"One Iranian atomic bomb could kill 6 million Jews in one day"

Although there is little chance that the Congress will succeed in toppling the agreement with Iran, yesterday (Tuesday) opponents of the treaty, the vast majority of whom are on the Republican side of the political scene, started a blitz against the deal.

They recruited Dick Cheney, the deputy of former President George W. Bush to attack the agreement in a speech at the Heritage Conservative Institute in Washington, and today they are going to hold a big rally against the deal at the foot of the Congress with the participation of the oracle of the American right, including Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, who are running for the Republican Party nomination for president and Sarah Palin.

It is clear to the opponents too, that they will not be able to change the reality on Capitol Hill: 38 senators (all Democrats) last week announced their support for the agreement. This means that if the Senate makes a decision against the agreement, and US President Barack Obama would veto the resolution, as promised, the Republican will not be able to recruit a majority immune to veto: they need 66 votes (two-thirds of the Senate), but could not muster more than 62 votes. The president's veto will hold.

Moreover, probably it would not be at all necessary to veto. Over the last days more senators have joined the supporting camp which now reaches 42. In practice, in order to pass a resolution in the Senate, or to hold a vote, it is necessary to have 60 votes. Opponents of the agreement, joined by four Democrats, have 58 votes only. In other words, supporters of the agreement formed a blocking minority and the Republican majority could not even hold a vote on the deal.

In fact, a battle is now on for points, for public opinion: Republicans hope they can persuade only two Democrats to defect to their camp, so they could pass a resolution against the agreement and force Obama to veto such a resolution. Such a move would allow them to claim a majority in Congress is opposed to the deal, and the government is forced to rely on a procedural step to crush the will of the majority. Already, opponents argue, they have a large majority in Congress. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also makes this claim, although he has no practical significance. The White House is trying to strengthen the coalition which supports the agreement. The government understands that the use of a veto to thwart the majority's decision will detract from the legitimacy of the transaction.

Marshall Whitman, a spokesman for AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby in Washington, one of the leaders of the opposition camp, said to 'Politico':" We are continuing our efforts to build the largest bipartisan majority to reject this flawed agreement."

Analysts note that one should not exclude the possibility of a defecting Democrat or two to the opponents' camp because of the lack of enthusiasm of many Democrats to the agreement. Those Democrats argue that they support the document only because there is no other alternative. But, as noted, even in that case the agreement will survive.

An expression of the tepid mood of some supporters was given by Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, who joined the supporters' camp yesterday. He said: "The agreement with the fraudulent Iranian regime, that is not to be trusted, does not reach the level I expected. But I have concluded that the alternatives are even more dangerous."

In his speech at the Heritage Institute, Cheney harshly attacked the agreement with Iran. He claimed that it was a shameful deal, "which creates a chance for a new Holocaust and perhaps will lead to the first nuclear attack after Nagasaki."

The former vice president said that the government has abandoned the standards he himself had set for a meaningful agreement and received instead "a (written) complicated submission... (with) one concession after the other", which will only further strengthen the foremost entrepreneurial terrorist in the whole world.

"The government introduced us to deal which strengthens our adversaries, threatens our allies and poses a danger to our own national security," Cheney said. "The government put on the Congress' desk a deal which provides money and weapons to the regime which undertook to destroy Israel and established the slogan 'Death to America' as one of the foundations of its policies."

"This is not an act of peace, it is crazy," said Cheney. "... an atomic bomb of Iran would kill six million Jews in one day."

The White House did not remain silent. In a two- and a half minute clip on Twitter, the administration mocks Cheney's conduct before and during the war with Iraq in 2003. The title is: "Former Vice President Dick Cheney, he made a mistake in Iraq and is wrong now."

As often happens in Cheney's appearances, a demonstrator tried to disrupt his speech. People in the audience shouted: "Get out" and one man was heard saying, "Damned Liberals", according to the version of "New York Times".

The Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a contender for the presidential nomination of his party, called yesterday in Washington to the Iranian people to liberate itself from the shackles of the "religious Nazis" who hold the reins of power in Iran.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!