Featured Should Israel's PM speak to Congress?

Boehner: 'We have a right' to invite Netanyahu to address House

"House Speaker John Boehner may be getting plastered even by the conservative press for the stunt of inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to the House on the "dangers" posed by Iran, a transparent attempt to disrupt Obama foreign policy in the region in favor of the more bomb-oriented approach preferred by Netanyahu and American neoconservatives, but he's not backing down.

“The House of Representatives is a equal branch of the government, and we have a right to do it, and we did it,” the Ohio Republican said Tuesday morning after a closed meeting of House Republicans. “And I’m frankly proud of the fact the prime minister has accepted our invitation, and will be here on March 3 to talk to the members of Congress about the serious threat that Iran poses, and the serious threat of radical Islam.”
So there. The Republican House seems to frequently defend doing stupid or insulting things under the banner of their right to do stupid or insulting things if they feel like it. (Cough, government shutdown, cough.) Deciding not to do the stupid or insulting thing because the rest of the nation considers it stupid or insulting doesn't seem to come up as often.
Boehner seems to be less eager to address the implications of inviting an ultra-hawkish foreign leader to rebut an American president's foreign policy on the same stage granted to that American president during the previous month. That it's meant as boon to Netanyahu and as an attempt to foul ongoing negotiations between the American president and Iran, specifically, isn't being denied. As is frequently the case, the House Republican obsession with doing damage to Obama seems to trump all else, but I still wonder at the optics of being seen as supporting a foreign leader—even an allied one—over their own.

House Republicans are on their own on this one. Not even Fox News is buying it, and that suggests Boehner should be looking for an escape hatch. He won't, of course—and Netanyahu isn't about to let him—but he should be."


Hide and watch, wait and see, this bonehead move by Boehner is going to come back and bite the neocons and AIPAC in the you know where.

 

Netanyahu to American Jews: Get Lost

"By accepting Speaker Boehner's invitation to address Congress, the Israeli leader has chosen to side with political forces opposed by many US Jews.

....Netanyahu, who apparently would rather see another war in the Middle East than a deal that allows Iran to maintain a civilian-oriented and internationally monitored nuclear program, agreed to mount this stunt two weeks before the Israeli elections—a close contest in which the hawkish PM is fighting for his political life.......(Even Fox News talking heads acknowledged that Boehner's invitation and Netanyahu's acceptance were low blows.) But what was surprising was how willing Netanyahu was to send a harsh message to American Jews: Drop dead.

...And now Netanyahu is partnering up with Boehner to kick Obama in the teeth and sabotage one of the president's top diplomatic priorities. He is essentially telling American Jews to get lost: I have no regard for the president you support and no regard for your own political needs and desires."

....and this could even cost Netanyahu his job.

 

Report: Mossad undercuts Netanyahu, warns US Congress against more Iran sanctions

"Israeli intelligence officials have apparently come around to the same view shared by both the Obama administration as well as American spy agencies.

Israel’s political leadership is in disagreement with top members of its intelligence services over the benefit of more Congressional sanctions on Iran as negotiations over its disputed nuclear program continue, Bloomberg News is reporting on Thursday.

The rift is so severe that it compelled the Mossad to contradict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and directly warn US Congressional officials that more sanctions against the Islamic Republic at this juncture could effectively spell the end of negotiations, according to Bloomberg.

Israeli intelligence officials have apparently come around to the same view shared by both the Obama administration as well as American spy agencies who say that any attempts by lawmakers to pass tougher anti-Iran legislation could chase Tehran from the negotiating table...."

....even his own spy agency is against what Netanyahu is doing.

 

Yep, completely out of line. You simply do not invite a leader of a foreign nation to speak before Congress in an attempt to lobby for legislation or anything to do with foreign policy.

Foreign Policy is up to the President and to some degree, the State Department under the President's direction.

Perhaps he needs to be censored or at least have his hand slapped.

I think the people of the United States should be very concerned when someone they didn't elect to carry out foreign policy looks like he is purposely interfering by attempting to forge his own foreign policy.

