Netanyahu's office denies top aide opposed to Congress speech

posted on: Feb 25, 2015

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office on Wednesday denied U.S. reports that National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen objected to the premier’s decision to address Congress next week.

Jeffrey Goldberg reported in The Atlantic earlier Wednesday that Cohen told two officials in Washington last week that he was worried about the timing of the speech – slated to take place just two weeks before the election in Israel.

Cohen also expressed concern over the fact that the March 3 speech is viewed as an Israeli attempt to intervene in U.S. politics, Goldberg reported, citing the officials.

Goldberg wrote that Cohen understands that the U.S. is Israel’s second line of defense, and cannot believe that Netanyahu has “written-off” Obama two years before the president’s term runs out.

The report also mentions that Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer tried to invite Arab envoys in Washington to attend Netanyahu’s speech, and that the invitation was rejected.

Israeli sources told Goldberg that Dermer e-mailed the ambassadors of Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates in an effort to convince them that the moderate Sunni states and Israel have a shared interest in thwarting the unfolding agreement with Iran over its nuclear program. Dermer reportedly told the diplomats that showing a “united and public front” on Capitol Hill would help compel Congress to block the deal.

Goldberg’s report comes just hours after it emerged that President Barack Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice called Netanyahu’s upcoming address  “destructive” to the relationship between the two countries. The relations between the two countries have been marred by partisanship, Rice said.

Source: www.haaretz.com