Washington – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming address to Congress, slated for March 3, has caused Democratic senators to back away from their support for new sanctions on Iran, US Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told the Israeli premier in a phone conversation.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
According to the New York Times, the senior Democrat in the Senate had a “candid” talk with Netanyahu, in which he said he thought US Speaker of the House John Boehner was wrong to invite the premier to Washington without the Obama administration’s approval.
While Reid refrained from advising Netanyahu “not to come” to Washington – “I wouldn’t do that” – he did explain the planned speech was having an effect on Congress, namely, with Democratic lawmakers pulling support for new sanctions to curb the Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program.
“It’s hurting you,” the Democratic leader said he told Netanyahu. “I said,” he told the Times, “‘You [Netanyahu] have to understand this. I’m not telling you what to do or what not to do, but you have to understand the background here from my perspective.'”
Reid went on to say he felt Boehner had stepped out of bounds by extending the speaking invitation, a point he had relayed to Netanyahu in their conversation. “It was not the right thing to do” on Boehner’s part, Reid said.
Reid said Netanyahu has assured him the talk would be as nonpartisan as possible. “He proceeded to tell me how distrustful he is of Iran, and that is kind of an understatement,” Reid said in the interview.
Apart from calling Reid, Netanyahu reached out to others in the Democratic party – including House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and New York Senator Charles E. Schumer – in an attempt to ease criticism surrounding his congressional address.
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
How is it that this utter worthlessness, Reid, gets such attention?
Like Obama, Kerry and all buffoons of this (non-) administration, do the opposite of whatever they say!
Bibi sould cancel his visit “right now”, if he’s not accepted by the president & other big leaders he sould back out, this is called a mshigner.
Hey, Harry,
Was it wrong fore your Jewish wife to convert to Mormonism?
Reid is right for once.
Who does Harry Reid think he is??
Boehner, the leader & speaker of the House has every right to invite who he wants to HIS HOUSE.
This clearly shows that Republicans are the only ones who have Israel’s backs. If Obama wasn’t such a pompous fool (in addition to being anti Israel) he would have no problem with this invitation and would probably meet him as well.
AlterG is just a kid looking for attention with his ridiculous anti Semitic remarks. Ignore him.
Netanyahu is an embarrassment. There’s so little depth under his smooth English. Watching him in Paris. Then this debacle.
His shortsightedness is dangerous.
The argument of morons is that people oppose Obama because he’s Black. The fact that his policies are disastrous and he causes Israel a lot of harm means nothing. It’s only race. The fact that most of Obama’s opposition here would have no problem voting for someone like Dr. Ben Carson is meaningless. The fact that Obama only won because of White votes is also meaningless. If you disagree with him, you’re a racist
Get it through your thick heads already, race isn’t the factor for an overwhelming majority of people, what the person stands for is the issue. Your argument is not only silly, but it’s intellectually dishonest.