Jerusalem – The head of Israel’s election commission acted on Monday to limit any pre-election boost Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may get from a March 3 speech to the U.S. Congress in which he will warn of the threat from Iran’s nuclear program.
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The speech has caused controversy in Israel and the United States, where the Democrats and the White House are angry that the Republican speaker, John Boehner, invited Netanyahu to speak at a sensitive time in the nuclear negotiations between Iran and six big powers including Washington, and only two weeks before Israel’s closely fought March 17 election.
Following complaints from opposition parties, election chief Salim Joubran decided that Netanyahu’s address should be broadcast with a five-minute delay in Israel, giving news editors time to cut any statements deemed partisan.
“Editors-in-chief of broadcast channels will watch and make sure that nothing the prime minister says can be construed as election campaigning,” Joubran said in a statement. “Any campaigning will be omitted from the broadcast.”
President Barack Obama, at odds with Netanyahu over the Israeli prime minister’s criticism of the nuclear talks, will not meet him during his visit, saying it is a breach of protocol to receive a foreign leader before an election.
In Israel, Netanyahu has been roundly criticized even by some of his right-wing allies, mostly for appearing to put his ties to the Republican Party ahead of the close relationship Israel has always had with the United States.
After weeks of negative commentary, officials close to the prime minister’s office said last week the format of the speech could be changed, with Netanyahu possibly speaking behind closed doors or in smaller groups of congressmen rather than in a primetime televised address.
But Netanyahu appeared to put paid to any change of plans, saying he was determined to honor the invitation. The Israeli leader has vowed to foil what he says would be a “bad and dangerous agreement” on Iran’s nuclear program.
With a month until the election, some polls suggest voters are unhappy about him going to Washington. A survey by Army Radio showed 47 percent thought Netanyahu should cancel the address, while 34 percent said he should go ahead with it.
Overall, however, Netanyahu’s Likud party remains marginally ahead, with most polls expecting it to win 24 or 25 seats in the 120-seat parliament, just ahead of the center-left opposition.
Even if the center-left wins, most analysts expect Netanyahu will be the only one able to form a workable coalition among right-wing and religious parties, allowing him to return as prime minister for a fourth term.
Supposing there was a war. Would they tell Netanyahu he can’t fight because it can be construed as electioneering? The average Israeli war with Gaza or Lebanon is not nearly as dangerous as a nuclear maniac Iran. The very fact that he is an incumbent by definition is electioneering. If there was an attack G -forbid that hurt the country and the opposition candidate used it against the incumbent would that be electioneering?
It’s not enough for them that Omamzer ymsh is campaigning in Israel for the other parties, they have to stop Natanyahu from heaven forbid saying anything that may be political. STUPID ISRAELIS!!!!
I’m glad there are enough people in EY who could get it live, without delays.
Is this guy Salim Arab?
This is dumb, hasn’t this election chief heard of the internet? Cspan will broadcast it online and all Israelis (including most of Mean Shearim) have internet available to them.
Netanyahu is engaging in the worse kind of political pandering. By deliberately bypassing the President he is doing more damage to U.S. Israeli relations than anything else since Pollard.