Parties Aid Menendez Defense Fund,” it reported, saying that “some of the country’s most prominent pro-Israel billionaires,” including Sheldon Adelson, Haim and Cheryl Saban, and Seth Klarman, had helped raise $1.6 million for his legal defense fund.

Though Mr. Menendez is a Democrat, his legal fund has attracted support from political donors in both parties who take a hawkish view of Israel’s security, the Times said.

At that time, a rumor went around that Obama’s Justice Department had indicted Menendez because of his attacks on the Iran deal. Matt Yglesias wrote in Vox that this was “an absurd conspiracy theory,” promoted by “pro-Israel groups,” but whether it was absurd or not, Menendez voted against the Iran deal and was beholden to the Israel lobby.

Look at those donors, Klarman and Saban. They both gave millions of dollars to Democrats in the last cycle. In December 2019 alone, Klarman gave $2.7 million to Democratic pacs or committees; and throughout 2020 he donated to Senate candidates, including the key Georgia races.

Saban gave over $4.5 million to Democratic Party causes just in 2020, per the FEC. That included $725,000 to a Biden Victory fund, and $1 million to a superpac supporting Democratic candidates for Senate in Georgia.

If you are trying to understand why Joe Biden folded on Palestinian human rights again and again in the campaign, and again now that he’s in office, it’s because he wants to keep Klarman and Saban giving to Democrats. If you want to know why Senator Raphael Warnock walked back his support for Palestinian human rights, Saban and Klarman’s donations are surely one reason.

And by the way, Klarman also gave $100,000 to the neoconservative Emergency Committee for Israel, which bankrolled Tom Cotton’s successful Senate run in 2014. These guys will give to Republicans if they don’t trust the Democrat.

The ultimate question here is: Where is Saban on reentering the Iran deal? The media haven’t asked him that; but I can tell you two people who know the answer. Joe Biden and Bob Menendez.

Biden appears to be trying to thread the same Saban needle that Hillary Clinton threaded in 2015. Anticipating her own run for president a year later, Clinton supported the Iran deal, not very vocally; and Saban supported Clinton but compelled her to come out with an anti-BDS letter to balance her endorsement of Obama’s deal. Jake Sullivan played a role in those discussions.

Biden now says he wants to restore the Iran deal; but he knows however it goes down he must pay a pro-Israel price. Menendez has a lot of power right now, far more than the liberal Israel lobby which backs Biden on the Iran deal.

One thing for sure, no one is against the deal except the center-right Israel lobby (both Jewish and Christian evangelical). And Iran has never posed any threat to America, though Democratic congressperson Elaine Luria, who signed that AIPAC letter against the Iran deal, calls Iran “an existential threat” to the U.S. and Israel. That’s the scam the Israel lobby has successfully sold.

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