Iran

Over the past two weeks, President Obama has secured enough Democratic votes to sustain his veto of the Tea-Publicans’ Resolution of Disapproval of the P5+1 world powers nuclear agreement with Iran.

The only open question is whether 41 Democratic senators would vote against cloture to prevent the Resolution of Disapproval from coming up for a final vote. The undecided Dems who could save Obama from Iran veto:

After a big victory on the Iran nuclear deal this week, the Obama administration is looking to lock down support from the handful of still-undecided Senate Democrats.

The White House has gained enough votes to ensure the agreement ultimately survives Congress. But it’s still at least three senators short of the 41 needed to prevent a resolution of disapproval from passing in the first place.

The president can only afford to lose two of the remaining five undecided Democrats if he wants to avoid having to issue a veto — an action he’s taken only four times during his presidency.

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I previously posted about the journalist Larry Cohler-Esses (right), assistant managing editor for news at The Forward, an influential New York-based newspaper catering to American Jews,who wrote that people in Iran were eager for outside interaction and willing to speak critically about their government. A Jewish Journalist’s Exclusive Look Inside Iran (Part One):

While he heard widespread criticism of the Israeli government and its policies toward the Palestinians, Mr. Cohler-Esses wrote, he also found support among some senior clerics for a two-state solution, should the Palestinians pursue it.

“Though I had to work with a government fixer and translator, I decided which people I wanted to interview and what I would ask them,” Mr. Cohler-Esses wrote in the first of two articles from his July reporting trip. “Far from the stereotype of a fascist Islamic state, I found a dynamic push-and-pull between a theocratic government and its often reluctant and resisting people.”

Mr. Cohler-Esses’ reporting, coming as Congress prepares to vote on the nuclear agreement next month, presents a more nuanced view of Iran compared with the descriptions by a number of Jewish-American advocacy groups that consider Iran an enemy state.

Part Two of Mr. Cohler-Esses’ report is How Iran’s Jews Survive in Mullahs’ World:

The first thing I noticed about Shahab Shahamifar as we strolled to synagogue on a Saturday morning in July was his yarmulke. It was a medium-size, black knitted one, and he was wearing it as we walked the busy streets of Tehran.

Then I noticed that no one looked up.

Later, when the rabbi went on a bit too long with a sermon on the week’s haftara portion, I left services early, and Shahamifar rushed out to accompany me the first block or so before returning to pray. This time, in addition to his yarmulke he wore a long tallit, a prayer shawl, also with no sense of self-consciousness.

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