It appears that
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, the sole democracy in the Middle
East, will be addressing Congress after all on March 3rd. The US Congress
has been called the greatest deliberative democratic body on earth, and so here
is a match that appears to have been made in Heaven. What then is the problem?
Dick Blumenthal, as
of this writing, is pretending not to know. Connecticut’s first consumer
protection U.S. Senator has dropped into his Hamlet mode and has not yet made
up his mind whether he’ll attend Mr. Netanyahu’s address. Said Mr. Blumenthal, “Well, I’m here as the senator from
Connecticut, and I have to make a decision about what serves the national
interest. And obviously I am Jewish, so I will be inclined to go but I, you
know, have to make a decision on what I think is the right thing to do,” and “I
certainly have respect for the head of the state of Israel and out of that
respect I could go. But the invitation and the acceptance were very
unfortunately done.”
In non-Newspeak this
means: Mr. Netanyahu did not secure permission from President Barack Obama to
speak to the US Congress on matters important to his nation. Some congressmen,
but not Mr. Hamlet from Connecticut, may be asking themselves: So what? Must
the President approve everyone who wishes to address the US Congress? And why
is presidential approval necessary in this case?
The President and
all the President’s men say that Mr. Netanyahu’s address is likely to upset
delicate negotiations now underway between the President and Iran. But this
objection seems silly. Mr. Netanyahu’s view of Iran, a client state of Russian
President Vladimir Putin, vanquisher of Ukraine, is well known; it has been
announced from a thousand rooftops; it has been published in hundreds of news
outlets, including the New York Times. How often have we heard Mr. Netanyahu
say publicly that he would do anything and everything to prevent Iran, fast
becoming a regional power in the Middle East, from deploying nuclear weapons?
Mr. Obama, much in the habit of drawing red lines in desert sand that the winds
of war obscure, says he has similar ambitions.
Owing to a major
story in the New York Times, it had been thought that Mr. Netanyahu and Speaker
of the US House John Boehner between themselves had arranged the assignation
without telling the Obama administration. Almost immediately after the Times
story had appeared, the paper ran a correction that torpedoed the thrust of its own story: “An earlier version of this
article misstated when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel accepted
Speaker John A. Boehner’s invitation to address Congress. He accepted after the
administration had been informed of the invitation, not before.” Sorry, said the Times, the White House WAS
advised of the invitation. It was as if the Times had run a story saying “the
sky is falling” and then appended to the story a “correction” that said “the
sky is NOT falling; however, it IS raining.”
“Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it,” Jonathan Swift
wrote in 1710, “so that when Men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late; the
Jest is over, and the Tale has had its Effect.” And though the attribution has
been questioned, Mark Twain easily could have said “A lie can
travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.”
Mr. Obama will not be attending the address, and some of his critics
are speculating that his absence will be attributed to a pending golf game or
yet another costly family vacation. Vice President Joe Biden, who regularly
presides over joint sessions of Congress, has said he will not be able to
attend the event owing to an unspecified trip abroad. While in Germany, Mr.
Biden found time to meet with Mr. Netanyahu's
chief political rival, Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog. A widely read
Jewish Newspaper, Haaretz, has reported that “The group V15, which denies that
its motto is ‘anyone but Bibi,’ is working with U.S. political strategist
Jeremy Bird to replace the government in March.” Other reports indicate that OneVoice
International, a US based activist group, has partnered with V15 and that Jeremy
Bird, former national field director for President Obama’s 2012 reelection
campaign, “is also reportedly involved in the effort.”
The electorate in Israel is fairly sophisticated – and it may be better
informed than boycotting congressmen concerning underhanded attempts to affect
elections in Israel. For his part, Mr. Netanyahu has plainly said he will be
coming to Washington to warn the greatest deliberative body on earth that Iran
MUST be prevented from producing a nuclear weapon that would forever change the
delicate balance of power in the Middle East. Congressmen teetering on the
fence should give him an honest hearing.
Comments
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Our President and his Party are no more capable of understanding the threat posed by Iran than they are appreciating that Medicare is unsustainable. They hear the words "threat" and "unsustainable," but the facts described are so contrary to the Leftie worldview that the words don't sink in. We will be well served if Netanyahu provokes us to attention.
I'm afraid, however, that such a speech will be useless in getting Obama to do anything or help the Israelis do anything. Sanctions can raise the cost to the Iranians of going forward, but apparently won't stop them. The Commander in Chief is unwilling to act, and insists on a never ending charade of negotiation regardless of facts on the ground. Israel may be as isolated as it has ever been, and is forced to deal with Iran alone. In fact, it may be that all the speech may practically achieve is to put pressure on the Administration not to condemn any Israeli unilateral action.
In the mean time, Obama is hoping to hide behind an "authorization" to continue to use inadequate force against the Islamic State. My hope is that Congress will deny him any such authorization. He is clearly not serious, and is perfectly willing to put our guys in harm's way without any understanding of our national interests or the interests of the people(s) of the Middle East. He has a pen and a phone. He doesn't need consent from the American People to do whatever he deems in the interest of the International Community. Any authority he is given will simply serve to conceal his own failures and allow him to shift the blame to those rascally Republicans.
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CONSTITUTION OF THE UNION OF SOCIALIST SOVIET REPUBLICS
PART I DECLARATION
Since the foundation of the Soviet Republics, the states of the world have been divided into two camps: the camp of capitalism and the camp of socialism. There, in the camp of capitalism: national hate and inequality, colonial slavery and chauvinism, national oppression and massacres, brutalities and imperialistic wars. Here, in the camp of socialism: reciprocal confidence and peace, national liberty and equality, the pacific co-existence and fratemal collaboration of peoples.