There he goes again. In 2008 this 'Democrat' endorsed John McCain for his hawkish talk about Iraq. Now the former Senator is saying that Netanyahu 'deserves to be listened to respetfully' by members of Congress. Normally this might be the case but what a disloyal Democrat like Lieberman fails to get is that respect has to be reciprocal and Bibi is disrespecting the President of the United States and really all of us. He ought to stay in Israel with and worry about his upcoming election. In truth that election is what this whole stunt is about:
Here is Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Minnesota who doesn't plan on going to see Bibi:
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the midst of a heated reelection campaign. Yet he is traveling 5,900 miles to give a speech before a joint meeting of Congress on March 3 — just two weeks before Israelis go to the polls. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), working with Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, a former Republican political operative who renounced his U.S. citizenship, extended the invitation in a clear effort to undermine the president while the United States and its five partners engage in tough negotiations with Iran to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons — a national security priority I strongly support."
"In other words, the speaker of the House has provided the Israeli prime minister with a global platform to both attack our president and deliver a campaign message to voters at home."
Here is Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Minnesota who doesn't plan on going to see Bibi:
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the midst of a heated reelection campaign. Yet he is traveling 5,900 miles to give a speech before a joint meeting of Congress on March 3 — just two weeks before Israelis go to the polls. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), working with Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, a former Republican political operative who renounced his U.S. citizenship, extended the invitation in a clear effort to undermine the president while the United States and its five partners engage in tough negotiations with Iran to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons — a national security priority I strongly support."
"In other words, the speaker of the House has provided the Israeli prime minister with a global platform to both attack our president and deliver a campaign message to voters at home."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-i-wont-be-attending-benjamin-netanyahus-speech-in-congress/2015/02/26/ebaf5afa-bdd4-11e4-bdfa-b8e8f594e6ee_story.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop
Right now the best way to improve Israeli-U.S. elections as Greg Sargent says is for Bibi to lose his election.
“To think about going behind the back of a friendly country’s administration and working out this kind of arrangement with the parliament or the Congress — it’s unheard of,” said Daniel C. Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel. Such an unprecedented lack of respect toward a U.S. president has not gone unnoticed in Israel, either. As Oudeh Basharat, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, noted, “Greater respect is even accorded to banana republics.”
Basharat concluded his Haaretz column by saying, “Any leader who tried to do to the Americans what Netanyahu has done would be ejected immediately, not from Washington but from office in his home country.”
Basharat concluded his Haaretz column by saying, “Any leader who tried to do to the Americans what Netanyahu has done would be ejected immediately, not from Washington but from office in his home country.”
Netanyahu has basically inserted himself right in the middle of partisan American party politics. That he's a Republican at heart is shown by him spurning a chance to meet with Democrats-he doesn't want that just to hang with Bohner and his friends. He thinks that Boehner can somehow force the President not negotiate with Iran over preventing it from obtaining nuclear weapons.
"Mr. Netanyahu said Tuesday that he was making the trip because it was his obligation to “do everything I can to prevent” a nuclear agreement with Iran."
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2015/02/john-kerry-on-netanyahu-hes-been-wrong.html
As John Kerry points out, Congress has no role in any nuclear treaty anyway. They certainly can't stop Obama from signing one. It's just one more chapter in petty GOP politics that Netanyahu feels so at home with and as usual we have Lieberman holding the GOPers' coats rather than doing anything constructive.
Meanwhile, as Congresswoman McCollum points out, Boehner is basically degrading the halls of Congress by using it as a prop in a Netanyahu campaign ad.
"The last time Netanyahu addressed Congress, in 2011, he thanked President Obama for his “steadfast commitment to Israel’s security” and told the world that “time is running out” on preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon — a position I expect will be repeated in next week’s speech. Footage from that speech was used by the Likud Party for campaign commercials when Netanyahu last faced Israeli voters. Using video from the floor of the U.S. House for campaign purposes is prohibited for members of Congress — apparently except when they play extras in a commercial promoting Netanyahu."
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