The No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. Senate spoke out Sunday against Benjamin Netanyahu’s Washington invite and in favor of the Obama administration’s foreign policy in the middle east.
“I don’t think this political grandstanding by the speaker and Mr. Netanyahu are in the best interests of Israel,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” The invitation to Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, was made by House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican.
“We have a strong relationship, a strong alliance with Israel,” Durbin said. “For the speaker to decide to go it alone and to invite Prime Minister Netanyahu, without consulting with the White House, was a mistake.”
President Obama has said he will not meet with Netanyahu during the D.C. visit, as Netanyahu will face an election back home just a few weeks after his Washington trip. The White House has said it had a history of declining to meet with foreign dignitaries when their visits are so close to elections in their home nations.
Asked by host Norah O’Donnell whether Democrats would attend Netanyahu’s planned speech to Congress, Durbin didn’t give a yes or no answer.
“We’re troubled by it,” he said. “I don’t want to show any weakness in terms of our commitment to Israel. But some of my closest friends in the United States who support Israel have described this Boehner strategy as a disaster. I hope we can find a way to stabilize the situation quickly and take the politics out of it.”
Durbin, who holds the leadership position of Democratic whip, also spoke in favor of the current U.S. actions to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
“The president is on the right track,” he said. “Bring together an Arab and Muslim coalition that wants to bring stability to the Middle East, and the United States can support it.”
Durbin said he disagreed with Senate colleague Lindsey Graham’s comments earlier on the same program Sunday calling for 10,000 American troops to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
“To plunge them into the chaos and carnage of Syria at this point would be a serious mistake, in my view,” Durbin said. “Let’s work to build and support this coalition of indigenous efforts in the region to bring stability.”
