Daily newspaper Maariv reports Wednesday that the US Administration under President Barack Obama has relayed a series of messages to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, according to which – if Netanyahu makes progress in “peace talks” with the Palestinian Authority (PA) – “it will be easier for the US to support Israel’s position” in the negotiations between the western powers and Iran, and to refrain from easing sanctions on Iran in exchange for partial concessions by the Islamic Republic.
The message, says Maariv, is that if he makes meaningful progress vis-à-vis the PA, this will help him receive US support for his position on Iran.
The trade-off – some would say blackmail – was dubbed “Bushehr-for-Yitzhar” by Israeli pundits when it was first floated during Obama’s first term in office. Bushehr is an Iranian nuclear plant, while Yitzhar is a community in Samaria that the Israeli left wing dreams of seeing torn down.
Arutz Sheva‘s Mark Langfan wrote earlier this year that “Obama’s very ‘linkage’ of the Iran’s nukes with Israel coughing up a Palestinian State only means Obama intends to allow Iran to get nukes, and wants Israel to be the his ‘scapegoat’ cover for the failure of Obama’s own catastrophic Iranian nuclear appeasement.”
However, Maariv adds, the Administration is making efforts not to get into a confrontation with Israel.
Source material can be found at this site.