[Peace-discuss] Pelosi: Dems may boycott Netanyahu's speech

[Robert Naiman]

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/boycott-bibis-bluster

===


http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.639998

Pelosi vs. Netanyahu's Congress speech: If he wants to talk Iran, he can go
on TVMinority Leader Nancy Pelosi doesn't rule out possibility of lawmakers
boycotting Netanyahu's address, which was planned without notifying the
White House.
By Barak Ravid <http://www.haaretz.com/misc/writers/barak-ravid-1.325> | Jan.
31, 2015 | 5:53 PM

Criticism in the Democratic Party over Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's planned
Congress address
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.639832> is
refusing to die down. Despite marathon phone calls between Netanyahu and
senior Democrats in an effort to convince them to tone down their
objections to the speech, the underlying message relayed by the Democratic
representatives in the House and the Senate is that Netanyahu ought to
cancel  <http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.639870>it.

The most direct statement yet was issued by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on
Friday, who did not rule out the possibility that many Democratic lawmakers
would boycott Netanyahu's speech on March 3.

Asked if most House Democrats would attend a Netanyahu speech to Congress,
Pelosi said, “I don’t know."

Pelosi laid into Netanyahu, noting that if he wants to discuss his concerns
over the Iran's nuclear program he has many other opportunities to do so,
and he does not have to do it in a joint session of the two houses of
Congress.

“The opportunities are great,” Pelosi said, and noted that the Israeli
leader often appears on Sunday talk shows in the U.S.

The senior House Democrat and former House speaker clarified that
Netanyahu's planned speech is a controversial subject not only in the U.S.,
but also in Israel.

“With all the respect in the world for the prime minister, and all the love
in the world for the state of Israel, I don’t know that even everyone in
Israel is supportive of the invitation,” she told journalists at a
Democratic retreat in Philadelphia.

The invitation extended to Netanyahu last week to address Congress created
a serious crisis in relations between the White House and the Prime
Minister's Office. It lobbed Israel into the political clash between
Republicans and Democrats, headed by President Barack Obama, over
diplomatic negotiations with Iran. The White House and senior officials in
the Democratic Party said Netanyahu's conduct in the affair was "
inappropriate
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.639575>."

On Friday, Netanyahu downplayed
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.639895> the
significance of the criticism leveled against him, describing the problems
surrounding his Congress address as merely procedural. "The procedural
problems around my speech in Congress are solvable, but Iran with a nuclear
weapon is a much bigger problem to solve," Netanyahu said while visiting
wounded Israeli soldiers at Rambam Hospital in Haifa.

*Dermer tries to explain*

Israel's ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer
<http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.639576>, who organized the
Congress invitation together with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, tried to explain the turn of events over
the weekend and denied that he acted behind the back of the White House and
State Department.

In an email interview with the Atlantic's Jeffery Goldenberg, Dermer
stressed that though Netanyahu and Obama disagreed on some issues,
Netanyahu "has never intentionally treated the president disrespectfully -
and if that is what some people felt, it certainly was not the prime
minister’s intention."

Dermer said Boehner was to blame for not updating the White House over the
invitation. "It was also made clear to me that it was the speaker’s
responsibility and normal protocol for the Speaker’s office to notify the
administration of the invitation," Dermer said.

"That is why I felt it would be inappropriate for me to raise the issue
with the administration, including in my meeting with the secretary of
state, until the speaker notified them. The speaker’s office apparently
informed the administration about it the morning of the announcement,
around two hours before it was publicized," Dermer said.
===

Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898 x1
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