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International News Title: Iran Nuclear Deal: Israel Rages - And No One Cares Israel's furious response to the Iran nuclear deal was to be expected, writes Richard Spencer. What was less expected is that no one would really care By Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent3:10PM GMT 24 Nov 2013 Comments286 Comments Everyone expected Israel's furious response to the Iranian nuclear deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had used every weapon in his considerable diplomatic and rhetorical arsenal to oppose one, up to hand-drawn drawings at the United Nations Security Council of circular bombs with cartoon fuses to illustrate his "red lines". What fewer can have expected is that no one would listen. William Hague, the British foreign secretary, never mentioned Israel in his comments welcoming the deal; not a single word of reassurance to a country that feels its very existence to be at risk – a country whose birth Britain oversaw, however unwillingly and incompetently, and an existence it has supported unfailingly since. John Kerry could not get away with such a slight, but he was dismissive: "The comprehensive agreement will make the world safer and Israel safer," he said, simply rejecting Mr Netanyahu's fears outright. It may be that a delicate diplomatic game is being played here. Iran could not, as a matter of principle, accept a deal that Israel thought was a good one so Israel was obliged to be hostile, goes that thinking. Similarly, in the 1990s, the Democratic Union Party in Northern Ireland and its leader, Ian Paisley, the Netanyahu of Ulster politics, argued fiercely against the Good Friday agreement – but smiled cheerfully when he eventually sat down alongside Martin McGuinness. If ones takes Israel's public position at face value, however, it is hard not to ask how it got itself into a position where its wishes could be ignored by its closest ally, the United States (an ally that according to popular opinion its Washington lobbies have in their pockets). One answer might be the extraordinary, prickly, combative persona of Mr Netanyahu. One of the interesting things about his two terms as prime minister, in the late Nineties and now, has been the personal effect he has had on foreign governments and their representatives. Other Israeli leaders like Ehud Olmert and even Ariel Sharon, who launched or took part in brutal assaults on Arab neighbours, were vilified by their enemies. Only Mr Netanyahu provoked such hostility in his friends. Few would doubt that Mr Netanyahu is honestly and profoundly committed to the cause of Israel which he so aggressively promotes. The question is whether the ruthlessness with which he has done so has now backfired on him. Washington-watchers may now reflect on the extraordinary public snubs he and President Barack Obama have handed out to each over since both men came to power in 2009, culminating in a public lecture by Mr Netanyahu to Mr Obama on Jewish history in a joint press conference at the White House in 2011. Four years ago, I suggested that Mr Netanyahu's wider problems may date much further back, to his previous term of office. In 1998, he deliberated snubbed Robin Cook, ditching a dinner in his honour after the then foreign secretary made a protest visit to the site of an Israeli settlement on historic Palestinian territory. The British ambassador at the time, David Manning, and Mr Cook's press secretary, Nigel Sheinwald, were furious. Parts of the Foreign Office have loathed Mr Netanyahu ever since; I cannot obviously speak for Sir David and Sir Nigel but both men went on to become ambassadors to Washington, Sir Nigel for most of Mr Obama's time in the White House. Britain does not dictate Washington's policy towards Israel, of course. But unlike so many of his predecessors, Mr Obama had no personal or prior professional reason to value America's long alliance with Israel, and very strong personal reasons for disliking the leaders of pro-Israel factions within the Washington establishment. And with gradual disillusion with Mr Netanyahu spreading through America's European allies, there will have been few people left with Mr Obama's ear to speak up for him. Mr Netanyahu still has passionate supporters in the Republican Party, but much of the rest of the world has turned its back.
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