Will Obama Upstage Netanyahu?...........by Dan Friedman

Obama may preempt PM's speech to US Congress

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to speak to Congress at the invitation of (Republican) Speaker Bohner. He will make his address on May 24. Netanyahu was expected to present new Israeli proposals to get the “peace process” back on track, but that was before the terrorist organization Hamas remarried the “moderate” group Fatah. Now the pressure is off and Israeli political sources say Netanyahu sees no need “to outline any far-reaching peace proposals.”

Where does that leave Obama? The White House signaled that Obama would deliver a major address on Middle East policy "fairly soon." According to a senior administration official, Obama will meet the Israeli Prime Minister at (the front door of?...) the White House on May 22 and is considering giving his speech before he leaves on a trip to Europe early in the week of May 22.

You do the scheduling. Is Obama so obsessed with backing Israel into a corner that he’ll buck both protocol and political prudence to publicly contradict a head of state, an ally and a guest of Congress just two days before Netanyahu’s remarks? This should be interesting, and we’ll soon find out.




Dan Friedman
NYC