Is Netanyahu’s Congressional visit a blunder — or is it a necessity?

The dynamics of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Congressional visit is more complicated than the U.S. and Israeli media have made it out to be. It is more than just one more breach in the Obama/Netanyahu relationship; it’s a reaction to the President’s attempt to go around the constitutionally mandated rules for Senate approval of treaties, Obama’s use of British Prime Minister David Cameron to lobby for Congress to submit to the President, and a fear that the President will agree to a deal that will give Iran a treaty that will put the United States and Israel in grave danger.

After the Netanyahu visit to a joint session of Congress was announced, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz quoted a senior U.S. official as saying, “There are things you simply don’t do. He spat in our face publicly and that’s no way to behave. Netanyahu ought to remember that President Obama has a year and a half left to his presidency, and that there will be a price.”

On Sunday’s “Meet The Press” White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough tried to distance the President from that anonymous statement, “I can guarantee that it’s not me, not the president, and not what we believe.” He added, “I’m not going to get hyperbolic or emotional about this. Our relationship with Israel is many faceted, deep and abiding. It’s focused on a shared series of threats, but also, on a shared series of values that one particular instance is not going to inform overwhelmingly.”

Despite McDonough’s protestations, the President is seething, and that is the real reason the Administration made a point to say the President would not be meeting with Netanyahu without the Prime Minister even broaching the topic. And if you look at it from the president’s perspective, the anger is justified; after all, the Israeli Prime Minister kept the possible visit secret for weeks while he negotiated the details with the speaker.