Trita Parsi

And I thought I was gonna come there and kind of see, okay, how are they gonna adjust to this new reality?

Iran had been a cash cow for AIPAC since 1994.

In my first book, Treacherous Alliance, I spent a lot of time interviewing the AIPAC folks as well on how they started just becoming so anti-Iran and become the leading force pushing for sanctions, et cetera.

Although they never said that they pushed for war, it was very clear that they were.

And they said that, you know, once 1993, the Oslo process started, AIPAC was having an existential crisis.

How were they gonna raise money if their cash cow, Yasser Arafat, no longer was a terrorist, but a peace partner?

Exactly.

And I have it quoted from an AIPAC official saying that Iran was what saved them, because now suddenly all of the focus was shifted towards Iran.

It saved AIPAC.

It became a boon for fundraising, particularly once Ahmadinejad became president and started questioning the Holocaust, et cetera.

It was massively helpful for them.

So I thought that once we were gonna get there, I would see an AIPAC that was starting to have questions of how they were gonna adjust to this situation.

And I walked away realizing they're gonna fight tooth and nail to destroy this deal, even once it's been achieved, even once it's starting to be implemented.

And I would suspect that the Israelis

Can't think of other options than to do exactly that if there is a final deal.

Well, at this point, the Israelis are not trying to hide their fingerprints in any way, shape, or form.

Very different from 20 years ago.

It's a very different environment.

And- They've played the last card.

Unless, I mean, look, they still have Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham in the Senate.