For the Republicans to invite a foreign leader to address a joint session of congress, and have that leader give a partisan speech against the United States government is a slap to our faces. For Benjamin Netanyahu to accept that invitation is even lower than the invite itself. And it is clear from that acceptance that Netanyahu knows nothing about the words “friend” and “alley.”
Negotiations with Iran have reached a critical point. The United States and our partners on the United Nations Security Council have set a July 2015 deadline on reaching a deal for Iran to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. The fact that we’re talking is significant. But, clearly, Iran wouldn’t even be at the table if it wasn’t already hurting from sanctions already in place.
So why not add more sanctions? There’s the rub. Most Republicans and several top Democrats, including the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), believe that enacting more sanctions now would force Iran to make a deal.
President Obama and former national security advisers Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft, however, argue that slapping more sanctions on Iran now would kill the talks. Obama has vowed to veto any new sanctions bill from Congress, while promising to impose additional sanctions if negotiations fail.
This is an important issue on which honest men and women disagree. But here’s the point: You don’t invite the leader of any foreign country to walk into Congress and disagree with the president of the United States. For three reasons.
First, there’s no need to. Menendez, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and others are perfectly capable of making the argument for more sanctions. Why do they need Bibi Netanyahu?
Second, it’s a serious breach of protocol. Relations with heads of state are handled by the White House and the State Department, not partisan leaders in Congress. Those dealings should be above politics.
Third, throwing any foreign leader into the middle of a policy debate in this country is a dangerous mix of foreign policy and partisan politics. We know what’s behind it. Boehner’s counting on Netanyahu to dump on Obama and accuse him of being soft on national security. For his part, Netanyahu wants to use our Congress as a forum for helping him win reelection, just two weeks after he was invited to speak. Both are abusing the honor of addressing a joint session of Congress in order to play their political games. And both are willing to risk undermining the strong bonds between the United States and Israel in the process.
Surely, members of Congress and the White House can work this out on their own without having to bring in an outsider. Both Boehner and Netanyahu should drop their silly, and dangerous, caper.
