Obama Aide Calls Netanyahu’s Planned Visit ‘Destructive’ to U.S.-Israel Ties

[Purveyor]

Source: New York Times

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVISFEB. 25, 2015

WASHINGTON — Susan E. Rice, President Obama’s national security adviser, sharply criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Tuesday over his plans to address a joint meeting of Congress next week, saying his actions had hurt his nation’s relationship with the United States.

Mr. Netanyahu’s decision to travel to Washington to deliver the speech two weeks before the Israeli elections has “injected a degree of partisanship, which is not only unfortunate, I think it’s destructive of the fabric of the relationship,” Ms. Rice said in an interview on the PBS television program “Charlie Rose.”

Her comments marked the strongest public rebuke to date by the Obama administration since Mr. Netanyahu accepted an invitation from Speaker John A. Boehner to make his case to Congress against a nuclear deal with Iran, which is a priority of Mr. Obama’s. It is also the frankest acknowledgment yet by a top American official of the degree to which the controversy has damaged United States-Israeli relations.

The speech, scheduled for March 3, was arranged by Mr. Boehner and the Israeli ambassador without consulting the White House — a move that Mr. Obama’s team has called a breach of protocol.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/us/politics/susan-rice-calls-netanyahus-planned-visit-destructive-to-us-israel-ties.html?_r=0

[Cha]

1. Ya think!

[SleeplessinSoCal]

2. I watched the interview.

Charlie seemed incredulous to the notion.

[quadrature]

3. excellent.. an aide to Obama says something

you have to start somewhere

[Fred Sanders]

4. By the time BIbi speaks he will have lost all of the little credibility he still has left.

[BillZBubb]

7. He should, but the question is how does this play in Israel?

Will Israeli voters endorse this man and his methods once again? If so, that will tell us a lot about them.

[geek tragedy]

5. I've suspected she was the one who called him Aspbergery and chickenshit. nt

[BillZBubb]

6. Finally someone of stature is on record on this!

If Rice said it, Israelis can be sure it is coming directly from the US administration. No anonymous source here.

The people of Israel need to ask themselves if this is the road they want to take. Directly insulting a US president and his party is a big step to take for a country dependent on US good will and support.

Netanyahu and his supporters are dangerous people, both to their region and Israel itself. Hopefully, enough Israelis soon come to realize this.

[Tom Rinaldo]

8. This. Exactly. Nothing Netanyahu can do in one month can unravel the bonds between our nations...

But he is stressing the ties that bind us and now visible signs of fraying have emerged that the Israel public would be foolish to ignore. Netanyahu is playing with fire given how critical deep bi-partisan American support is to Israel. Most of the damage being done is going on below the surface where it can easily be missed. Support for Israel is dropping among younger voters in particular. Israel will need strong American support 15 years from now just as much as they do now.