Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech in the U.S. Congress is bad for Israel’s domestic politics, it is bad for U.S. domestic politics, it’s bad for Israel’s foreign policy, and it is bad for U.S. foreign policy.
Firstly, in Israel’s domestic politics, there is an election days after the speech. It’s not right for a politician to use the pulpit of the U.S. Congress to pose as a statesman given the fact that his rivals in the opposition do not have the same opportunity.
Secondly, in U.S. domestic politics, Netanyahu embraces one side, that of the Republicans. A foreign leader, however, must avoid involving himself in the internal issues of allies. It would be like Obama agreeing to speak at the Knesset in Israel at the request of the opponent Tzipi Livni and without consulting Netanyahu, bearing in mind that, in the U.S., Congress is controlled by the opposition, in contrast to Israel where a parliamentary system prevails. Netanyahu, purposefully or not, has played into the hands of Republicans.
Thirdly, Netanyahu is breaking a tradition of Israeli foreign policy in the U.S., that of always being bipartisan, an ally of both Democratic and Republican parties. The prime minister’s attitude even irritated Democratic senators and representatives (including Jews who are all Democrats in Congress, except for one Republican) who have a record of always voting in favor of Israel. Eight in 10 Jews in the United States vote Democrat. Why treat Democrats like this?
Finally, Netanyahu is interfering in U.S. foreign policy. Using diplomatic means, Obama’s priority is to reach an agreement with Iran to stop the Iranian government from getting a nuclear bomb. Whereas his predecessor, George W. Bush, in removing his enemies Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan, helped Tehran, Obama implemented the largest set of sanctions in history against the Iranian regime. He carried out espionage and a successful cybernetic and sabotage war in coordination with Israel, delaying Iran’s nuclear advances.
The current interim agreement has been hugely successful and has stopped Iran’s nuclear program cold. According to Netanyahu, a final agreement, not negotiated by just the U.S. but by Russia, China, the U.K., France and Germany as well, will allow the Iranian regime to get a nuclear bomb. However, the reality is that an agreement, if it ends up being signed, will stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
In 2002, as Secretary of State John Kerry recalled, Netanyahu came to the U.S. Congress and defended an American invasion of Iraq. During that period, he was a common citizen. With his intelligence and charisma, however, he influenced the votes of many representatives and senators in favor of the disastrous war that strengthened Iran and al-Qaida (even though Iranians are enemies of bin Laden’s terrorist network). Years later, Netanyahu came to the U.S. and in the U.N., asserted that Iran was less than one year away from producing a bomb, despite statements from Mossad (Israel’s secret service) to the contrary, according to documents leaked this week.
Netanyahu has already become the butt of jokes in New York – as the comedian Jon Stewart, a liberal Jew and possibly the largest shaper of public opinion in the U.S., says: For 10 years, Iran has been a decade from getting a nuclear bomb.
Israel’s current prime minister is not a statesman. He is not a Yitzhak Rabin or a David Ben-Gurion. Nor is he an Ariel Sharon or a Shimon Peres. He is just a prime minister that may lead Israel to an unnecessary conflict with the U.S. just to reach his election goals. If he really wanted to stop the agreement, and he has the right to think the agreement being negotiated is bad (serious people also share this perspective), he should use the channels that Israel has always used: Seeking talks behind the scenes with Obama, Kerry and anyone else to express his opinion and persuade them. Any Israeli prime minister must have the U.S. as an ally, not an enemy. Obama is not a Hosni Mubarak, or a Chirac or Berlusconi. He is the president of the United States of America, elected and re-elected, like it or not.
Netanyahu is a bully who is OK with bombing innocent civilians in Gaza but wants the U.S. to wage war against Iran for him. He succeeded in getting George W. Bush to attack his enemy Iraq over phony nuclear weapons. But he failed to get President Obama to attack Syria’s Assad over the use of chemical weapons. Those weapons are now long gone and Obama may accomplish the same with Iran’s nuclear program and in a peaceful way.