A very serious breach of diplomatic protocol is about to be committed by
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu .
The Israeli Prime Minister was invited by the United States Speaker of the House John Boehner to address the American Congress.
Netanyahu is scheduled to address the congress on the talks between the Obama Administration and other powers, including Britain, Germany, France,China, Russia and Iran , on Iran’s nuclear program.
Initially Netanyahu was slated to address the House in February but the speech has been pushed back to March 3rd.
The problem with the speech is that no one in the speaker’s office bothered to notify the White House that Netanyahu was scheduled to address the congress just two weeks prior to that country’s elections to pick a new leader.
The White House insists that the Israeli Ambassador recently met with Secretary of state John Kerry for two hours but did not bother to mention that Netanyahu was coming to address congress.
In fact Boehner made it clear that his invite to Netanyahu was intended to be a disrespectful gesture to President Obama.
Boehner said quote: The Republicans are interested in sending a “clear message to the White House — and the world — about our commitment to Israel and our allies,”.
Boehner who did not even bother to tell members of the democratic caucus in
the house of his decision to invite Netanyahu,sees nothing wrong with usurping normal protocols to make another political statement.
Netantahu a right wing hawk who crave war with Iran, is anxious to use the American Congress two weeks before a tight election in Israel to lift his own profile.
Most of all however, Netanyahu no fan of Obama, seem to relish the opportunity to poke a finger into Obama’s eye as the American president enters the fourth quarter of his presidency.
Republicans for their part are not concerned about any disrespect to Obama, in fact that seem to be exactly their intention.
President Obama has intimated he will not meet with Netanyahu.
There is a long standing protocol not to meet with foreign leaders that close to elections in their own countries, the president said.
No one believes those are the reasons the president will not meet with Netanyahu however.
The office of Vice president Biden said, Biden will not be attending the speech either.
Members of the congressional black caucus have also indicated they will not be attending the speech.
In Israel there is very little support for the speech, the Times of Israel published a poll which shows In response to the question, “Do you think Prime Minister Netanyahu should travel to speak before the US Congress?” a majority of 52% said no, compared to 36% in favor. A further 12% said that they didn’t know whether Netanyahu should go.
Set aside the breach of diplomatic protocol for a second then ask yourselves
why would Netanyahu do something so potentially damaging to American Israeli relations?
Never mind the actions of Republicans, anyone still doubtful that their actions toward president Obama are anything but racial need to have their heads examined.
Netanyahu must have calculated that his visit will give him a boost in polls at home. He probably sees this as an opportune time to stick it to Obama, whom he clearly has very little love for.
Netanyahu does not believe there are any dangers to the bi-lateral relations between the two countries. Why would he ?America has pledged unequivocal support to the Zionist state, that will not change because he is disrespectful to it’s first black president, if anything it will bolster that relationship.