Netanyahu to use Congress platform to assail Iran talks

40 members of the House and a smaller number of senators expected to skip prime minister’s speech

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seizing the opportunity to speak in the US House to deliver his stern message about the danger Iran poses to Israel’s survival and voice reservations about any nuclear deal US President Barack Obama and international negotiators might sign with Israel’s archenemy.

Netanyahu insists he is privy to emerging details of a deal and is expected to lay out specific concerns in Tuesday’s speech to a joint meeting of Congress.

The Obama administration complains that the speech — arranged by congressional Republicans without consulting the White House — is injecting partisanship into the longstanding alliance between Israel and the US. Netanyahu said Monday he means no disrespect to Obama but is morally obliged to speak out against any deal that might leave open a chance for Israel’s archenemy to develop nuclear weapons.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington, DC, on March 2, 2015. (photo credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP)

Adding to the controversy, the speech comes just two weeks ahead of a national election in which Netanyahu is fighting to hold onto his job. Obama does not plan to meet with Netanyahu while he’s in Washington, saying he wants to avoid any perception that he is meddling in Israel’s election.

Senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett called it “a bit of a distraction” but told MSNBC the dispute wouldn’t undermine Obama’s commitment to Israel.

“We share a common goal of ensuring that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons,” Jarrett said, and disagree with Netanyahu only over “the tactics of how to get there.”

“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,” Netanyahu told America’s leading pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC, on Monday.

The Israeli leader fears the US and its negotiating partners will give Iran too many concessions, leaving it on the cusp of developing an atomic bomb.

Iran is sponsoring terrorism across the world — enveloping the world with its “tentacles of terror,” Netanyahu said.

“Imagine what Iran would do with nuclear weapons,” he added.

Netanyahu is expected to use even harsher rhetoric before Congress. The Israeli leader is personally vested in the outcome of the nuclear talks with Iran, putting him on a collision course with Obama, who has put his prestige on the line to pursue a deal.

Meanwhile, the US and Iranian sides met for two hours on Tuesday morning in the Swiss resort of Montreux, according to US officials. They likely will continue meeting through Netanyahu’s speech. Both sides said they were making progress.

“We’re working away, productively,” US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters.

Netanyahu believes that preventing a nuclear-armed Iran would be a crowning achievement — and that a bad deal would be a setback and far worse than no deal at all. While powerful, his speech to Congress also might sound a note of desperation as he appears almost out of options.

As many as 40 Democratic members of the House and more than a handful of senators are expected to skip the speech, which many have labeled a partisan political stunt. Vice President Joe Biden, president of the Senate, also won’t be there. He’s on a trip to Central America and his seat on the dais will be filled by Sen. Orrin Hatch, president pro tempore.

Hatch, a Republican, said Monday that Congress should complement the prime minister’s address with the threat of more sanctions.

“I am deeply troubled that our president’s solution won’t work,” Hatch said. “This administration has opted for a policy of conciliation that does nothing to curb this growing threat. And all the while, the threat to Israel grows stronger every day.”

Netanyahu expressed frustration that his speech has created such controversy. He insisted that his speech to Congress was not meant to show any disrespect toward Obama. He also said it was not intended to “inject Israel into the American partisan debate.”

But that is what’s happened.

Members of Congress who are expected to be no-shows at the speech blame House Speaker John Boehner for inviting Netanyahu without consulting with the White House or congressional Democrats. Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice has said the speech is destructive to the fabric of US-Israeli relations.