Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the US Congress this morning at 11ET to issue a high-profile warning against what he considers an ill-advised nuclear deal with Iran. This brings to a head weeks of tension between Israel and The White House and numerous politicians (including The President) will boycott be absent during Bibi's speech. In what NYTimes calls [12] an 'implicit challenge to Obama', Bibi plans to outline his case for a tougher strategy to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and to dissect the flaws of an agreement that has been emerging from American-led negotiations; gambling that disclosing compromises the U.S. made in trying to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran will delay or derail any agreement.
Netanyahu arrives...
Netanyahu's motorcade is now en route to Capitol Hill #cbc [13] pic.twitter.com/L83Gri3clb [14]
— Meagan Fitzpatrick (@fitzpatrick_m) March 3, 2015 [15]
I am excited to hear later this morning from one of America's greatest world allies. https://t.co/q9bkfJYzwP [16]
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) March 3, 2015 [17]
Live Feed (embed via HouseLive.org):
Live Feed (via CSPAN) - click image for feed (no embed)
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As The NY Times reports, [12] for Mr. Netanyahu, the stakes could hardly be higher. Coming just two weeks before Israeli elections, the speech offers an opportunity to build support at home for another term while rallying opposition abroad to a diplomatic accord that he sees as a threat to his country’s security.
It will be, said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, “the most important speech of his political life.”
For Mr. Obama, however, it is an extra complication as he seeks to draw Iran into a pact by late March, a complication he worries may embolden lawmakers into intervening.
“I’m less concerned, frankly, with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s commentary than I am with Congress taking actions that might undermine the talks before they’re complete,” he told Reuters on Monday.
At the heart of the dispute between Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu is a debate over the best way to curb Iran’s nuclear program.
The United States, along with European allies, Russia and China, has been negotiating a potential deal in which Iran for at least 10 years would restrict the number of centrifuges it has for enriching uranium and open its program to international inspection.
The goal would be to limit Iran’s capacity so that it would take at least a year to build a nuclear weapon should it choose to violate or break the agreement. In theory, that would give the West enough time to respond. In exchange, international sanctions that have hampered Iran’s economy would be eased.
Mr. Netanyahu argues that Iran cannot be trusted given its history of cheating and hostile statements about Israel. The deal contemplated by the American-led negotiations would give away far too much, he contends. Instead, Mr. Netanyahu and other critics have advocated tightening sanctions and demanding that Iran give up all uranium enrichment.
“I plan to speak about an Iranian regime that is threatening to destroy Israel, that’s devouring country after country in the Middle East, that’s exporting terror throughout the world and that is developing, as we speak, the capacity to make nuclear weapons — lots of them,” Mr. Netanyahu told the Aipac conference on Monday. “Ladies and gentlemen, Israel and the United States agree that Iran should not have nuclear weapons, but we disagree on the best way to prevent Iran from developing those weapons.”
Mr. Obama and his team said they shared the concerns but considered Mr. Netanyahu’s approach unrealistic.
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And then there's this...
