The Hill, March 2, 2015
by Josh Ruebner, Contributor
The breach of protocol by the Speaker of the House — inviting a foreign head of state to address Congress with the explicit goal of undermining the president’s foreign policy — has unleashed furious partisan rancor surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech tomorrow. National Security Adviser Susan Rice deemed the speech “destructive of the fabric of the relationship” between the United States and Israel.
More than two dozen Democratic members of Congress, in addition to GOP Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.), have publicly pledged to skip the speech to show their support for President Obama’s goal of negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran. Additional offices have privately confirmed that they are joining the growing ranks of speech skippers as well.