By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO—The flap over House Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu to speak before a Joint Session of Congress, and the latter’s acceptance, without either man checking with President Barack Obama first, was a point of discussions on the Sunday morning television news shows.
On CBS’s Face the Nation, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told interviewer Bob Schieffer that he did not know who the unnamed administration official was who was quoted in an Israeli newspaper to the effect that President Obama considered Netanyahu’s acceptance of the invitation to be a “spit on the face.”
“It does not reflect the views of this White House or this President,” said McDonough. “Point Two: The President has taken pains to make clear that because of the nature of this relationship it is above partisan politics and he will continue to do that. Third, the breadth of this relationship goes from our important cultural shared values all the way through intelligence cooperation to defense and security cooperation and that will continue. What we won’t allow us to do is become an issue in their elections; that was why the President was clear this week we should not meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu just two weeks before his election.”
Schieffer asked whether the President indeed had been offended. McDonough replied that he was “ot going to get into the back and forth about this, this is something between the speaker and the prime minister apparently.”
Later on the same show, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona)—who was defeated by Obama in the 2008 presidential election—declared “Relations never have been worse between ourselves and the only genuine democracy in the entire Middle East. They believe, they are convinced, that these negotiations with Iran will lead to Iranian acquisition of a nuclear weapon which will then nuclearize the entire Middle East and that will be a direct threat to the existence of the State of Israel. I regret that the relations have deteriorated to this degree but I do believe that it’s important that Prime Minister Netanyahu speak to the American people and by the way we need congressional ratification of any agreement that is made. This is too big to not be treated as a treaty.”
On CNN’s State of the Union show, Jon Huntsman, a Republican who is a former Utah governor and former U.S. Ambassador to China, commented: “I think there is nothing more important right now than the nuclear development in Iran and the implications for the region and the world. He (Netanyahu) is beloved in Congress and he can speak anytime he wants but the way in which the invitation took place, the partisanship kind of slipping into foreign policy, I think is a really bad precedent. It is bad statecraft, it is bad politics, and I think it is going to put a real damper on what traditionally is the Head of state-to-the Head-of-state relationship.”
On that same program, U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) said he would attend the Joint Session of Congress when Netanyahu spoke but also agreed with Huntsman that “this was a terrible mistake by the speaker. It used to be at least a goal that politics ends at the water’s edge, now it only begins there, and I think for us to extend an invitation two weeks before the Israeli election gives Israelis the impression we’re trying to meddle in their politics. I also find it extraordinary that a world leader would be invited before the Congress effectively to lobby in favor of a bill that the President opposes. I just think it is harmful to the U.S.-Israel relationship and I think it was a very ill-considered decision by the Speaker.”
In Jerusalem, at the start of his Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu told why he believes it important to speak before the Congress:
“In the coming weeks, the major powers are liable to reach a framework agreement with Iran, an agreement that is liable to leave Iran as a nuclear threshold state, which would endanger – first and foremost – the existence of the State of Israel. This is the same Iran that has taken over Lebanon and Syria and is now taking over Yemen and Iraq. This is the same Iran that is preparing an active front against us both on the Golan Heights and in southern Lebanon. This same Iran cannot advance toward nuclear weapons.
“As Prime Minister of Israel, I am obligated to make every effort in order to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons that would be aimed at the State of Israel. This effort is worldwide and I will go anywhere I am invited in order to enunciate the State of Israel’s position and in order to defend its future and its existence.
Feature stories of note
HOLOCAUST — A front page story by John Wilkens in the Jan. 25 edition of U-T San Diego recounted the lives of Rose and Max Schindler of San Diego, who are traveling to Auschwitz with members of their family for the 70th anniversary of its liberation.
SHA’AR HANEGEV—The Jewish Federation of San Diego’s partnership region of Sha’ar Hanegev was the subject of an extensive story by Debra Kamin in the Jan. 25 edition of U-T San Diego. In addition, Kamin also participated in a Q&A with the newspaper about how she researched the story. Debra Kamin is the daughter of Rabbi Ben Kamin, a frequent contributor to San Diego Jewish World.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. Your comments may be posted in the space provided below or sent to donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com