The Israeli ambassador to the United States defended Sunday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming speech to Congress on Iran at the invitation of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).
Ambassador Ron Dermer, a top Netanyahu confidante, posted the text of his speech at an event hosted by Israel Bonds in Boca Raton, Florida, to Facebook. He defended Netanyahu’s speech as the prime minister’s “sacred duty” given the existential threat that Iran would be to Israel if it acquired nuclear weapons.
“Now there may be some people who believe that the Prime Minister of Israel should have declined an invitation to speak before the most powerful parliament in the world on an issue that concerns the future and survival of Israel,” Dermer said. “But we have learned from our history that the world becomes a more dangerous place for the Jewish people when the Jewish people are silent.”
“That is why the Prime Minister feels the deepest moral obligation to appear before the Congress to speak about an existential issue facing the one and only Jewish state,” he continued. “This is not just the right of the Prime Minister of Israel. It is his most sacred duty — to do whatever he can to prevent Iran from ever developing nuclear weapons that can be aimed at Israel.”
Dermer, who was Netanyahu’s top political adviser before becoming ambassador in 2013, coordinated with Boehner’s office to arrange the prime minister’s speech, according to Hareetz.
The White House has called the March 3 speech, planned without consultation with the administration, a breach of protocol. President Barack Obama will not meet with Netanyahu when he comes to Washington, D.C., with the White House citing the Israeli elections two weeks later.
But will President Romney meet with Bibi while he is here?
The Networks however, will be playing THIis along with the clip of his speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6TXMsvgQIt’s their sacred duty.
Sorry, you lose. You didn’t give a courtesy heads up to the Administration which was voted into office by the American public, twice.
And when he spoke of this “Sacred Duty” did he indicate it was for the “Glorious Leader”? What country are we talking about here?
“the one and only Jewish state,” arguably, but isn’t Israel supposed to be a secular state, or is the costume coming off?
That the Israeli Ambassador would support this speech is not surprising. It is his job. However, that John Boehner would act so recklessly is beyond the pall. The Israeli government is determined to act like they are the victims, but the facts of history show a far different story, and when the US and five other nations are working with Iran to stop their nuclear program to insure Israel’s safety, Israel and Boehner are putting it all at risk. Netanyahu wants a reason to attack Iran so he can get more military toys from the US, and if Iran backs out of the talks in Geneva because of this, he will have it.
But what many politicians do not accept, if they even know, is that a nuclear war in the Middle East is an End of Life Event for the world, even if the rest of the world were to stay out of the conflict. That Boehner is giving this war-mongering politician tacit support in an Israeli election and accepting as fact all that Israel says about Iran without actually knowing the facts of what nuclear war would mean to the US is unsupportable and not just a breach of protocol, but possibly a breach of national security.
This speech is wrong and it is extremely dangerous for not only Americans, but for the world. Netanyahu’s sacred duty is to stop war in the 21st Century and learn to make peace with his neighbors, because until he does that the Arab nations have no reason to work to find peace or stop terrorists. But as long as he can play the political and religious victim card before Congress and the American people, I guess Boehner will play his game. Sadly, the rest of us and the world will pay the price.