The real impact of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech, to a joint session of Congress, opposing the efforts to reach an agreement with Iran on its nuclear capacity will be seen fairly soon.
The real impact of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech, to a joint session of Congress, opposing the efforts to reach an agreement with Iran on its nuclear capacity will be seen fairly soon.
The first indication will be whether the speech helps or hurts Netanyahu and his Likud party in the March 17 elections.
The second will be whether Iran and the international negotiators — U.N. Security Council members China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States plus Germany — will be able to reach a framework for an accord by the March 31 deadline.
While Netanyahu was using his speech Tuesday to attack President Barack Obama for seeking an agreement, Secretary of State John Kerry was in Switzerland meeting with the parties to try to resolve outstanding issues.
Whether the speech, set up by Netanyahu with Speaker of the House John Boehner, will help or hurt Likud and its chief is hard to gauge.
The generous ovations and cheers given to the prime minister could be seen in Israel as an impressive rally in the capital of its chief ally.
Yet, the divisions the speech caused for Americans and their leadership might have made some Israelis nervous.
Throughout the years, Israelis have been pleased by the support given to Israel by Americans of almost all political persuasions. But Netanyahu’s speech, its disruptive and partisan purpose and the rifts it exposed and deepened have put the cat among the pigeons on U.S. political unity regarding Israel.
On this round, Boehner and some Republicans won; Obama and some Democrats lost.
More than 50 members of Congress boycotted the speech.
The more significant returns will come in shortly, with the Israeli elections and the fate of the draft Iranian accord later this month.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette