The cries of glee emanating from Vienna on July 14 set off battle cries in Jerusalem. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to announce that Israel is not bound by the nuclear agreement reached between Iran and the world powers. Across the ocean, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, was quick to announce that she would submit the agreement as a resolution to the UN Security Council for an urgent vote.
The signatures on the agreement of the Security Council’s five permanent members ensure its passage through UN channels. But Netanyahu is not giving up and is reaching out to every corner of Capitol Hill in the hopes of lining up a sufficient majority to block the deal — a majority large enough to override a presidential veto. A short while after word came from Vienna, Netanyahu tied his own hands with a unanimous decision by the government’s diplomatic-security Cabinet rejecting the agreement.
