Huffman Speaks out Against Netanyahu Speech
North Coast’s Rep. Jared Huffman was among the members of Congress who attended Tuesday’s speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but not among those who supported it.
“It is a speech that I really wish hadn’t happened this way and at this time,” said Huffman, who was among the first members in Congress to object to the speech. “This was politically driven.”
Huffman said he believes the timing was inappropriate because it came just two weeks before a controversial election in Israel and was planned without the input of the president.
Netanyahu spoke to Congress about nuclear negotiations with Iran at the invitation of House Speaker John Boehner without first informing President Barack Obama.
In the U.S. spotlight for a day, the Israeli leader showed no uncertainty. “This is a bad deal. It is a very bad deal. We are better off without it,” he declared in an emotionally charged speech that was arranged by Republicans, aggravated his already-strained relations with Obama and gambled with the longstanding bipartisan congressional support for Israel.
More than 50 Democratic Congressional members protested the speech by not attending.
“A lot of members share my concern about the speech, there was a real split. ... I feel like we need to be in our seats whether we like what is going on or not,” Huffman said, stating that he would have “a real truancy problem” if he skipped everything that happened in Congress that he didn’t agree with.
The issue isn’t whether or not members attend a speech, it is what they are saying along with that, he said, emphasizing that attending the speech was not synonymous with agreeing with it.
“We need a better relationship with the Israeli government than what we have had with this prime minister,” he said. “This is not OK and we need to fix it.”
The position that Netanyahu took on the United State’s negotiations with Iran was insulting, Huffman said.
“To come here and tell us that we should give up on any diplomatic path to solving this nuclear problem in Iran and that the enemy of our enemy is our enemy,” he said. “I thought it was condescending, I think the prime minister has a credibility problem.”
At the White House, Obama said there was value in the current economic sanctions against Iran and also in the negotiations in Switzerland aimed at restraining Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“Sanctions alone are not sufficient,” Obama said. “If Iran does not have some sense that sanctions will be removed, it will not have an interest in avoiding the path that it’s currently on.”
While support of Israel has been bipartisan, the speech created a divide in Congress, Huffman said.
“I continue to support Israel, this is not something that I think ought to jeopardize the alliance, but it is definitely a problem in an already strained relationship with this prime minister,” he said.
Humboldt County Republican Central Committee Chairwoman Annette De Modena said the speech has become an issue of politics rather than serving people, which should be the government’s focus.
“We are very dismayed because it seems as though we are not standing strong with our most important ally (in the Middle East),” De Modena said. “More than anything what we are missing in this whole thing is the concept of collaboration.”
De Modena said she applauds Huffman for attending.
“He is showing true maturity,” she said. “I don’t care if you have a different opinion than mine, however, when we supersede what is right for political expediency than that is wrong, because we are here to serve people first, not political agendas.”
On the other side of the spectrum was the opinion that not attending the speech made an important statement.
The North Coast Coalition for Palestine actively supported members who did not attend the speech, delivering petitions asking Representatives Huffman and Mike Thompson to join the boycott prior to the speech.
“We believe the speech was extremely divisive in attempting to sabotage the United States negotiations in Iran,” said Sam Tuttelman, a member of North Coast Coalition for Palestine and the North Bay Chapter of the Jewish Voice for Peace.
“We feel that first of all the invitation was a slap in the face to the administration, who typically conduct foreign policy, and that its aim was to derail the negotiations with Iran over nuclear weapons,” Tuttelman said. “To have representatives attend his speech in Congress only lends credence to many of the things that Prime Minister Netanyahu says.”
As Netanyahu spoke, Secretary of State John Kerry was holding a three-hour negotiating session with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the Swiss resort of Montreux in hopes of completing an international framework agreement later this month to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.
According to Netanyahu, the deal on the table offers two major concessions: Iran would be left with a vast nuclear infrastructure and restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program would be lifted in about a decade.
“It doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb,” Netanyahu thundered. “It paves Iran’s path to the bomb.”
He said the U.S. and the other five nations in talks with Tehran should keep pressuring with economic sanctions because Tehran needs the deal most.
“Now, if Iran threatens to walk away from the table — and this often happens in a Persian bazaar — call their bluff. They’ll be back, because they need the deal a lot more than you do.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Senate would debate next week on legislation that would allow a congressional vote on any deal reached with Iran. He said legislation for stiffer sanctions could well be considered.
Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who has co-authored sanctions legislation, said Netanyahu’s speech would sway more lawmakers to support his bill.
Source: By Juniper Rose
Next Article Previous Article