January 22, 2015

Jewish Democrats Reaffirm Support for P5+1 Diplomatic Negotiations

Listed in: Israel, Other Foreign Policy, NJDC News, Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - In response to potential Congressional action to increase sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, Jewish Democrats restated their support for President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and diplomatic negotiators. The National Jewish Democratic Council implored Congressional leaders to allow negotiators the time and space needed to succeed, emphasizing the importance of exhausting all diplomatic options with Iran before resorting to further sanctions and potential military action.

Greg Rosenbaum, chair of the NJDC Board of Trustees, stated:

“To push forward with sanctions at a time when negotiations are proving to be successful would be misguided. Already, we have seen tremendous progress made by negotiators working to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Iran has slowed progress on its nuclear program and has rolled it back for the first time in a decade, and inspectors now have unprecedented daily access to Iran’s enrichment facilities. Endangering this work now by imposing unnecessarily harsh sanctions would be folly. Previous sanctions only forced Iran to the bargaining table when the entire coalition agreed to impose them together, and unilateral action would threaten the coalition we have built. A nuclear-armed Iran is indeed an existential threat to Israel and to the national security interests of the United States, and as President Obama stated during the State of the Union, all options remain on the table should the day come when further action is needed. Until that time, we have a responsibility to continue down the path that we, along with our worldwide coalition partners, have already found to be making progress.”