Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress draws criticism from President Obama's aides and advisers.
Obama's National Security adviser, Susan Rice, called the address to a joint session of Congress "destructive" to the relationship between the U.S. and Israel, according to the New York Daily News. Congress' invitation and Netanyahu's acceptance to speak to a joint session of Congress just weeks before Israeli elections injected partisanship into the two nation's relationship, Rice said on the Charlie Rose show Tuesday.
Rice's comments suggest that the Obama administration is angrier about Netanyahu's visit than the White House has led on. Obama will not meet with Netanyahu during his visit to Washington because he does not want to appear to take sides in Israel's elections next Month. Furthermore, Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden will be traveling during the week of Netanyahu's visit.
Kerry criticized Netanyahu's visit during a congressional testimony Wednesday, ABC News reported. Kerry said the prime minister's judgment on a U.S. and Iran nuclear deal could be wrong and a speech about it would only create more tension between Israel and the U.S.
Netanyahu's speech will focus on derailing a nuclear deal with Iran because he believes Obama's willingness to compromise has created room for Iran to build a nuclear weapon. The U.S. and Iran have said they are in the progress of negotiating a deal where Tehran would clamp down on nuclear activities for ten years, but the restrictions would ease up later.
More than half a dozen Democrats said they will skip the prime minister's speech, including Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky. Kaine called the speech inappropriate given Israel's upcoming elections. Scakoswky said this speech could hurt the nuclear deal with Iran.
However, Netanyahu's National Security adviser, Yossi Cohen, reportedly advised the prime minister to not go forward with the visit, the New York Daily News reported. Cohen said the timing of the trip troubled him and he objected to the visit.
