Excerpted from Justin Sink\’s and Mike Lillis\’s article at thehill.com:
Morethan a dozen congressional Democrats say they plan to skip IsraeliPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\’s speech to a joint session ofCongress amid conflicting signals over whether he will pull out fromthe March 3 address.
Netanyahustruck a defiant tone during a campaign event in Israel on Monday,saying he was “determined” to present the case for why Israelopposed the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran “before themembers of Congress and the American people.”
“Thisis not a political issue or a party issue, neither here nor there.This is an existential issue, and I approach it with the fullestresponsibility,” he said.
Earlier today I blogged about Joe Scarborough who, as a Republican, says he hopes every Democrat threatening to boycott this address does so.
From a purely partisan perspective, I can certainly understand why. Scarborough hopes that this, for once and for all, will show the Lost Tribers just how far this President and his party have strayed from their formerly strong support for Israel – and just how striking the difference is between Democrats and Republicans…even when we\’re talking about what, as Mr. Netanyahu correctly states, is an existential issue.
There is nothing – repeat, nothing – clearer than Iran\’s commitment to vaporize Israel. And the danger to Israel of a “deal” with Iran which would would enable Iran to build a nuclear weapon and follow through on that commitment is unspeakable.
For Barack Obama, this may be political. For Barack Obama, everything is political. But for Israel, this is not political. It is a matter of survival.
And after 6 years of one Obama foreign policy disaster after another, this has the potential to be the single worst of them all.
If Benjamin Netanyahu can convince congress that Iran – the world\’s single most prolific exporter of terrorism, which has lied about its intentions from day one – should be prevented at all costs from obtaining nuclear weaponry, he will have performed an invaluable service; not just for Israel but for the entire world.
Is that what Democrats should be boycotting…and Lost Tribers making excuses for? You tell me.
