This time around, it wasn’t a dog-whistle. John Kerry came out and said it outright: if the Iran deal gets blocked by Congress, Israel will be to blame. Apparently, Kerry sees it like this: the only way that the representatives of the American people could fail to recognize the excellence of a deal that will keep America out of another Middle East war is if pro-Israel lobby money buys their votes. Why else would Americans torpedo the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, unless they are beholden to Jewish and Israeli interests? Outside of places like Iran, anti-Semitic canards rarely get any blunter than that.
Unsurprisingly, the Israelis say they will continue to oppose the deal and won’t be intimidated by Kerry’s threats. But the reality is that the administration appears to be using everything at its disposal to underscore the dual-loyalty theme, which is less directed at Israeli opponents of the deal—who are being perfectly loyal to their own state—than it is at American Jews, a majority of whom already reportedly support it.