Philip Weiss of the website Mondoweiss has a fine roundup of reactions (think of it as blowback) in the media and in liberal Jewish organizations here in the U.S. to the remarkable -- i.e. outrageous -- invitation of House Speaker John Boehner to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress in early March and essentially act as the Republican response to the presidents State of the Union Address -- and in the process do his best to sink Obamas Iran policy. Its quite a gesture -- Ill write about it later in the week at TomDispatch -- but its possible, as the Weiss piece indicates, that this will not play out in the fashion that either Boehner or Netanyahu expect. Tom The plans by the Israeli Prime Minister to address both Houses of Congress in March in order to rebut the President’s call for negotiations with Iran is finally drawing the outrage it deserves. It was condemned in the last day by The New York Times, leading pundits, liberal Zionist organizations, and implicitly, in the Israeli press. Some fear that the speech could lead to war– Chris Matthews, Susan Milligan, Jonathan Capehart and the New York Times express this fear. More parochial voices worry that it could divide the Israel lobby, the monolithic coalition that supports Israel inside American politics, or blow up Israel’s influence in the United States. First, some of the juicy bits. Haaretz says the White House is angry; Netanyahu spat in Obama’s face by accepting the invitation from the Republican leadership. Times of Israel: The White House’s outrage over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to speak before Congress in March — a move he failed to coordinate with the administration — began to seep through the diplomatic cracks on Friday, with officials telling Haaretz the Israeli leader had spat in President Barack Obama’s face. “We thought we’ve seen everything, the newspaper quoted an unnamed senior US official as saying. But Bibi managed to surprise even us. There are things you simply don’t do. He spat in our face publicly and that’s no way to behave. Netanyahu ought to remember that President Obama has a year and a half left to his presidency, and that there will be a price, he said. mondoweiss.net/2015/01/matthews-netanyahu-congress
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 14:30:01 +0000
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