ByAnshel Pfeffer, Anshel Pfeffer
The Israeli government is pursuing three parallel tracks to try to mitigate what it sees as the strategic threat posed by the "bad deal" agreed on by the P5+1 group of powers and Iran last Thursday in Lausanne.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the announcement of a framework agreement that "a deal based on this would threaten the survival of Israel" and that "such a deal would not block Iran's path to the bomb. It would pave it."
The agreement in Lausanne was not an actual deal but a set of parameters within which the comprehensive agreement to limit Iran's nuclear activities is to be drafted and signed by July 1. Given this, Israel has not lost hope that it can still prevent an accord that will allow Iran to keep most of its nuclear infrastructure intact.
Despite his damaged relationship with the Obama administration, Mr Netanyahu is determined to continue working with the deal's opponents in the American Senate - mainly members of the Republican Party - to put legislative constraints on any potential deal.
In addition to the bill already drafted calling for additional sanctions on Iran, a motion is planned that will oblige the administration to submit an agreement to Congress for approval. This step that would force administration officials to answer detailed questions on the small print of the agreement. But while a majority is certain, it is unlikely that a sufficient number of Democrats will support it. Without a two-thirds majority, President Barack Obama would be able to veto the bill.
At the same time, Mr Netanyahu and his closest ministers have embarked on a media blitz, giving interviews and briefings on the "flaws" in the framework deal.
These include the fact that it allows Iran to continue operating 6,000 centrifuges, even though they will only be allowed to enrich uranium at a level far below weapons-grade purity.
In addition, Israel opposes the decision to allow Iran to retain hundreds of advanced centrifuges at the fortified underground installation at Fordow. The Fordow plant is to become a research centre where no fissile materials will be permitted, but Israel maintains it can be quickly returned to nuclear use.
Israel is also demanding clarity on issues that have either not been fully agreed upon at Lausanne or have been described differently by the Americans and Iranians. These include the rate at which the sanctions will be removed once a deal is signed, the specific powers of the nuclear inspectors, the military aspects of Iran's nuclear programme and the removal of its stockpile of enriched uranium.
By exposing these issues and the discrepancies already arising between the Iranian and American versions of what has been agreed so far, Israel hopes to either prevent a deal or force the Iranians to concede on the most critical points from Israel's perspective. Some Israeli officials are suspicious that the Americans have purposely remained vague on these details to help them get the deal past Congress and the media.
The third course of action is based on the assumption that President Barack Obama is too determined to reach an agreement to be dissuaded. If this is the case, Israeli officials concede that they have little choice but to work with the administration in its efforts to enforce the agreement and increase Israeli intelligence's surveillance of Iran, with the aim of revealing any attempt to evade inspection of its nuclear activity.
While there are still nearly three months left before the deadline, it is unlikely at this stage that Israel will succeed in changing the political consensus, not only in the Obama administration, but also among other P5+1 members in favour of the deal.
A more immediate political effect of the Lausanne agreement could be on Israeli politics. Labour Leader Isaac Herzog has also criticised the framework deal, though in less strident tones than Mr Netanyahu. Both men have proposed that Iran be required to recognise Israel's right to exist - a demand dismissed on Monday by President Obama as "a misjudgment"- as part of the final agreement.
Meanwhile, Labour Secretary General, Eitan Cabel, announced on Sunday that on the Iranian issue "there is no coalition and opposition in Israel". All this has fuelled rumours that Mr Netanyahu will eventually form a Likud-Labour coalition.