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Durbin said he hasn’t decided whether to attend the March 3 speech to a joint meeting of Congress. In his address, Netanyahu is expected to criticize the controversial negotiations the Obama administration is spearheading with Iran aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program. Those talks face a critical deadline at the end of March.
“One of my closest friends — one of the strongest supporters of Israel — described this Boehner tactic as a disaster, a terrible disaster for Israel,” Durbin said, referring to Republican House Speaker John Boehner who invited Netanyahu. “I won’t speak for any other members but they’ve been talking to me about what is the right way to react to what could turn out to be a divisive event.”
Asked about a boycott, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who is Jewish and the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said “there are people discussing that.”
She hasn’t decided if she will attend the speech, which will take place in the House chamber. But she is deeply concerned about Netanyahu’s appearance, in part, because it is scheduled just days before the prime minister faces voters in Israeli elections.
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Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, who co-authored a letter to Boehner urging him to reschedule the speech told CNN he hasn’t made a decision yet on whether he will attend. But he said, “This is not about the prime minister, this is about the speaker.”
“We shouldn’t be interfering in a foreign election — which we are doing — and we certainly shouldn’t be inviting a foreign leader from Canada, Palau, Peru or Israel to rebut our President on a foreign policy matter,” Ellison said.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi plans to attend the session, an aide said. She met Wednesday with the speaker of the Israeli Knesset.
“The leader expressed her concern that casting a political apple of discord into the relationship is not the best way forward given the formidable challenges our two countries are facing together,” Drew Hammill, her spokesman, following the meeting.
An aide to Boehner said the speaker won’t change the date of the speech.
