[Peace-discuss] Boston Globe: Elizabeth Warren will not attend Netanyahu speech

[Robert Naiman]

Elizabeth Warren will not attend Netanyahu speech
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/03/02/elizabeth-warren-and-two-other-massachusetts-lawmakers-skip-netanyahu-speech/Xx60a5sGbCmqzs3nE60DhP/story.html

By Bryan Bender
GLOBE STAFF
MARCH 03, 2015

WASHINGTON — Senator Elizabeth Warren and two other members of the
Massachusetts congressional delegation plan to skip Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s speech to Congress Tuesday, saying they are protesting the
invitation made by House Speaker John Boehner.

Representatives Katherine Clark, a Melrose Democrat, and Jim McGovern, a
Democrat of Worcester, also are planning to miss the event.

Warren announced she would not attend the speech in a statement issued by
her office Monday evening.

“I strongly support Israel, and I remain deeply concerned about the
prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon, which I discussed in detail with
Prime Minister Netanyahu when we met in Jerusalem last November,’’ the
Democratic senator said in a statement. “It’s unfortunate that Speaker
Boehner’s actions on the eve of a national election in Israel have made
Tuesday’s event more political and less helpful for addressing the critical
issue of nuclear nonproliferation and the safety of our most important ally
in the Middle East.”

Clark struck a similar tone.

“Speaker Boehner has poisoned a critical foreign policy discussion with
partisan gamesmanship,” Clark said in a statement. “I will continue my
full-throated support for Israel, but I will not be part of Speaker
Boehner’s attempt to divide our Congress and country over one of our
strongest allies.”

Netanyahu will appear Tuesday at the invitation of House Speaker Boehner.
President Obama and his chief diplomat were not involved in the invitation,
a departure from protocol that has injected a sense of partisanship into
the speech and outraged some Democrats.

===

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