US-Israel quarrel intensifies over Netanyahu Congress speech

U.S. and Israeli leaders traded barbs Wednesday, as tensions escalated ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned speech to congress week as world powers and Iran inch closer to a negotiated nuclear compromise. The Israeli leader accused the U.S. and its allies of reneging on a commitment to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability, while Secretary of State John Kerry bluntly questioned Netanyahu's ability to make sound strategic judgments. 

The comments took the dispute beyond its partisan and protocol dimensions —  more Democratic lawmakers announced they would skip the speech, orchestrated by GOP leaders without the Obama administration's knowledge — a fundamental disagreement  over strategy for dealing with Iran.

Netanyahu plans to use his speech to rally opposition to the nuclear deal  currently being negotiated between Iran and the P5+1 — a group comprising the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — which would set strict and verifiable limits on Iran's nuclear work to prevent any move towards weaponization. The compromise deal would last a decade, and would leave Iran with the civilian nuclear infrastructure that could in the future potentially be repurposed to produce bomb materiel. 

"It appears that they have given up on that commitment and are accepting that Iran will gradually, within a few years, will develop capabilities to produce material for many nuclear weapons," Netanyahu fumed, lambasting Israel's staunch Western allies. 

"They might accept this but I am not willing to accept this," he said in remarks delivered in Hebrew and translated. "I respect the White House, I respect the president of the United States, but in such a fateful matter that can determine if we exist or not, it is my duty to do everything to prevent this great danger to the state of Israel."

But U.S. officials point out that the interim agreement currently in place has halted the expansion of Iran's nuclear infrastructure, which is not according to the international intelligence consensus currently directed towards the production of weapons, and they argue that the compromise deal is the only option on the table for a diplomatic solution to the standoff.

Kerry, testifying before the U.S. Senate, dismissed Netanyahu's critique, and questioned the soundness of the Israeli leader's judgment. Kerry pointed out that Netanyahu had also opposed the current interim agreement, which had frozen key aspects of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Tehran and the P5+1 are now negotiating a long-term deal to codify those caps on Iran's nuclear work, in exchange for relief from international sanctions. 

Referring to Netanyahu, Kerry told senators, "He may have a judgment that just may not be correct here." As if to underscore the point, the Secretary of State recalled the Israeli leader's advice to the U.S. in 2002. “The prime minister, as you will recall, was profoundly forward-leaning and outspoken about the importance of invading Iraq under George W. Bush," said Kerry, "and we all know what happened with that decision.”

Those and other comments from U.S. officials signaled the Obama administration no longer feeling compelled to mask its frustrations with Netanyahu.

In an interview Tuesday, National Security Adviser Susan Rice said Netanyahu's planned speech had "injected a degree of partisanship" into a U.S.-Israel relationship that should be above politics.

"It's destructive to the fabric of the relationship," Rice told the Charlie Rose show. "It's always been bipartisan. We need to keep it that way."

Netanyahu's planned speech and the White House complaint that it was arranged in a break with protocol speech has put many Democrats in a difficult position of seeking to balance their annoyance at the Israeli leader against the risk of being cast as anti-Israel if they don't attend.

Still, a number of Democrats have said they plan to skip the session, with Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky becoming the latest on Wednesday.

Kaine said Netanyahu's speech was "highly inappropriate" given its proximity to Israel's March 17 election. Schakowsky said she was concerned that the address could end up scuttling delicate negotiations with Iran.

"If the talks are to fail, let Iran be the party that walks away from the table rather than the United States," Schakowsky said in a statement.

Senate Democrats had invited Netanyahu to meet with them privately while he is in Washington, but the Israeli leader refused the invitation, saying such a meeting could "compound the misperception of partisanship" surrounding his visit.

"I regret that the invitation to address the special joint session of Congress has been perceived by some to be political or partisan," Netanyahu wrote in a letter to Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Dianne Feinstein of California. "I can assure you that my sole intention in accepting it was to voice Israel's grave concerns" about a nuclear deal with Iran.

There are no plans for Obama to meet with Netanyahu next week. The White House has cited its practice of not engaging with world leaders in close proximity to their elections, though it's no secret that Obama and his Israeli counterpart have little personal affinity for each other.

Other top administration officials plan to be out of the country during Netanyahu's visit, including Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden. Both will be abroad on trips that were announced only after Netanyahu accepted the GOP invitation to speak to Congress.

Al Jazeera and agencies