Lawmakers who have announced they will not attend Israeli prime minister Netanyahu’s address to Congress:
Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic-aligned independent of Vermont
Representative Luis Gutierrez, Democrat of Illinois
Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia
Representative Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon
Representative G. K. Butterfield, Democrat of North Carolina
Representative James Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina
Representative Raúl Grijalva, Democrat of Arizona
The alleged explanation for the White House’s opposition to Netanyahu’s address is that the administration wants to appear objective in Israeli’s elections, coming up in March. It’s an ironic concern for the administration, considering that GOP representative Lee Zeldin of New York, along with Senator Ted Cruz, is asking why a U.S. taxpayer-funded non-profit organization called OneVoice “is actively working with a campaign operation called Victory 2015 (V15) in an effort to influence the upcoming elections in Israel on March 17, 2015.”
The notion that the congressional invitation to Netanyahu constitutes meddling in Israeli politics is nonsensical; the speech will have no impact on the election results. (Find one Israeli voter who was going to vote for one of the other candidates, but switched to Netanyahu once Boehner invited him.)
We know the real reason Obama and members of his party are turning their backs to the Israeli leader’s visit. A lot of Democrats who think of themselves as pro-Israel detest Netanyahu. They’re utterly convinced that they can see, from here in America, what policies and decisions are best for the protection of the Israeli people, and are convinced that Netanyahu is completely wrong.
The president’s irritation with Boehner and Netanyahu remains palpable; in his press conference with German chancellor Angela Merkel, he alluded to the Israeli leader’s upcoming visit:
As much as I love Angela, if she was two weeks away from an election, she probably would not have received an invitation to the White House, and I suspect she wouldn’t have asked for one.