The White House is extending a decidedly icy welcome to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrives for his controversial speech to Congress this week. And it has nothing to do with the weather in Washington.
Expecting Netanyahu to issue withering criticism of President Barack Obama’s moves toward a nuclear deal with Iran, the White House was planning to go on the offense, dispatching two high-profile officials — U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power and National Security Adviser Susan Rice — to rebut the prime minister in speeches to AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby holding its annual conference in Washington.
The full court press will also include Obama himself, who sits down for an on-camera interview Monday afternoon with the Reuters newswire.
However, the debate over negotiating with Iran will play out on television and in the media: Obama is refusing to meet with Netanyahu when he’s in Washington, the White House said, because Israeli elections are just around the corner. The two leaders won’t even exchange a phone call, one senior administration official added.
Rice last week warned Netanyhu’s speech would be “destructive” to U.S. Israeli relations. But in a sign the administration may be lowering its rhetoric, Secretary of State John Kerry declined to use such harsh language Sunday, saying in an interview with ABC’s “This Week” that the logistics behind the prime minister’s speech was “odd.”
Publicly, administration officials are seeking to highlight what they say is the long history of U.S. support for Israel’s interests. For his part, Netanyahu may seek to be less confrontational and more “conciliatory” in his own remarks, a source at the AIPAC conference said.
“From meeting frequently with Israeli leaders to ensuring that Israel remains the largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance, the President is deeply committed to helping Israel maintain its strength and security,” National Security Spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a White House blog.
In Switzerland, Secretary of State John Kerry defended Israel at a meeting of the Human Rights Council, a session officials say was meant to showcase a long record of U.S. support of Israel at international bodies like the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.
Ahead of his remarks, a senior administration official said Kerry would highlight “the extraordinary lengths” that Obama’s administration — and Secretary Kerry in particular — “have gone to to stand up for and defend Israel’s interests in international institutions,” The official noted the speech came “in light of the heavy focus” on Israel-U.S. ties.
While his speech to the Human Rights Council was meant as a sign of support, Kerry’s trip to Switzerland for another round of Iran nuclear negotiations only highlighted the underlying tension between the U.S. and Israel.
The disagreement between Obama and Netanyahu over the administration’s push for a nuclear containment agreement with Iran, negotiated by the U.S. and other major world powers, has gotten personal. Simply put, the two men, and their respective teams, don’t seem to care for each other.
In Washington this week, Netanyahu is just making himself the center of attention, said one senior administration official who asked not be quoted or named. The goal of the nuclear negotiations, the official added, is not to placate the Israeli prime minister, but to make the U.S. safer.
The decision by Netanyahu and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to arrange this Tuesday’s address to Congress, without tipping off the White House first, has set a bad precedent, injecting partisanship into a critical relationship, the administration and its defenders insist.
“It’s the Republicans and Bibi (Netanyahu) who are putting their partisan political interests ahead of the U.S.-Israeli relationship, and potentially creating long-term problems for short-term personal political benefit,” said a senior Democratic official.
“The Administration will not play defense or allow the Republicans to shape this as somehow Obama’s snub,” the official added.
Still, the hyper-partisan tone to the prime minister’s visit will be palpable. Netanyahu’s speech will undoubtedly garner an enthusiastic response from a mostly Republican audience in the House of Representatives Tuesday.
Boehner said in an interview Sunday that he’s “never seen” the demand for tickets that Netanyahu’s speech to Congress is receiving. “Everyone wants to be there,” the speaker said in an interview on CBS’ Face The Nation.
That does not include the dozens of Democrats who are threatening to boycott the prime minister’s speech Tuesday. Netanyahu is expected to reiterate his message that the current negotiations with Iran will backfire, clearing a path for Tehran to develop nuclear weapons.
“We’re not going to resolve this issue by sticking our heads in the sand. The prime minister can talk about this threat I believe better than anyone,” Boehner added.
A senior administration official said Netanyahu’s warnings have proven wrong before, noting the prime minister once assailed the interim nuclear deal with Iran that’s now in place. Now, Netanyahu wants that agreement extended, the official said.
The hard feelings expressed by both camps threaten to unleash what may become a new, more adversarial chapter in U.S. Israeli relations.
“We can never allow Israel to be political wedge issue, it’s too important to the United States, it’s gotta be off limits,” U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, D-Maryland told the AIPAC conference Sunday.