--- title: Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu Overshadows His Iran Speech to Congress description: A partisan debate over the terms of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the U.S. threatened to overshadow his message, as he arrived Sunday... canonical: https://time.com/3727821/netanyahu-overshadows-his-own-speech/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-02T04:43:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T16:18:52.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu Overshadows His Iran Speech to Congress og:description: A partisan debate over the terms of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the U.S. threatened to overshadow his message, as he arrived Sunday... og:url: https://time.com/3727821/netanyahu-overshadows-his-own-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf575126fcbb4c65d/698780f25f570fffd4b15740/netanyahu1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Israeli PM Netanyahu weekly cabinet meeting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu Overshadows His Iran Speech to Congress twitter:description: A partisan debate over the terms of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the U.S. threatened to overshadow his message, as he arrived Sunday... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf575126fcbb4c65d/698780f25f570fffd4b15740/netanyahu1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Netanyahu Overshadows His Own Speech > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Susan Rice on Netanyahu's Visit [Watch (HLS stream): Susan Rice on Netanyahu's Visit](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8RYjgejK.m3u8) (0:23)  _Published 2015-02-25. Susan Rice on Netanyahu's Visit_ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:18 PM UTCPublished: Mar 2, 2015 4:43 AM UTC  Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem on Feb. 15, 2015. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem on Feb. 15, 2015. Abir Sultan—Reuters by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:18 PM UTCPublished: Mar 2, 2015 4:43 AM UTC A partisan debate over the terms of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S. threatened to overshadow his message, as he arrived Sunday in the U.S. two days before an address to the Congress about the dangers of President Barack Obama’s recent moves to cut a deal with Iran over its nuclear program. An NBC/_Wall Street Journal_ [poll](http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/03/01/nearly-half-of-voters-disapprove-of-gops-netanyahu-invite/) released Sunday found that 48% of registered voters said Republicans in Congress should not have invited Netanyahu without first checking with Obama, with just 30% of Americans supporting the move. President Obama has refused to meet the Israeli leader, citing the proximity of the visit on Israel’s elections. Obama’s National Security Adviser Susan Rice, cast the speech last week as “destructive to the fabric of U.S.-Israeli ties.” At the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference in Washington, D.C., Sunday, the mood was uneasy, as the controversy overshadowed the conference and thrust the bipartisan organization into the uncomfortable position of lobbying lawmakers to attend a speech, as opposed to its key legislative priority: calling on Congress to play a role in reviewing the Iran agreement. “Frankly all of us should be concerned that care so deeply about the bipartisan support for the U.S.-Israel relationship,” AIPAC CEO Howard Kohr said Sunday. “We have spent active hours lobbying for members of the House and Senate to attend this speech.” In the lead-up to the speech, dueling ads from [left](http://jstreet.org/blog/post/our-ad-in-todays-new-york-times%5F1) and [right](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6GdxbNrUf4) focused on the speech and who would attend. An [incendiary ad](https://twitter.com/BarakRavid/status/571779534095167488/photo/1) from a group founded by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and linked to Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson drew condemnation from all corners for accusing Rice of turning a blind eye to genocide. The ad compared Rice’s role in shaping a withdrawn U.S. policy during the 1994 Rwanda genocide, which Rice herself [has since criticized,](http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/magazine/111353/susan-rice-isnt-going-quietly#) with her position on Netanyahu’s visit. “Ms. Rice may be blind to the issue of genocide,” the ad reads, under a picture of the National Security Adviser superimposed on the image of human skulls. The text goes on to suggest she has been more gracious in her dealings with Iran’s government than Israel’s. “She should treat our ally with at least as much diplomatic courtesy as she does the committed enemy of both our nations.” Obama Administration officials were quick to condemn the move. “This ad is being widely met with the revulsion that it deserves,” a senior U.S. Administration official said. “Frankly, the ad says more about those who supported it than it says about Susan Rice.” ### 7 Times World Leaders Addressed Congress  Pope Francis, addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress with with Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Sept. 24, 2015, urging legislators to work together to solve problems and avoid polarization Jim Lo Scalzo—EPA  Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, addressed Congress on March 3, 2015, urging a stop to the Iran nuclear talks. His policy positions are often controversial, but he enjoys a privileged position when it comes to visiting the legislature, this was his third visit to Congress. Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images  Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Prime Minister, and King Hussein of Jordan shake hands following a joint address to Congress on July 26, 1994\. In the second of two Arab-Israeli appearances, Jordan's leader appeared with Israel's prime minister to celebrate their peace treaty. The treaty, signed the next month, ended a 46-year state of war. David Rubinger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Nelson Mandela addresses Congress on June 26, 1990\. At the time, he was president of the African National Congress. Apartheid was still law in South Africa and Mandela had only just been released from prison a few months before his appearance before lawmakers. Kevin Larkin—AFP/Getty Images  Benazir Bhutto, prime minister of Pakistan, addresses Congress on June 7, 1989\. She was the first woman elected to lead an Islamic state, and she remains Pakistan's only woman prime minister to date. After serving two non-consecutive terms, she was exiled to Dubai in 1999\. She returned to Pakistan in 2007 to run for the office again, and was assassinated. J.Scott—AP  Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister, addressed Congress on Feb. 20, 1985\. She was the first female head of state to do so who was not a monarch. Bob Daugherty—AP  Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin respond to applause in the chambers of the U.S. House of Representatives during a joint session of Congress on Sept. 18, 1978\. A day earlier, the leaders had signed the historic Camp David accords, which ended 30 years of war and led to a peace treaty between the two nations in 1979. AP  Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, addressed Congress on April 12, 1962\. He was deposed in 1979\. No Iranian leader has addressed a joint session since. Aziz Rashki—AP Netanyahu has a long [track](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAyAObsXQj0) record of using addresses to Congress for his domestic political purposes. “I am leaving for Washington on a fateful, even historic, mission. I feel that I am the emissary of all Israelis, even those who disagree with me, of the entire Jewish People,” Netanyahu told reporters before departing. His coalition faces a close election on March 17. In the U.S., the visit has turned into a political weapon. “The really only conflict here is between the White House and Israel,” said Speaker of the House John Boehner Sunday on CBS’s _Face the Nation_. At AIPAC, Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland, sought to challenge that message. “The circumstances surrounding the invitation were not what they should have been,” he said. “We all understand that. But don’t lose focus. The bad guy is Iran.” In Israel as well, the terms of the visit had become a point of political debate. “Netanyahu’s speech is diverting the question to be on whether he should speak or not in Congress rather than the security issue with Iran, and we think this is wrong,” said Israeli opposition Knesset member Erel Margalit. “We saw a poll that had the American public divided over whether Netanyahu should speak or not, instead of having 90% against the threshold nuclear state of Iran, which would have united everyone.” To pre-empt claims that the White House has not sufficiently supported Israel, the National Security Council forwarded Democratic allies—and later posted online—a [pocket card ](http://m.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/03/01/5-things-you-need-know-about-us-israel-relationship-under-president-obama)highlighting the U.S.-Israel relationship under Obama casting the President as a “strong defender” of Israel. “Under President Obama’s leadership, American engagement with Israel has grown and strengthened to an unprecedented degree,” it reads. The handout did not include any mention of Iran. “The Administration doesn’t want to talk about the Iran deal — so instead of hearing about sanctions relief and sunset clauses, we’ve had weeks of high-school-level melodrama about speech protocol and a bad guy named Bibi,” said Noah Pollak, the executive director of the hawkish Emergency Committee for Israel. “The Administration has temporarily distracted from the Iran talks, but it’s also turned the Netanyahu speech into the Super Bowl of foreign policy. In the end it may turn out that Obama only drew more attention to what a bad deal he’s trying to cut with Iran.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3727821/netanyahu-overshadows-his-own-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3727821/netanyahu-overshadows-his-own-speech/"},"headline":"Netanyahu Overshadows His Own Speech","datePublished":"2015-03-02T04:43:17.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T16:18:52.000Z","description":"A partisan debate over the terms of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the U.S. threatened to overshadow his message, as he arrived Sunday...","url":"https://time.com/3727821/netanyahu-overshadows-his-own-speech/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","Barack Obama","Iran","Israel","White House","Benjamin Netanyahu"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf575126fcbb4c65d/698780f25f570fffd4b15740/netanyahu1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf575126fcbb4c65d/698780f25f570fffd4b15740/netanyahu1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Israeli PM Netanyahu weekly cabinet meeting","caption":"Israeli PM Netanyahu weekly cabinet meeting","creditText":"Abir Sultan—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3727821/netanyahu-overshadows-his-own-speech/","name":"Netanyahu Overshadows His Own Speech"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Susan Rice on Netanyahu's Visit","description":"Susan Rice on Netanyahu's Visit","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/8RYjgejK/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-25T12:36:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8RYjgejK.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3727821/netanyahu-overshadows-his-own-speech/","duration":"PT23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3727821/netanyahu-overshadows-his-own-speech/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```