The Prime Minister of Israel was gifted the opportunity to launch a scathing attack on the foreign policy of the United States, in the US Congress, against the wishes of the American President – and won 25 near-hysterical standing ovations for doing so. After Republican Speaker John Boehner invited the Israeli PM to speak (just two weeks before Israeli elections) without consulting the White House, it was announced that President Obama, Vice President Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry would snub Netanyahu’s speech and visit. All-in-all, 55 Democrat lawmakers boycotted the speech.
Nevertheless, a packed Congress threw down the red carpet for Netanyahu today, while he lobbied American lawmakers to block the foreign policy efforts of their own President. Blow-by-blow, Netanyahu pilloried Obama’s negotiations with Iran. He hectored the President like a school principal scolding an errant child. There was zero respect shown to the Office of the US President, or the diplomatic relationship between the nations.
“This is a bad deal — a very bad deal. We’re better off without it,” Netanyahu told Congress, and got a standing ovation.
“It paves Iran’s path to a bomb,”
“The battle between Iran and ISIS doesn’t turn Iran into a friend of America. … the enemy of your enemy is your enemy.”
But it wasn’t just President Obama that Netanyahu threw shade upon today. The Israeli PM also echoed a distasteful trope – common in modern, muscular Israeli society – that victims of the Nazi holocaust were too weak