Netanyahu Visit to Congress Threatens to Deepen Splits :By Michael R. Crittenden and Felicia Schwartz
http://www.wsj.com/articles/netanyahu-visit-to-congress-threatens-to-deepen-splits-1423268292?mod=trending_now_3
Obama Says He Won’t Meet With Israeli Leader During Visit
WASHINGTON—The diplomatic fracas over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s planned speech to Congress next month escalated with Vice President Joe Biden ’s disclosure that he would miss the appearance while traveling abroad.
The announcement by his office—which gave no details about his travel plans—made it more likely that congressional Democrats will follow suit and skip the appearance, which increasingly threatens to fray a rare, long-standing bipartisanship in Congress over U.S. dealings with Israel.
President Barack Obama has said he won’t meet with the Israeli leader while he is in Washington, after House Speaker John Boehner ’s (R., Ohio) office arranged it with Israeli officials without consulting the White House. The visit is planned just two weeks before Israeli voters head to the polls. In his speech, Mr. Netanyahu is expected to question a central foreign-policy objective of Mr. Obama’s: rapprochement with Iran over its nuclear program.
Democrats over the past week were sharply critical of the plans for the prime minister’s speech during closed-door meetings with the Israeli ambassador and the speaker of Israel’s parliament. “I just think it’s a serious mistake by the speaker and the prime minister,” Sen. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.) said, suggesting the speech would be a “divisive event.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) was more blunt, telling reporters on Thursday, “I think it would be better if we didn’t have it.”
Underscoring the concern are the current controversy’s deep roots. Messrs. Obama and Netanyahu have had differences over Middle East peace and Iran’s nuclear program, and their personal relationship is notoriously frosty, despite Mr. Obama’s view of the U.S. alliance with Israel as “eternal.”
Democrats and the White House insist there has been no change in their devotion to Israel, but the strains are rising.
“The danger is that the optics right now are overcoming the substance. We need to get away from the optics and back to the substance,” Rep. Steve Israel (D., N.Y.) said, insisting that “one botched invitation” should not define the relationship between the two countries.
Mr. Netanyahu, aware of the political tempest in Washington, has said he wouldn’t pass up the chance to address Congress, and both the Israeli leader and Mr. Boehner have continued to defend the invitation.
But in remarks on an Israeli radio program Friday, a government official indicated that Mr. Netanyahu may have been mistaken about the nature of the invitation.
“It appears that the speaker of Congress made a move, in which we trusted, but which it ultimately became clear was a one-sided move and not a move by both sides,” Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said on 102 FM Tel Aviv Radio on Friday, according to accounts in Israeli media. But Mr. Hanegbi said the Israelis should not “forsake an arena” like an address to Congress.
The scuffle is the latest in a history of awkward and insulting moments between the Obama administration and the Israeli leader that date at least to a 2010 incident over the issue of Israeli construction of settlements in disputed areas. In March 2010, hours after Mr. Biden spoke in Jerusalem and pledged unyielding U.S. support for Israeli security, Israel announced 1,600 new settlement units in East Jerusalem, a move seen as a slap at the administration.
Israel has pressed on with plans to build settlement housing despite continuous condemnation from the U.S., announcing plans as to build additional units as recently as last week.
Messrs. Obama and Netanyahu’s personal differences found the spotlight in 2011, when Mr. Netanyahu lectured a visibly frustrated Mr. Obama that May in front of reporters about the history of peace talks in the Middle East. That November, Mr. Obama and then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy were caught on a hot microphone at the G-20 summit in Cannes discussing their frustrations with the Israeli prime minister.
Mr. Sarkozy voiced his exasperation, to which Mr. Obama responded: “You’re fed up with him? I have to deal with him every day.”
While the U.S.-Israel security relationship remains strong, continued political squabbles ultimately could be harmful if the alliance takes on a more partisan tenor in the future, said Natan Sachs, an expert on Israel at the Brookings Institution.
“The question is more long-term—in particular, does this become a more partisan issue?” Mr. Sachs said.
Rep. Israel said he was hopeful that tensions would subside after the speech has occurred. For their part, congressional Republicans led by Mr. Boehner have deflected the criticisms from Democrats, calling the speech appropriate.
“There’s a message that the American people need to hear and I think he’s the perfect person to deliver it. The threat of radical Islamic terrorists is a real threat,” Mr. Boehner told reporters this week.
Write to Michael R. Crittenden at michael.crittenden@wsj.com and Felicia Schwartz at Felicia.Schwartz@wsj.com
Comments are closed.
