“This unprecedented move threatens to undermine the important bipartisan approach toward Israelwhich as a long standing supporters of Israel troubles us deeply,” the senators wrote. They invited the prime minister to a closed-door session with Democrats.
But Netanyahu turned down the meeting. In a letter to the senators, obtained by CNN, he wrote,
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“The relationship between the U.S. and Israel has always been bipartisan and we have been fortunate that the politics have not been injected into this relationship,” Rice said in an interview with Charlie Rose.
“What has happened over the last several weeks by virtue of the invitation that was issued by the speaker and the acceptance of it by Prime Minister Netanyahu two weeks before his elections is that on both sides there have been injected some degree of partisanship,” Rice said. “It is not only unfortunate but it is also destructive of the fabric of the relationship. It has always been bipartisan and we want to keep it that way. When it becomes injected with politics that’s a problem.”
