Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, working in concert with John Boehner, have together accomplished what nobody in the history U.S.-Israel relations have managed to pull off, and that is to make Israel an unquestioned partisan issue.
On Thursday, the Senate passed introduced Resolution 76, brought by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), "welcoming the Prime Minister of Israel to the United States for his address to a joint session of Congress."
The bill has 50 cosponsors, all of whom are Republicans, making this—so far as I can tell—the first ever bill related to Israel unsupported by a single Democrat. Yes, the resolution is symbolic. However, this doesn't alter the fact that history is being made, nor diminish the significance of diplomatic symbols in the foreign policy arena, particularly when it comes to Israel.
Below are those Republicans who stepped away from their Democratic colleagues to cosponsor Cornyn's resolution:
Sen. Inhofe, James M. [R-OK]*
Sen. Wicker, Roger F. [R-MS]*
Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR]*
Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT]*
Sen. Heller, Dean [R-NV]*
Sen. Blunt, Roy [R-MO]*
Sen. Rounds, Mike [R-SD]*
Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR]*
Sen. Hatch, Orrin G. [R-UT]*
Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS]*
Sen. Thune, John [R-SD]*
Sen. Tillis, Thom [R-NC]*
Sen. Roberts, Pat [R-KS]*
Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA]*
Sen. Collins, Susan M. [R-ME]*
Sen. Fischer, Deb [R-NE]*
Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]*
Sen. McConnell, Mitch [R-KY]*
Sen. Sullivan, Dan [R-AK]*
Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK]*
Sen. Risch, James E. [R-ID]*
Sen. Daines, Steve [R-MT]*
Sen. Isakson, Johnny [R-GA]*
Sen. Cochran, Thad [R-MS]*
Sen. Capito, Shelley Moore [R-WV]*
Sen. Ernst, Joni [R-IA]*
Sen. McCain, John [R-AZ]*
Sen. Sessions, Jeff [R-AL]*
Sen. Sasse, Ben [R-NE]*
Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY]*
Sen. Portman, Rob [R-OH]*
Sen. Rubio, Marco [R-FL]*
Sen. Alexander, Lamar [R-TN]*
Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA]*
Sen. Burr, Richard [R-NC]*
Sen. Crapo, Mike [R-ID]*
Sen. Toomey, Pat [R-PA]*
Sen. Hoeven, John [R-ND]*
Sen. Cruz, Ted [R-TX]*
Sen. Shelby, Richard C. [R-AL]*
Sen. Gardner, Cory [R-CO]*
Sen. Perdue, David [R-GA]*
Sen. Ayotte, Kelly [R-NH]*
Sen. Coats, Daniel [R-IN]*
Sen. Kirk, Mark Steven [R-IL]*
Sen. Johnson, Ron [R-WI]*
Sen. Scott, Tim [R-SC]*
Sen. Enzi, Michael B. [R-WY]*
Sen. Paul, Rand [R-KY]*
Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]*
This absence of a single Democratic senator officially welcoming Netanyahu to the United States comes as a
growing number of Democrats in Congress announce their plans to boycott Netanyahu's speech. Indeed, 21 House Democrats have announced their intention to skip his speech, as have three Senate Democrats, several of whom are Jewish. One such Jewish member of Congress, John Yarmuth (D-KY), published a
litany of reasons why he would not be attending, including:
We know what he is going to say. Netanyahu’s position on the ongoing negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program is not a secret.
Netanyahu will specifically be arguing against the foreign policy of the administration. Speaker Boehner invited the Prime Minister to address Congress specifically to refute President Obama’s position. I will not contribute to the impression that this body does not support the President of the United States in foreign affairs.
The speech is scheduled less than two weeks before Israeli elections and there is a demonstrable risk that Netanyahu will use the perception of congressional support in his campaign. He did it before. A television ad for his 2013 campaign begins with a shot of the U.S. Capitol, and has footage of rousing applause from members. (House ethics rules prohibit members of Congress from using such footage in political ads.)
I do not want my respectful attendance to in any way imply support for his position.
Finally, the speech comes at a delicate period in the negotiations with Iran, coming only three weeks before the deadline established for an agreement on a framework for a program to ensure that Iran does not have the capability to build a nuclear weapon.
Many more Democrats in Congress have yet to make their intentions known as to whether they will be attending, and Republicans are anticipating a large swath of Democrats will boycott Netanyahu's speech.
Hence the plan by Republicans to fill empty seats in Congress with GOP staffers to ensure Netanyahu is not embarrassed.
Now, all of this surrounds the dual issue of America's ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran and Netanyahu's disrespecting President Obama. This historic moment in which Democrats are choosing to side with an administration's difficult policy initiative over AIPAC and Israeli protestations does not signal that such fissures will naturally spread to other policy debates surrounding Israel.
However, one thing is clear: that possibility is real in ways it was not before Netanyahu and Boehner teamed up.
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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, recently published by Oneworld Publications.