House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blasted Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday address to Congress, accusing the right-wing Israeli Prime Minister of delivering an “insult to the intelligence of the United States.”
Pelosi, in particular, took visceral exception to the way Netanyahu said that the ongoing nuclear negotiations between the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Tehran “paves Iran’s path to the bomb.”
“That is why, as one who values the US–Israel relationship, and loves Israel, I was near tears throughout the Prime Minister’s speech,” she said.
“We have all said that a bad deal is worse than no deal, and stopping the spread of nuclear weapons is the bedrock of our foreign policy and national security,” Pelosi added. The administration has given itself a March 24 deadline to complete an accord.
Netanyahu’s address became the subject of a heated partisan debate after Speak of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced he had invited the Israeli Prime Minister to speak to Congress–the day after the President hailed his outreach to Iran in his January State of the Union address.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers boycotted the speech, claiming that Boehner was usurping the President’s authority to make foreign policy, that Netanyahu is actively seeking to undermine the President’s negotiations with Iran, and that it is an inappropriate affair in the context of Israel’s March 17 parliamentary election.
Netanyahu also has a long history of making wildly inaccurate claims about nuclear weapons programs both in Iran and Iraq.
Last month, Pelosi said she would not boycott the speech, but hoped it would be called off.
At least one Republican Congressman, Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) said that he would not be attending the speech, but claimed that his absence wasn’t political, although he has taken positions that have routinely angered the Israel lobby.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) echoed some of Pelosi’s criticisms, but said he was “glad” he went.
“I thought it was disingenuous for #Netanyahu to act as if a “deal” was done,” he tweeted. “Admin still tells me it’s less than 50/50.”
He also said that the Israeli PM’s “criticism of talks were strong,” but that he “didn’t hear a plausible alternative.”
One of his House colleagues who boycotted the speech was far less cautious in his criticism, intoning that the Israeli leader was less than honest, according to The Guardian‘s Dan Roberts..
“If you can make the people afraid, you can make them do anything,” Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) said at a press conference.
