WASHINGTON — Current disputes between Israel and the US are “disagreements among family,” and while uncomfortable they should not be blown out of proportion, Prime Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday at the annual AIPAC conference, in a warm up to his main address on Tuesday before Congress.
“You\’re here to tell the world that reports of the demise of the Israeli-US relations is not only premature, they\’re just wrong,” Netanyahu told the some 16,000 very supportive delegates in the hall. “You\’re here to tell the world that our alliance is stronger than ever.”
Netanyahu made clear at the outset that he was not going to discuss the content of the speech to Congress, beyond saying that “never has so much been written about a speech that hasn\’t been given.” Officials traveling with Netanyahu said that he will break new ground in his address to Congress.
Acutely aware of the debate that the speech to Congress has triggered in the US, Netanyahu stressed that his speech was “not intended to show any disrespect to President Obama or the esteemed office that he holds. I have great respect for both.”
Netanyahu spoke immediately after US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power delivered a warm speech in which she repeated Obama’s pledge never to allow Iran get a nuclear weapon, saying he “deeply” appreciated all that Obama has done for Israel. The prime minister cited security cooperation, intelligence sharing, support at the UN., and “much more, some things that I, as prime minister of Israel, cannot even divulge to you because it remains in the realm of the confidences that are kept between an American president and an Israeli prime minister.”
Saying that his speech to Congress was not intended to inject Israel into the American partisan debate, he said to loud applause that “the last thing that anyone who cares about Israel, the last thing that I would want is for Israel to become a partisan issue. And I regret that some people have misperceived my visit here this week as doing that.”
Netanyahu repeated what he has said on numerous occasions over the last few weeks, that the purpose of his speech is to speak about a potential deal with Iran that “could threaten the survival of Israel.” Iran, which he said has its terrorist tentacles on five continents, has vowed to annihilate Israel, and if it develops nuclear weapons, “it would have the means to achieve that goal. We must not let that happen.”