Denis McDonough calls Netanyahu invite a mistake

The White House sought the high ground Sunday in objecting to House Republicans’ decision to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress without President Obama’s blessing, saying it is foolhardy to disrupt negotiations with Iran as the Islamic Republic seeks a nuclear weapon.

Mr. Netanyahu is scheduled to speak to Congress on March 3 and will lobby for more sanctions on Iran, a move which has bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. Mr. Obama is urging lawmakers not to approve additional sanctions, saying it would jeopardize ongoing denuclearization talks.

“Congress should just give us the time to let those negotiations play out,” White House chief of staff Denis McDonough told CNN. “It doesn’t make any sense for them to prematurely act on legislation that the president will veto if it’s going to risk maintaining this international unity. So, Congress should let us finish this job. “

The White House was caught flat-footed by Mr. Netanyahu agreeing to speak to Congress. It argued the president doesn’t meet with foreign heads of government near their own elections.

Mr. McDonough, in a tour of all the major Sunday talk shows, cited America’s relationship with Israel in defending Mr. Obama, who does not plan to meet with Mr. Netanyahu during the visit, saying that the prime minister is up for re-election.

“This is a relationship, given its importance, that stretches across many different things, from values straight through intelligence cooperation to defense and security assistance,” he said. “That’s the kinds of things that we will be focused on in this regard. That’s why we think also we ought not get involved in their politics. That’s why the president thinks it doesn’t make any sense for us to meet with the prime minister two weeks before his election.”

Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu have, by many accounts, a frosty personal relationship at best.

The House’s invitation to Mr. Netanyahu is widely seen as a rebuke of Mr. Obama’s foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, as feckless, a perception enhanced by Mr. Obama’s subsequent refusal to meet with the Israeli while here.