US must not reward Israel for interfering in its foreign policy: Analyst

The United States must keep Israel “at arm’s length” and should not reward it for interfering in its foreign policy on Iran, an American activist and political analyst in Maryland says.

In a phone interview with Press TV on Saturday, Myles Hoenig warned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party will remain “a thorn in the side of the Obama administration” even if President Barack Obama improves ties with the regime in Tel Aviv.

Speaking to Jewish American leaders on Friday, Obama compared serious disagreements between the US and Israel over the Iranian nuclear agreement to a “family” feud and said he expected quick improvements in mutual relations after the accord was implemented.

“Like all families, sometimes there are going to be disagreements,” Obama said in a webcast for Jewish Americans. “And sometimes people get angrier about disagreements in families than with folks that aren’t family.”

Hoenig said that “it remains to be seen whether relations with Israel will improve after the agreement is signed, if it is. If it is not, this ‘family feud’ would be long term and Israel would be isolated more than ever before.”

“But if it does pass [Congress], the question is will Israel retreat into its martyrdom complex and begin hostilities or will it be a wakeup call to them that they’ve angered their only true benefactor for military and diplomatic support,” he added.

“Because we are in an election year, there isn’t a leading candidate who would buck the relationship between the US and Israel,” he continued.

The analyst stated that former US sectary of state Hillary Clinton and Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who are seeking Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential election, are “completely in Israel’s camp as so are the Republicans.”

“The Green Party, small and insignificant with regards to media attention, is the only party that actually supports Palestinian rights,” Hoenig continued. 

“What the US does with regards to Israel will be based on Israel’s reaction. On its own, the US will try and resume the relationship as it always has been, but with still some tension as the Likud party will remain a thorn in the side of the Obama administration,” he noted.

“It would be a step in the wrong direction to increase aid to Israel if the agreement passes,” the activist emphasized.

“Forgiving family members is one thing. But one must not forget when another country acts against its real security concerns. Israel must be held at arm’s length and not given a reward for interfering with US foreign security concerns,” Hoenig concluded.

The Israel lobby in the US has launched a massive campaign to defeat the historic agreement in the Republican-dominated Congress, which is reviewing it and is expected to vote on it in September.

Republicans, who are considered to be close to the Likud party, oppose the nuclear agreement with Iran, but they need a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress to override a presidential veto, and to reach that threshold, Republicans need Democratic support.

However, momentum appears to be shifting in favor of the nuclear accord, with Senator Tom Carper on Friday becoming the 30th Senate Democrat to announce that he would support the deal.

Democrats need 34 votes in the Senate, or 146 in the House of Representatives, to sustain the veto President Obama has promised.

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