Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a visiting House member on Tuesday that he isn’t backing down on his plans to speak to a joint meeting of Congress on March 3.
Netanyahu has been under pressure in both Israel and the United States to cancel the planned speech about Iran. Many Democrats, including Vice President Joe Biden, plan to boycott the speech, and President Obama has refused to meet with him while he is in Washington.
“The speech in Washington should be bipartisan. The bombs are not going to distinguish between Democrats and Republicans if we get to that point,” Netanyahu told Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., during a meeting in Jerusalem.
Israel’s Central Elections Committee meanwhile ordered Monday that the speech be broadcast in that country with a five-minute delay to block out any comments by Netanyahu that may be seen as campaign-oriented, because it comes so close before the scheduled March 17 elections. His opponents had wanted the speech banned from broadcast in Israel.
The controversy over House Speaker John Boehner’s invitation for Netanyahu to speak has at times overshadowed the congressional debate over whether to impose new sanctions if current talks don’t reach agreement on limiting Iran’s nuclear program. But congressional support for new sanctions remains high, fueled by mistrust of the administration’s negotiating strategy.
Regardless of whether Netanyahu speaks, many lawmakers, especially Republicans, already share his views on Iran — a message Pittenger delivered to the prime minister in their meeting.
“The prime minister has a very clear and compelling statement to make and I’m glad he’s coming to our Congress and coming to America,” Pittenger told the Washington Examiner in an interview. “I think he’s sounding the alarm much as did Winston Churchill. … Iran with a nuclear capability is the ultimate game-changer.”
This story, originally posted at 11:08 a.m., has been updated.