I've even heard wranglings of his actions being borderline treasonous. After all you're colluding with the leader of a foreign nation against the elected President. It's disgraceful.

You cannot like the President and his policies all you want. But as a nation, we should NEVER do what Boehner is doing.

Frankly, if I were the President, I'd instruct whomever on that day that Netanyahu has not been cleared to enter the US.

Israel is dependent upon the US for a lot. And this just isn't the way to keep the American population in its corner. A lot of Israelis realize that.

I'm not sure if Boehner and the deceptive Israeli ambassador do.

 

And this is why I think it was such a dumb move. The people of Israel know that Obama has almost 2 more years in office. And they also know that it's just about a guarantee that another Democrat will be elected in 2016.

Israel does not want or need a leader that is at odds with the leader of the United States.

He's shooting himself in the foot and should back down.

 

Since Obama's strategy for dealing with Iran is pure appeasement, it's not out of line to hear from someone who is not fooled by the Iranians.

It's nothing unusual for this president to snub our only ally in the middle east. And others, as well. It's SOP for Obama.

 

Like I said, it bothers you not in the least that a foreign country can hold this much sway over our internal politics, you're no patriot. I'd be more inclined to believe you to be a Zionist or Likud operative.

 

I don't care what Obama has done. HE is the President. He was elected to decide foreign policy.

And the more I think about Boehner and the Israeli Ambassador's collusion to bypass the President and forge their own foreign policy, the more it starts to sound treasonous.

 

I don't mind so much that foreign leaders influence our foreign policy. That's always been the case as long as there has been relationships with other countries.

But there's something exceedingly wrong with the man third in line to be President colluding to embarrass the President by attempting to forge new foreign policy.

The American people should not trust him AT ALL to do what's in the interest of the country. If he'll do this to get what he wants, what else is he doing as concerns foreign policy to undermine the elected President.

 

Wonder what the headlines would have been on Fox News if a democrat led house invited the leader of a Muslim country to address the house?

 

Perhaps you're not aware of what the Israel Lobby is about.

No, this is not apples and apples. The influence that AIPAC has had is unprecedented.

Couldn't agree more.

 

Well, Fox news is slamming Boehner over this fiasco.

 

The Obama administration is using taxpayer dollars to fund a radical anti-Israel group that aims to drive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from office in March parliamentary elections.

And the U.S.-based group receiving the U.S. government money, OneVoice International, in turn is working with V15, an “independent grassroots movement” in Israel, according to Ha’aretz. V15’s unofficial motto is said to be “anyone but Bibi,” a reference that includes the prime minister’s nickname.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/matthew-vadum/obama-funding-the-anti-bibi-campaign/

 

Maybe a silver lining in this

Netanyahu speech could turn Israel lobby into a political football

"The Boehner invitation may have done what no other naked exposure of the lobby’s influence has done before it: force the American press and politicians to speak out on the difference between the US people’s interests and the Israelis’. It could be the “Fellate-a-Donkey” breakthrough moment those of us who believe in the lobby theory of policymaking have always hoped for: a shocking demonstration of the lobby’s power that leaves our commentators no choice but to describe the influence of the lobby inside our political institutions."

Boehner's bonehead move could bring about a much needed awareness of the power of this foreign entity on U.S. affairs.

 

Isn't it illegal for Obama to use taxpayer funds to fund a political campaign in Israel?

 

You got a source that shows he's using taxpayer funds to fund a political campaign in Israel?

 

It's linked above. Apparently it is legal for the House to invite a Jew to speak to them because the Democrats are not in federal court over the issue. However, there does not seem to be any outrage for Obama using taxpayer money to fund a campaign to unseat a Jew in Israel.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/matthew-vadum/obama-funding-the-anti-bibi-campaign/

 

I couldn't help but notice that everyone is overlooking one little detail, again.

America's foreign policy is driven by corporate funded think tanks and powerful lobby groups. It's their interests being served not the American citizen's interests. And both parties are okay with this set up.