People have asked me what I think about Netanyahu's speech and the aftermath. In a nutshell, I think just about everybody involved behaved badly.
***Bibi should have gone through appropriate channels. Antagonizing a major political party flies in the face of Israel's traditions of bipartisanship vis-à-vis the United States. It was unseemly, wrong and not in Israel's own interests. The timing, just before Israeli elections, was widely seen as an election stunt - which subverts the PM's message.
***The Obama administration, for its part, instead of trying to quiet things down, seemed to go out of its way to blow them up. Nancy Pelosi, in particular, behaved like a petulant schoolgirl.
***The Republicans, in particular the 47 who signed the letter to Iran, did something entirely unnecessary and highly improper.
***The critics of the Republicans are engaging in a sort of Cheneyism of the left, with wild accusations of "treason" and "criminal violation of the Logan Act." What are they proposing? Impeachment of half the Senate and the prosecution for high crimes and misdemeanors? Do they realize just how foolish they sound? We have freedom of speech - which includes the freedom of dumb speech. We never prosecuted Jane Fonda for going to Hanoi-and giving aid and comfort to the enemy in time of war-so what makes people think were going to incarcerate half the Senate over a letter?
And who benefits? Not Israel. Not the administration. Not the Republicans. Not the critics of the Republicans. Iran benefits.
Time to cut through the nonsense and grandstanding. At the end of the day, it is important to listen to what Netanyahu said - not the flap that surrounds it. He might be right about Iran He might be wrong. I hope that he's wrong. I wager that he also hopes he's wrong. But both the US and Israel cannot afford to stand by while Iran goes nuclear. What are we going to do about it?