OPINION:
Call it the Bibi fiasco. Or call it the Boehner fiasco. Either way, this fiasco of foreign policy and of domestic politics in both countries will have significant repercussions well into the future.
It’s difficult to conceive what either leader — Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and House Speaker John Boehner — was hoping to accomplish when Mr. Boehner extended an invitation to the Israeli leader, and he accepted, to address a joint session of Congress in opposition to President Obama on a matter of crucial diplomatic delicacy. Adding to the breach of protocol was that neither leader alerted the White House before the matter was announced publicly.
Keep in mind the fundamental issue here. It can be placed into perspective with seven interlocking sentences, to wit: Mr. Obama is engaged in highly difficult negotiations with Iran (along with five other major industrial countries) aimed at getting the Islamic Republic to abandon any plans it may have to build nuclear weapons. Iran says it doesn’t want nuclear weapons but does want a nuclear capacity for peaceful purposes. Mr. Obama’s position is that the negotiated outcome must accept Iran’s nuclear ambitions so long as fissionable weaponry isn’t in the cards. The official policy of the United States is that it will go to any lengths, including war, to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Boehner favor legislation, also favored by the powerful pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), that would threaten added sanctions against Iran even as these delicate negotiations proceed. Nearly all serious experts on the matter say such legislation would explode the talks and release Iran from any effort to reach a nuclear accommodation. Hence, the legislation could very likely lead to war.
Strip away all the ancillary sentiments here — what you may think of Mr. Obama, Mr. Boehner and Mr. Netanyahu; how you may feel about the protocols involved in the invitation maneuver; how accepting or wary you may be about Mr. Netanyahu’s ongoing inclination to display his contempt for the U.S. president; your views about Israel’s handling of its Palestinian issue; whatever. All of that fades into the background against the fundamental issue here — whether Mr. Obama is going to be allowed to maintain his effort to prevent America from getting drawn into another Mideast war.
Viewed in that light, Mr. Boehner’s political situation is untenable. Mr. Netanyahu’s diplomatic situation vis-a-vis America is untenable. And it appears that Mr. Netanyahu’s own political situation at home is being tested as Israelis ponder the implications of a serious breach in relations between the Jewish state and its closest ally.
All this can be seen in unfolding events surrounding this little drama. According to The New York Times, Mr. Netanyahu has been lobbying Democratic congressional leaders in hopes of getting them to blunt their criticism of the Boehner invitation and his acceptance. He wants to stem the growing chorus among Democrats that the Israeli leader overstepped and the growing reluctance of Democrats to support the sanctions bill.
No dice, according to the newspaper, which reports that Mr. Netanyahu got an earful when he called Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, all of whom have questioned the Boehner-Netanyahu move. Mr. Reid is reported to have told Mr. Netanyahu that the scheduled speech had become so problematic that many Democratic senators won’t support the sanctions legislation. “It’s hurting you,’’ Mr. Reid told the Israeli leader. Mrs. Pelosi said she told him that his speech acceptance “could send the wrong message in terms of giving diplomacy a chance.’’
Meanwhile, the Jewish Daily Forward reports that many U.S. friends of Israel fear that the matter will inject partisan politics into the U.S. relationship with Israel, which could seriously harm that crucial alliance. As Greg Rosenbaum, chairman of the National Jewish Democratic Council, put it, “Israel needs bipartisan support and I am worried that when you take an individual issue and try to drive a wedge, it weakens the long-term foundations of this relationship.’’ Rep. John Yarmuth, a Jewish Democrat from Kentucky, was more blunt. “Unfortunately,’’ he told a talk-radio host, “some of the demands made of [House] members by AIPAC and by some Jewish supporters are that we defer to Israel more than we defer to the United States.’’
Mr. Yarmuth gets to the crux of the issue. Americans support and respect Israel, and cherish their country’s close friendship with the Jewish state. But U.S. patriotism will trump Israeli meddling in America’s domestic politics and diplomatic designs every time. What we’re seeing now is that reality at work. Mr. Netanyahu has managed to manufacture a situation in which U.S. and Israeli interests have diverged in the most stark of ways. Mr. Obama wants to avoid war with Iran. Mr. Netanyahu wants Iran’s power and influence clipped, even if that means a U.S. war against the Islamic republic. That’s fine. Even allies will disagree from time to time, even on big things.
But when Mr. Netanyahu designed to insert himself into U.S. domestic politics on a matter of war and peace, he went too far. And, in promulgating this intrusion, Mr. Boehner went too far. The spectacle of what these two men concocted is so questionable and disturbing to so many people that cooler heads — meaning the preponderance of political sentiment in both America and Israel — will likely prevail. Either the speech gets cancelled, or the wedge goes deeper and wider into the American political consciousness.
• Robert W. Merry, longtime Washington journalist and publishing executive, is the author of books on American history and foreign policy.
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