OPINION:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells it like it is, clear and plain with the bark on, and sometimes says things that politicians in Israel and other places know is true but won’t say. Barack Obama thinks he can sleepwalk on an imaginary high road past Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, and Mr. Netanyahu’s plain talk makes it difficult to stay asleep.
The Republicans in the House invited Bibi, as his friends call him, to speak to Congress on March 3 and Mr. Obama and his acolytes are trying to frame the invitation as unacceptable because it comes two weeks before the Israeli elections. They say the speech will distract voters in Israel, as if the voters suffer attention-deficit disorder, but Mr. Obama’s stroll on the high road does not square with the courtship — and the American funding — of Mr. Netanyahu’s election opponents.
From the moment House Speaker John A. Boehner invited Mr. Netanyahu to speak to Congress about the growing threat of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Mr. Obama has swathed himself in a familiar cloak of sanctimony, crying foul and no fair. Mr. Boehner’s invitation grows out of legitimate congressional concern that the Obama administration, now negotiating with Iran, will produce an agreement in Tehran’s favor. A lot of people, not just Republicans and not just here, are afraid of that, too. Mr. Obama harrumphed and pouted, tripping over his lower lip, and declared that he will snub Mr. Netanyahu when he calls in Washington. Joe Biden promises to leave town. One by one, the leading Democrats in Congress say they won’t be there, either.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus say the invitation is “a slight to President Barack Obama that [we] can’t and won’t support.” Israeli officials were surprised by the backlash, set off by Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, followed by Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and others. The Israeli embassy is trying to set up a meeting between caucus members and Ambassador Ron Dermer, or even with Mr. Netanyahu when he’s in town.
If the goal is to keep everyone above Israel’s elections, how will Mr. Obama discipline Vice President Biden and Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who met last week in Munich with Isaac Herzog, the leader of the Israeli opposition and considered to be Mr. Netanyahu’s chief rival in the March 17 elections? The Times of Israel reports that Daniel Abraham, an American billionaire and a longtime backer of Democratic candidates, is funding V15, an organization established in December to campaign to replace the Netanyahu government with a center-left coalition. In the face of such opposition to letting Bibi speak his piece, there’s speculation in Israel that Mr. Netanyahu will back down. That does not seem likely. Mr. Netanyahu said Tuesday that “I’m determined to speak before Congress to stop Iran.”
Mr. Obama is working on his bon mots for later, but he sent his press secretary, Josh Earnest, out with a pious observation that the administration “goes to great lengths to ensure that we don’t give even the appearance of interfering or attempting to influence the outcome [of elections abroad].”
The president and his advisers obviously don’t like Bibi very much, and they’re entitled. But it’s what they’re afraid he will say that they don’t like. The prime minister sees his country’s survival in the balance, and he has a responsibility to buck up the resolve of Israel’s most important ally in whatever way he can.
The Republicans who invited Mr. Netanyahu to Washington, like everyone else, have watched the president’s weakness and vacillation in the face of confrontation and challenge, and they’re willing to listen to a little plain talk from a friend. It’s that plain talk about Iran and nuclear weapons in the Middle East that President Obama doesn’t want anybody to hear.
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