Netanyahu says ties with US solid despite duel over Iran

WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that his planned address to Congress scheduled for Tuesday is not meant to signal any disrespect for President Obama, nor to insert political partisanship into the US-Israel relationship.
“Never has so much been written about a speech that hasn’t been given,” Netanyahu said. “My speech is not intended to show any disrespect to President Obama or the esteemed office that he holds. I have great respect for both.”
“You are here to tell the world that reports of the demise of the US relationship is not only premature, but it is wrong,” the Israeli leader told delegates to a packed pro-Israel conference in Washington.
Netanyahu goes to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to address a joint meeting of Congress on the perils of President Barack Obama’s ongoing efforts to reach agreement with Iran to curtail its nuclear programme.
“My speech is not intended to show any disrespect to President Obama or the office that he holds. I have great respect for both,” he told 16,000 activists at lobby group AIPAC’s annual conference.
“The purpose of my address to Congress tomorrow is to speak up about a potential deal with Iran that could threaten the survival of Israel.
“Israel and the United States agree that Iran shouldn’t have nuclear weapons. But we disagree on the best way to prevent them from developing those weapons,” he added.
Speaking before Netanyahu, Washington’s ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power sought to counter his opposition to the emerging deal with Tehran. “The United States of America will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, period,” she said.
And she insisted that Obama would stand by US allies “whether the negotiations collapse or produce a diplomatic solution that meets our bottom line.
Netanyahu aides say Israel has “excellent information” that talks between the Islamic republic and the so-called P5+1 group negotiating a deal meant to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb are heading toward an easing of international sanctions without the ironclad safeguards the Jewish state says are essential to deny Iran a nuclear bomb.
“We know a great deal about the emerging agreement,” an official told journalists on Netanyahu’s flight to Washington on Sunday. “In our view, it is a bad agreement.” The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not indicate the source of the information but said Netanyahu would elaborate in his congressional address.
Netanyahu’s opponents at home and abroad accuse him of endangering the special relationship with the United States in order to further his policy agenda.
Similar criticism has been levelled at Obama’s Republican opponents in the US Congress.
“Our commitments to our partnership with Israel are bedrock commitments rooted in shared fundamental values cemented through decades of bipartisan reinforcement,” Power said.
“This partnership should never be politicized,” she added, vowing that the joint commitments “cannot and will not be tarnished or broken.”