Israel Split Evenly on Bibi Arab ‘Droves’ Remark

Image by getty images
Israel dismissed celebration of a nuclear framework deal between major powers and Iran on Thursday, calling it detached from reality, and vowed to continue lobbying to prevent a “bad” final agreement.
Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said in a statement after the announcements in Switzerland: “The smiles in Lausanne are detached from wretched reality in which Iran refuses to make any concessions on the nuclear issue and continues to threaten Israel and all other countries in the Middle East.
“We will continue with our efforts to explain and persuade the world in hopes of preventing a bad (final) agreement.”
U.S. President Barack Obama has said he would speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on Thursday. Netanyahu was expected to postpone any comment until after that conversation takes place.
Earlier, as details of the framework were being finalized, Netanyahu demanded in a post on Twitter that any deal achieved with Iran “must significantly roll back Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”
Netanyahu attached a diagram to his tweet showing Tehran’s involvement in Middle East conflicts in Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt and reiterated Israel’s demands that Iran “stop its terrorism and aggression.”
Netanyahu has long been critical of the agreement being negotiated with Tehran.
In a controversial speech to the U.S. Congress last month that strained ties with Obama, he called it a “bad deal,” doubting the terms would prevent Israel’s arch enemy from attaining a capability to acquire nuclear weapons.
Israeli media were largely skeptical of the framework deal. Udi Segal, diplomatic correspondent for Channel 2 news, seemed to sum up the mood by saying it amounted to the world giving Iran’s years of nuclear violations a “kosher” certificate.
Israel, which sees Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat, has previously threatened to attack Iran if it is unhappy with an eventual deal.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.