MK Yariv Levin on Wednesday accused the left of being “irresponsible and hysterical” for opposing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s upcoming speech to Congress in the US.
“The speech is to take place before the elections, but also before the close of talks in the next round of talks with Iran.” If Netanyahu waits until after the elections to address Congress, as some are suggesting, the talks will be over, “and there will be no purpose to the speech then. The fact that Israel has elections does not mean that the clock has stopped.”
The battle against Iran’s nuclear program is an existential one for Israel, said Levin, who is also Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
“The hysteria of the left is unprecedented as it is manifested in its opposition to this speech, because they know that Netanyahu is the only one who can successfully navigate Israel during this period. They would rather have us ignore this even at the cost of a bad agreement with Iran, in order to prevent Netanyahu from taking a role in this important matter.”
Levin said that even though Israel is not participating in the Iran talks, it is clear that Netanyahu has been influencing them to an extent.
“Even though we are not members of the P5+1 group that is involved in the Iran talks, we have become involved in the talks to a great extent. The world leaders update us on what is going on, and we should be using this influence to our advantage.”
House Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu to address Congress on the Iran issue, with the speech to be delivered on March 3 – just two weeks before the Israeli elections on March 17.
In response, Netanyahu wrote to Boehner: “I am honored by this invitation, which reflects the special friendship shared by Israel and the United States as well as the strong bipartisan support for Israel across America. I look forward to being able to share with the joint session Israel’s vision for working together to address these threats and to reiterate Israel’s commitment to the bond that unites our two democracies.”
