Last week, the day after the State of the Union address by President Obama, a weird thing happened. John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House, invited Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to address a joint session of Congress. This may seem like an ordinary, boring diplomatic move on the surface, but it is actually an invitation fraught with controversy and differing opinions from the two political parties.
The invitation to Netanyahu came as a reaction to discussion between the White House and Israel concerning increased sanctions on Iran. There is a suggestion to increase sanctions against Iran if certain criteria are not met by June 30. The United States has requested that the sanctions against Iran not be increased, saying talks of sanctions could damage the very delicate current relationship with Iran. The US is engaged in other talks and negotiations with Iran at the moment, attempting to find a diplomatic solution to disassemble Iran’s nuclear arsenal, and does not want those talks to go haywire as a result of the threat of increased sanctions. Obama and his administration have asked Congress to stay out of the sanctions talks, and Obama has threatened to veto a bill supporting sanctions if one passes Congress. Israel, however, wants the increased sanctions to be put into place. Obama had a phone call with Netanyahu and Secretary of State, John Kerry, met with the Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer for several hours to discuss the sanctions. In these meetings, the US asked Israel to “sit tight” and wait on supporting sanctions.
In general, Democrats and the Obama administration oppose the increased sanctions against Iran. Republicans in Congress, specifically Speaker of the House John Boehner, and Israel, including the Prime Minister, Netanyahu, support increasing the sanctions.
Controversy arises when the circumstances of the invitation to Netanyahu are considered. The invitation came as a surprise to the Obama administration, who had no knowledge of the event prior to Boehner informing the administration that Netanyahu would be addressing Congress. Some are saying Boehner went behind the back of the White House in making this invitation; he did not coordinate it with them, as is customary. Neither Kerry nor Netanyahu informed the White House, until after Netanyahu had accepted the invitation. Also, it is a highly unusual move for a member of Congress to “[invite] a foreign leader directly into an American political debate” (Nakamura). Is John Boehner even allowed to invite a foreign dignitary to speak to Congress? The invitation was a “breach of typical diplomatic protocol” the White House told the Associated Press (Nakamura). Technically, the President has the power to invite foreign dignitaries, not the Speaker of the House, but, honestly, I do not really think that is the biggest issue here.
Questions have also arisen about the true motives behind Boehner’s invitation. Does he truly want to gain insight into the Israeli point of view and persuade members of Congress? Or is this purely a political move to undermine the President? In one view, “that invitation to address Congress…marked a sharp rejection of Obama’s plea for Congress to stay out of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. If Congress votes to sanction Iran, Obama had warned, it could upset delicate and long-running talks” (Nakamura). Boehner says Obama asked Republicans to stand by and do nothing concerning Iran, to which Boehner says “Hell no!”, according to a senior GOP aide (Nakamura). I’m not kidding, that is the quote the aide was provided, which apparently came from a meeting Boehner had with other Republicans. Boehner also also asked Netanyahu to speak about the “growing threat of radical Islam” in today’s world (Boehner to Fox News). It is expected that when Netanyahu will support speak on supporting the sanctions when he addresses Congress, which is scheduled to occur in March.
Another aspect of this event involves what it says about relationship between the US and Israel. On the surface, America and Israel have a fairly solid, good relationship. However, there are internal tensions between the two countries, as chronicled by Jeff Goldberg of The Atlantic. Goldberg keeps a list of things anonymous US officials have called Netanyahu, the highlights of this list include some fairly insulting, but nonetheless entertaining insults, including “chickensh*t”, “myopic”, “obtuse”, “reactionary”, and “Asbergery” (which I find oddly specific and incredibly politically incorrect). There are internal tensions that this invitation, and Netanyahu’s failure to tell Obama about it may have aggravated these tensions.
So, Boehner, a Republican, has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress, specifically to discuss sanctions against Iran. In general, Republicans support increased sanctions and Democrats do not, leading to Democrats and Republicans facing off over the invitation and the issue of the sanctions. Some Democrats are also mad about the circumstances of the invitation, saying Boehner went behind the back of the White House in inviting Netanyahu. I support Obama’s plan to hold off on talks of sanctions until it is clear Iran will not meet the benchmarks necessary and a diplomatic solution cannot be reached. However, I do not really see the harm in inviting Netanyahu to speak to Congress. Boehner definitely went about setting up the speaking engagement in a somewhat sketchy manner, but overall I think the invitation itself is fine.
Links to more information and my sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/23/politics/netanyahu-obama-snub-sours-relations/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/22/politics/new-iran-sanctions-bill/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/21/politics/benjamin-netanyahu-congress-invitation/
