According to Keith Weissman, AIPAC was behind the first set of sanctions imposed on Iran, back in 1995, when Weissman helped to write the Executive Order that Bill Clinton signed, and the later Libya and Iran Sanctions legislation that established the Order as law.
As Weissman explained in the linked video, those sanctions on Iran were "a waste of energy," were "ineffective," but did harm American interests and did derail the Khatami government's outreach toward repairing Iranian-American relations. With regard to the harm to American interests, Weissman noted that Conoco was forced to forgo a very favorable contract to develop Iranian oilfields. Robin Wright has testified in other places that that lost contract cost several thousand American jobs.
But leaders in Israel insisted that Iran posed an existential threat to Israel; the US MUST impose sanctions on Iran, "crippling sanctions," "sanctions with teeth," "sanctions that will bite,""sanctions that will cause Iran's leaders to worry whether they can feed their 70 million citizens;" "sanctions that will so rile the Iranian public that they will riot and overthrow their government."
So intent was the US to impose sanctions on Iran that just hours after Turkey and Brazil persuaded Iran to sign an agreement granting almost every concession the Obama administration had demanded -- a fuel swap to enable Iran to obtain enriched uranium to power its medical reactor in Tehran -- US Secretary of State rushed to the United Nations to press through another round of sanctions on Iran. The Agreement reached by Turkey, Brazil, and Iran languished while Hillary Clinton, abrogating carrots, lined up a coalition to stick it to Iran.
When those first sanctions were imposed on Iran in 1995, Israel's Knesset did NOT follow suit and impose sanctions of its own; in fact, Israel worked to exempt certain items delectable to the Israeli palate and fancy, such as pistachios and Persian rugs.
Israeli behavior has not changed going forward with the new round of sanctions. Rather, Israel Is A Significant Importer, and re-Exporter, of Iranian Goods, Contrary to US Sanctions
It's understandable that Israel should take this approach, explains Danny Catarivas, head of the Division of Foreign Trade and International Relations in the Manufacturers Association of Israel
"The Americans can afford to do things that others can’t." Catarivas explains that as a small country dependent on foreign trade, Israel needs to separate politics and economics and refrain from economic boycotts. "In the same way that we are outraged against attempts to boycott us , we’re the last ones that should support boycotts of any kind," he adds. . . .
One assumes that Catarivas' office somehow manages to build a wall -- a marble wall -- between the existential threat that Iran poses to Israel, and the many tonnes of Iranian marble that grace Israel's premier banks, hotels, office buildings and apartment lobbies.
"The exquisite lobby of Bank Leumi’s management building on Yehuda Halevy Street in Tel Aviv accentuates the contrast between the ancient and pastoral nature of the restored Mani House, and the modern pace of life. Perspiring men in button-down shirts walk quickly past the 1930s-style porch, and conversations on mobile phones reverberate in the impressive space. Heels click on the gleaming marble, and one after another the senior bank officials enter and go up to their offices, which overlook the Tel Aviv cityscape.
It is interesting to consider what the late judge Malkiel Mani would say, if he knew that the directors of the bank—the shares of which are still held by the state—were scurrying about on marble that was quarried in Iran.
Bank Leumi was among the first in Israel to purchase the Iranian Gohare stone, which is named after the ancient city of Gohar-Tappeh in Iran, and quarried mainly in Isfahan, in central Iran. The marble stone, the hues of which combine beige and gray, became popular among Israeli architects, and was soon purchased by many traders in Israel, along with other Iranian marble stone.
But how did marble reach Israel from Iran, a state with which trade is barred by law? Through the ultimate transit station — Turkey. The stone slabs arrive in containers marked "Made in Turkey," accompanied by Turkish documents, and easily pass through customs agents at the ports. This is only one of the methods for camouflaging the country of production, for goods coming from countries with which Israel does not have trade relations. This does not refer only to marble: Other products also make their way to Israel in a similar fashion, including textile, carpets, candy and of course pistachios.
Robert Morgenthau’s office levied fines on at least ten international corporations, mainly BANKS, like Leumi, that "camouflaged" their transactions with Iran.
If you talk to any of the major Jewish organisations, what we're doing on Iran is extremely important," Mr Morgenthau recently told The Jewish Week in New York in November.
The fines — which Mayor Bloomberg called "windfalls," amounted to about a billion dollars and were split amongst the US Treasury, NY state treasury, and NY City treasury.
In addition, Stuart Levy, an ardent Israelist, travels about the globe tirelessly, twisting the arms of companies and banks that do business with Iran, threatening them with fines for so doing, and exerting efforts backed by the bona fides of the US government Department of Treasury, to constrict Iran’s economy and to punish international corporations that do business with Iran.
Summarizing, Israel and Israel's advocates in the US use the notion that Iran presents an "existential threat" to Israel in order to induce US to press for sanctions that will cripple Iran's economy, even though those sanctions harm US interests; but Israel neither follows suit with sanctions of its own nor do Israelis submit to the constraints on trade that sanctions impose because to do so would harm Israeli economic and trade interests. Rather, Israel uses "camouflage" techniques and deceptive practices to work around sanctions, the same techniques that, at the behest of Jewish groups and think tanks, US bureaucrats and prosecutors have fined at least a dozen international corporations for themselves employing.
Remind yourself: the US is Israel's ally.