Nancy Pelosi Undecided on Attending Benjamin Netanyahu Speech to Congress
Image by getty images
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday she hopes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the U.S. Congress next month does not take place because Republican House Speaker John Boehner had invited him for political reasons.
Pelosi told reporters she still intends to attend the March 3 speech. Netanyahu has been fending off criticism at home and abroad over his decision to accept the invitation to address Congress on Iran’s nuclear program two weeks before the Israeli election.
“As of now, it is my intention to go. It is still my hope that the event will not take place. There’s serious unease,” Pelosi told reporters.
Boehner on Thursday defended the invitation to Netanyahu as “a very good idea.” He announced the event last month without first consulting the White House, a move many Democrats considered an insult to President Barack Obama, with whom Netanyahu has always had a testy relationship.
“There’s a message that the American people need to hear and I think he’s the perfect person to deliver it,” Boehner said. “The threat of radical Islamic terrorism is a real threat. The threat of Iran to the region and the rest of the world is a real threat and I believe the American people are interested in hearing this.”
Pelosi, who discussed the matter on Wednesday with Israeli Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein, said U.S. ties with Netanyahu were “respectful.” But she blamed Boehner for “politicizing” the U.S. relationship with Israel by inviting Netanyahu to speak two weeks before his country’s election. The White House said Obama would not meet with Netanyahu because of the election timing.
Pelosi said some people who were supporters of both Netanyahu and Israel still thought it outrageous that the House of Representatives would be “used, exploited in that way for a political purpose in Israel, and in the United States.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
