Report: Israeli Ambassador Doing Damage Control With House Dems

FILE - This May 19, 2014 file photo shows Ron Dermer in New York. Dermer, Israel's ambassador to the US is asserting that criticism of Secretary of State John Kerry's peace-making efforts is traceable to Israel's "v... FILE - This May 19, 2014 file photo shows Ron Dermer in New York. Dermer, Israel's ambassador to the US is asserting that criticism of Secretary of State John Kerry's peace-making efforts is traceable to Israel's "very rambunctious democracy," and not Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Dermer said Netanyahu appreciates Kerry's efforts to bring about a cease-fire in the Gaza war. He adds, quote, "This is not coming from the prime minister." (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File) MORE LESS
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Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer met Wednesday with Jewish Democrats on the Hill as tensions over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress continued to escalate, according to Politico.

Politico reported that Dermer met for an hour with Reps. Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Sander Levin (D-MI), Steve Israel (D-NY), Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) in Israel’s office.

The meeting came amid reports that dozens of congressional Democrats were considering a boycott of Netanyahu’s March 3 speech, arranged by Dermer and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) without consulting the White House.

According to Politico, the Democrats told Dermer that they were unhappy about the speech and the difficult position it put them in, balancing their support for the Jewish state with the partisan concerns raised by the speech.

The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent reported earlier Wednesday that Jewish Democrats in the House had considered putting out a statement calling for Netanyahu’s speech to be delayed. But they couldn’t agree on what it should say.

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Notable Replies

  1. Its pretty simple really. Don’t fuck with our (stupid) politics and keep us out of your (stupid) politics.

  2. Avatar for dd40 dd40 says:

    Dermer needs to talk to Boehner about the mess. Boehner’s game playing set up the mess.

  3. Doing Damage Control With House Dems

    You mean House Jewish Dems, as the article clarifies.

    If the Vatican’s Apostolic Nuncio deliberately inserted himself into partisan politics in the US, and then met with House Catholic Dems, I wouldn’t consider it damage control with House Dems and certainly not damage control with the United States.

  4. The statement should say: “A former Republican operative should not be interfering with the foreign policy of the United States while in the employ of another nation. This speech should be postponed until after delicate negotiations are completed, and after the Israeli election is held.”

  5. Avatar for tearam tearam says:

    Don’t care who the POTUS is. Dis our Prez you dis all of us. You just lost a whole group of us!!!

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