Eye On Miami's Gimleteye weighs in on Israel policy … by gimleteye

Eye On Miami has enough exposition to do in a few square miles of Miami-Dade County to last a lifetime. We don't shy from pointing out the consequences: how Miami helped congeal the Republican heart of Florida politics. We point out the ingredients that radiate from our home-grown campaign financiers; developers, rock miners, and Big Sugar interests who managed to organize economic life in Florida to serve their interests splendidly.

Democrats are weak partners or the outcome wouldn't be so successful.

One place there is equal and shared agreement between Miami Republicans and Democrats: US support of Israel.

The existential threats from radical Islam are not just to Israel but to a world order that, however much we dismiss it, revolves around values we share: religious tolerance, the foundation of humanism.

So when the Republican leadership in Congress takes the United States on a walk outside the perimeter of normative diplomatic conduct in the Mideast, Miami should take note.

The subject concerns Iran and significant differences between the Republicans and President Obama on how to deal with the threat of Iran as a nuclear superpower. In its most condensed form, the argument is whether or not our foreign policy should be to push the U.S. into de facto support for Israel destroying Iran's nuclear capability.

No one treats the choice lightly, but the Boehner-led Republican majority has taken unprecedented steps to force the US in that direction.

Normally, the visit of a world leader to the United States would be arranged by the White House. But in a breach of sense and diplomacy, House Speaker John Boehner and Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, took it upon themselves to arrange and invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to Congress.

There is no other way to read this than as a slap in the president's face, as his administration attempts to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran. Here's a partial editorial from the NY Times:

"… Mr. Netanyahu, facing an election on March 17, apparently believes that winning the applause of Congress by rebuking Mr. Obama will bolster his standing as a leader capable of keeping Israel safe. Mr. Boehner seems determined to use whatever means is available to undermine and attack Mr. Obama on national security policy.
Lawmakers have every right to disagree with presidents; so do foreign leaders. But this event, to be staged in March a mile from the White House, is a hostile attempt to lobby Congress to enact more sanctions against Iran, a measure that Mr. Obama has rightly threatened to veto.
In his State of the Union address, Mr. Obama laid out an approach to international engagement that includes shrinking America’s military commitments overseas and negotiating limits on Iran’s nuclear activities in return for a gradual lifting of sanctions. A move by Congress to pass legislation proposing new sanctions could blow up the talks and divide the major powers that have been united in pressuring Iran. Given an excuse to withdraw from talks, Iran could accelerate its nuclear program, curbed for a year under an interim agreement, and force the United States or Israel to use military action or a cyberattack to keep Tehran from producing nuclear weapons.
In a recent Washington Post op-ed article, the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and the European Union also implored Congress to hold off on new sanctions. Similar messages have come from scores of other experts, including two former American national security advisers, Brent Scowcroft, a Republican, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Democrat. According to Secretary of State John Kerry, even Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, warned Congress that new sanctions would scuttle the talks, saying it would “be like throwing a grenade into the process.” Mossad later tried to paper over any perceived differences with Mr. Netanyahu…"

House Speaker Boehner deserves rebuke for wandering off the diplomatic reservation, but in the echo chamber of Republican hatred of Obama, you can see why he did it.

No White House has faced such relentless efforts to undermine and erode, based on the GOP's disdain for an African American in the White House. Tampering with the Mideast tinderbox, though, by Boehner is its own indictment of Republican strategies that lead to trillion dollar wars poorly conceived and at great cost to America. Enough, already. Enough.