Readers React: Netanyahu’s disgraceful attack on Obama over Iran

To the editor: I was sickened by the spectacle in Congress on Tuesday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used every means possible to promote his own political credentials in Israel before the upcoming election. (“Netanyahu warns against Iran nuclear deal but offers no ‘viable’ options,” March 3)

What incredible chutzpah for him to accept an unprecedented invitation to speak before Congress without at least consulting with President Obama. To then stand there and berate the president on his own turf was heartbreaking and totally irresponsible.

Yes, Netanyahu delivered an excellent speech. He might have won the day, but I cannot help but ask if the consequences, the anger and divisiveness this caused, were worth it.

I wonder how all of those cheering members of Congress would react if Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog were to invite Obama, another very articulate speaker, to address the Knesset on dismantling all the settlements in the West Bank.

Barbara Rosen, Fullerton

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To the editor: I can understand Netanyahu’s concern. Iran would like to see Israel destroyed, and it wants to obtain nuclear weapons. The United States believes that it can negotiate a deal with Iran, but Netanyahu says this is folly.

The negotiations with Iran in some way resemble the Johnson administration’s starting talks with the North Vietnamese. We were naive idiots who were eventually sent home to lick our wounds.

I can almost hear Netanyahu in my mind as I write this. He’s lamenting bitterly, “You just don’t get it, do you? You still don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

Sorry, Prime Minister Netanyahu, you’ll have to be patient with us. This isn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last.

Arthur G. Saginian, Santa Clarita

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To the editor: Israel’s current prime minister (an election may change who that is in two weeks) has come to tell the United States that we do not sufficiently appreciate the danger of Iran developing nuclear weapons.

Why do we always ignore the fact that the Middle East already has a country with a sizable nuclear weapons arsenal, one that refuses to join the International Atomic Energy Agency or submit to inspections, and one that has a history of engaging in military first-strikes against its neighbors?

That country, of course, is Israel.

What country’s nuclear capacity is currently a threat to peace in the Middle East?

Erica Hahn, Monrovia

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To the editor: I have been a vocal liberal for all of my adult life, and I still am. I have supported President Obama since the beginning, donating money and walking precincts for him in Nevada. It was the work of people like me that allowed him to carry an otherwise red state.

Now I am profoundly disappointed (as I was by Jimmy Carter in his time, and on the same issue). I see Obama as the Neville Chamberlain of our moment and Netanyahu as Winston Churchill, warning us of the danger at hand.

Irwin Spector, Studio City

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