According to the Obama administration’s benchmarks, whatever those may be, the first day of diplomatic discussion with Iranian officials in Geneva on Thursday went pretty darn swimmingly, and with reports of some kind of “first step” concessions-in-exchange-for-sanctions-relief dealmaking apparently in the works, Secretary of State John Kerry hopped on a plane yesterday to go meet up with his team — but not before a pit stop in Israel. Via the NYT:

Mr. Kerry was scheduled to have a three-way meeting Friday afternoon with Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, who oversees the multiparty negotiations.

The State Department’s spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said in a statement that Mr. Kerry would go to Geneva “in an effort to help narrow the differences in the negotiations.” …

American officials have cast the accord as a “first step,” which would halt the progress in Iran’s nuclear program for perhaps six months to give negotiators time to pursue a more comprehensive agreement. In return, the United States would relax some financial sanctions. …

Mr. Kerry met in Israel on Friday for more than two hours with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before flying to Geneva to join the talks.

After which Netanyahu immediately took to the airwaves early this morning with one simple, succinct message: A thousand times, NO.