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Spat Over Netanyahu's Speech Doesn't Change U.S.-Israel Relations
(Boston Globe) Jeff Jacoby - Around 30 Democrats, encouraged by the White House, intend to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's forthcoming speech to a joint session of Congress in a show of pique over the supposed affront to President Obama. Reasonable people can debate whether Netanyahu is really guilty of a breach of protocol in not seeking Obama's approval first - or if that is merely a pretext for a president who has long detested Netanyahu, whose warnings about the Iranian threat the administration wants to undercut. But however fraught the relationship between Bibi and Barack, the rapport between their nations - the U.S.-Israel bond - remains as deep-rooted and durable as ever. Despite weeks of clamor over Netanyahu's visit, Gallup's newest survey of American attitudes toward Israel found that 70% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Jewish state. Most Americans feel a visceral attachment to Israel and what it represents, irrespective of their views about any particular Israeli politician. It works the other way, too: Israelis are intensely pro-American. Only at a superficial level is this about partisan or political loyalties. Immensely more important is the lethal threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. Even without the bomb, Iran is the world's most dangerous regime.