The Final Call

John Boehner to visit Israel after Netanyahu win

By PressTV.ir | Last updated: Mar 25, 2015 - 8:36:10 AM

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets supporters at the party’s election headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, Mar. 17. Netanyahu’s Likud won 30 seats in the 120-seat parliament, and parties apparently willing to back him won another 37 for a possible majority. The reasons for that outcome go beyond the party’s nationalist ideology and include Israel’s sense of geographic vulnerability, its fragmented politics and a master campaigner in Netanyahu himself. Photo: AP Wide World Photo

House Speaker John Boehner, who aggravated the White House for inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress about Iran in March month, plans to visit Israel sometime in the next two weeks, his office said March 20.

“He looks forward to visiting the country, discussing our shared priorities for peace and security in the region, and further strengthening the bond between the United States and Israel,” spokesman Kevin Smith said in a March 20 statement.

The visit will follow Mr. Netanyahu’s victory in March 17 parliamentary elections which came two weeks after he addressed a joint session of Congress, warning lawmakers that the White House was negotiating “a very bad deal” with Iran.

The address, which was scolded by the White House and congressional Democrats, came in the midst of a crucial stage in nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group—the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.

U.S. President Barack Obama did not meet with Mr. Netanyahu while the prime minister was visiting Washington.

Mr. Boehner’s travel to Israel will begin March 31, and he will be leading a delegation of Republican lawmakers, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The trip is expected to once again amplify partisan divide over Israel at a time when tensions between President Obama and Mr. Netanyahu have already escalated because of the premier’s address to Congress and the “divisive rhetoric” he used in the run-up to elections.

Mr. Netanyahu made opposition to nuclear negotiations with Iran a centerpiece of his reelection campaign. He also rejected the idea of a sovereign Palestinian state, which has been a key element of the Obama administration’s foreign policy in the Middle East.

The White House has raised the prospect of removing critical U.S. diplomatic cover for Israel at the United Nations.

“Steps that the United States has taken at the United Nations had been predicated on this idea that the two-state solution is the best outcome,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said March 19.

“Now our ally in these talks has said that they are no longer committed to that solution. That means we need to reevaluate our position in this matter, and that is what we will do moving forward,” he added. (www.presstv.ir)