28, January 2015 Netanyahu’s planned US Visit
In a serious breach of established protocol, Speaker John Boehner launched a sneak
attack on the White House by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
to speak before a joint session of Congress. Jewish Voices for Peace
vehemently denounced the planned visit stating that under his leadership, “the Israeli government has ramped up illegal
settlement building, increasing the population of Jewish settlers by over 23%,
made the biggest land grab in a generation, committed countless human rights
abuses and killed thousands of civilians in the West Bank and Gaza, and done
everything possible to maintain the status quo of Israeli occupation and
domination”.
Critics
in Israel have also blamed Netanyahu for Israel’s growing isolation and for deteriorating relations with Washington. “It’s a huge miscalculation,” said
Eytan Gilboa, a professor at
Bar Ilan University.
“It’s proven again that what we export best as
Israelis is chutzpah,” said Mitchell Barak, a Jerusalem political
consultant and pollster. Nahum Barnea, a leading Israeli columnist, said Mr.
Netanyahu “lost the major benefit” of the speech because “the whole idea is now
contaminated.”
Tzipi Livnia, a former foreign minister, called
the planned speech “gravely irresponsible.”
Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid, a centrist, was equally
critical. Michael B. Oren, former Israeli ambassador to Washington, called on
Mr. Netanyahu to cancel his speech to Congress. Finally, Amos Yadlin, a former military intelligence chief denounced the
event as “irresponsible.” Netanyahu should heed the
advice of his many detractors and cancel his visit.
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