Israelis Wonder If Netanyahu Risks Too Much in Obama Tussle

Governments establish protocols and rules on procedures for official events and diplomacy to establish order and avoid unpleasantness. Leaders in democracies are often cautious during election seasons. Any appearance of efforts to influence election results of another nation often backfire. Israelis and American Jews are expressing concerns about Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to address a joint session of US Congress two weeks before Israel’s election and while delicate negotiations with Iran to end nuclear-weapons research are underway: “what began weeks ago as a seeming breach of protocol – House Speaker John A. Boehner inviting Netanyahu to address lawmakers without first clearing it with the White House, and the prime minister pressing ahead despite Obama's evident displeasure – has grown into what some veteran diplomatic observers are describing as a full-blown threat to the staunch support that Washington has long offered Israel in the international arena,” write Batsheva Sobelman and Laura King for the Los Angeles Times. Some members of Congress who share party affiliation with the US president vow to skip a speech designed from the start to polarize Americans and Israelis. – YaleGlobal