Middle East scholar Dr. Mike Evans says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now stuck in a partisan tug-of-war among American politicians that could cost him his job and he believes whoever convinced Netanyahu to agree to address the U.S. Congress ought to be lose their job.
With just weeks remaining before next month’s parliamentary elections in Israel, Netanyahu and much of Israeli politics are consumed by the partisan battle here in Washington over Netanyahu’s upcoming address to a joint session of Congress over the Iranian nuclear threat.
On January 21, House Speaker John Boehner announced Netanyahu would address Congress on March 3. The White House complained that it had not been notified and called the invitation a breach of protocol, particularly so close to the Israeli elections. Many Democrats, including Vice President Joe Biden and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have said they will not attend the speech.
“It’s a horrendous mistake and whoever advised him to do it should be fired,” said Evans. “I’m sick over it. I’m sick that he’s put in that position. Obviously, he’s brilliant and articulate and he knows what’s going on with Iran, but the timing is horrible, absolutely horrible.”
Evans, who is a longtime personal friend of Netanyahu and the author of 67 published books, including “Jimmy Carter. the Liberal Left and World Chaos” and “Atomic Iran,” fears this massive distraction during a tight campaign could give momentum to the more moderate and liberal political elements in Israel, which would be welcome news in the Obama White House.
“It’s a no-win for [Netanyahu]. The opposition party is screaming their heads off, ‘Cancel it! Cancel it!’ So if he cancels it, he looks weak. On the other hand, he has a real genuine message that needs to be heard by the House and by the nation. But the timing is extremely serious and could end up existential for him. It could in fact cost him the election,” said Evans.
According to Evans, the controversy over the speech is such a big deal because the Israelis don’t have many allies and they don’t want to alienate their biggest one.
“A lot of Israelis believe, ‘The world’s against us. The world is against us as they were at Auschwitz.’ And they believe there’s no solution. So they want friends. They desperately want friends and alliances and they don’t want to be alone,” he said.
“So this dilemma with the House is upsetting them terribly because they don’t want to come across and be perceived as being pushy, being arrogant and pressuring an ally like the United States. The average Israeli on the street is really troubled about this,” said Evans.
Furthermore, Evans says Israelis are keenly aware that the vast majority of Jewish Americans are Democrats and that adds to the unease over this debate.
“The Democratic Party has traditionally been extremely strong supporters of Israel. This has not just been defined as a challenge to Obama but as embarrassing the Democratic Party. So it’s very problematic,” said Evans.
If the speech goes forward, Evans worries that the critical message about Iran will be lost and it will end up as a politically bruising experience for everyone, particularly Netanyahu.
“He’s being sucked in to a partisan battle that he didn’t start. It’s a lose, lose, lose. Nobody wins in this one. There’s no winners at all,” he said.
Despite the threat of his friend looking weak at a critical point in the campaign, Evans says the smart thing to do would be to postpone the speech.
“If I was advising him, I would tell him, for security reasons, don’t do it. Postpone the speech. Give the speech, but postpone the speech for a couple of weeks and get out of the drama,” said Evans.
Evans says the race for control of parliament is razor thin right now and he is very cautiously optimistic about the chances of Netanyahu and Likud hanging on to control with a coalition government.
“The vote is very close right now. As a matter of fact, Herzog and Livni have a slight edge. So the elections are very problematic for Bibi. I don’t believe he’s going to lose them because they are a coalition government and he can probably put the government together. but it’s very close,” said Evans.
Election day in Israel is March 17.
