Posted on 02/19/2015 11:45:23 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
A group of 23 liberal House Democrats urged Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday to delay Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress next month.
In the letter spearheaded by Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the lawmakers argued that Netanyahu was being used as a "political tool" against President Obama.
"As members of Congress who support Israel, we share concern that it appears that you are using a foreign leader as a political tool against the president," they wrote.
Netanyahu's March 3 address will be just two weeks before the Israeli elections and while international negotiators work on a deal with Iran to curtail the country's nuclear weapons program. Netanyahu is expected to focus on the Iran negotiations in his speech and call for harsher sanctions.
Instead of March 3, the House Democrats suggested, Netanyahu's speech could be moved to some time after the Israeli elections.
"We strongly urge you to postpone this invitation until Israelis have cast their ballots and the deadline for diplomatic negotiations with Iran has passed. When the Israeli Prime Minister visits us outside the specter of partisan politics, we will be delighted and honored to greet him or her on the floor of the House," they wrote to Boehner.
The Democrats warned that Boehner's invitation to Netanyahu violated protocol, as it was scheduled without input from the Obama administration or congressional Democrats.
"We very much appreciate that Prime Minister Netanyahu has twice had the honor of speaking before a joint session. However, at this time your invitation is contrary to the standards by which our Congress operates and has the potential to harm U.S. foreign policy," the lawmakers wrote.
They further argued that Netanyahu's speech would put a wrench in the international negotiations between Tehran and the P5+1 group of world powers on Iran's nuclear program. President Obama threatened to veto legislation that would establish new sanctions against Iran during his State of the Union address last month.
"The timing of this invitation and lack of coordination with the White House indicate that this is not an ordinary diplomatic visit. Rather this appears to be an attempt to promote new sanctions legislation against Iran that could undermine critical negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran," they wrote.
On Wednesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest denied that the U.S. was cutting Israel out of the loop on the Iran talks. Officials have accused Israel of selectively leaking details about the talks to undermine negotiations.
Ellison, Cohen and Waters have been circulating the letter over the last week to collect signatures from fellow Democrats.
The other Democratic signatories of the letter were Reps. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.), André Carson (Ind.), John Conyers (Mich.), Danny Davis (Ill.), Peter DeFazio (Ore.), Luis Gutiérrez (Ill.), Hank Johnson (Ga.), Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas), Barbara Lee (Calif.), Betty McCollum (Minn.), Jim McGovern (Mass.), Jim McDermott (Wash.), Beto O'Rourke (Texas), Donald Payne (N.J.), Chellie Pingrie (Maine), Mark Pocan (Wis.), Mark Takano (Calif.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (N.J.), Peter Welch (Vt.) and John Yarmuth (Ky.).
I like your suggestion.
They don’t want Bibi to speak because he is up for election soon? Well, how about the money and political operatives sent to Israel to defeat Bibi in the same election. Phsisst, what nerve they have. We need to contact Bonehead and tell him to tell them....Kiss off.
When Netanyahu starts to speak, I hope the Dems storm out while waving Korans & Pali flags & shouting “Allahu Akbar!!!”
At which Bibi will observe, “I rest my case”.
They want to wait til after Iran’s first successful nuke test.
“JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister says he knows the details of the deal being forged with Iran over its nuclear program and asked “what is there to hide” after the U.S. said it was withholding some information on the talks.......”
http://www.breitbart.com/news/israels-netanyahu-what-is-there-to-hide-in-iran-deal/
Ellison (the enemy within), Cohen (selfhater), and Waters (nutjob par excellence).....?
Wouldn’t it be nice if these clowns could be replaced by recognizably loyal and intelligent representatives at the next election?
(conservative, liberal, almost anything, just loyal and intelligent)
NO NO NO NO.
NO NO NO NO.
islamist facilitators, all.
Tell the Dem’s to stuff it.
Wanna bet their houses of religion are anti-semitic?
Boehner better have our six because social programs don’t stop terrorists or gangs. Now if the micromanaging Susan Rice could get the temperature to drop to 0 the violence should drop as it did in NYC. As a matter of fact that might work in Ukraine?
sorry got sidetracked...We need to hear Netanyahu because we have to know that someone has our back, not a sword to our throats.
And in other news today, several members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) have announced their decision to sue the newly formed Congressional White Caucus (CWC) for racial discrimination after they were denied membership. In what appears to be an effort to increase membership rolls and to promote racial harmony, the newly formed Congressional Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Caucus (CLGBTC) extended membership invitations to members of CBC and CWC. (Do I need to label this sarcasM?)
Bohener is an idiot. The dems don’t want Netanyahu to speak because he will end up making the Democrats look like complete idiots when it comes to foreign policy and the Islamic threat.
Delay it for 3 minutes.
The dems must be scared to death of what he has to say. Netanyahu might just speak the truth so clearly that even the sheeple get it.
Boy, you got that right! Three of the dumbest of the dumb.
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