Former Bush adviser lambastes PM over speech

Veteran GOP security expert and former George W. Bush adviser Dov Zakheim pans Netanyahu’s recent decisions surrounding Iran’s nuclear program, writing in the Foreign Policy website, “One must wonder what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, were thinking when they hatched a plan for the Israeli leader to address a joint session of Congress. Their clear disdain for the Administration blinded them to the reality that no Democrat could vote for additional sanctions once the issue became one of partisan politics. Netanyahu claims otherwise, but his protestations ring ever more hollow with each passing day.”

Obama supporter and former congressman Robert Wexler, left, debates
Romney backer and former Pentagon official Dov Zakheim , right, at the
Northern Virginia Jewish Community Center. (Suzanne
Pollak/JTA)

“He is right to oppose a deal that he views as bad for his country,” Zakheim continues. “But he is wrong to put the Israeli-American relationship at risk. He still has time to change his mind and stay home.”