Bibi's Talk: The 51st State Is Heard From

Using a little imagination, one can picture Netanyahu yesterday at the podium of the U.S. Congress as another of the lawmakers of the Republic expounding on the burning issues of the day — in this case the Iranian nuclear program.

On another level, one can ask oneself what is this foreigner doing in an American setting — injecting himself at a critical moment in the negotiations over Iran's nuclear program and pronouncing the emerging American position as a "bad deal"... and all this in an American forum! Clearly Israel enjoys special privileges in the American political arena — privileges that no other country enjoys.

At the same time, one can understand, or one should understand, where Bibi is coming from. He considers himself, rightly or wrongly, as the protector of the world's Jews — who in the past were victims of the worst atrocity in history against a defenseless people at the hands of another country.

The above having been said, the kindest word one can find in the whole episode of the talk before the Congress, is that Bibi used bad judgment. Firstly, in lending himself (or more) to a cabal of the Israeli Ambassador to Washington and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to set in motion the visit without informing America's principal policymaker, the President of the United States. Secondly, to do this in the midst of a political campaign in Israel, where such an initiative would presumably produce a winning vote.