Nearly two dozen among most liberal Democrats send letter to House speaker claiming address amounts to political gamesmanship over Iran sanctions

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Almost two dozen liberal Democrats on Thursday asked the Republican leader of the US House of Representatives to postpone Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint meeting of Congress next month.

“It appears that you are using a foreign leader as a political tool against the president,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to speaker John Boehner.

Netanyahu’s speech is controversial because it comes as the Obama administration is negotiating with Iran over that country’s nuclear program negotiations that Netanyahu says could put Israel at risk. The speech is also set just two weeks before Netanyahu faces voters at home for re-election.

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Republicans are pushing tougher sanctions on Tehran. Boehner did not consult with the White House before inviting Netanyahu.

“This appears to be an attempt to promote new sanctions legislation against Iran that could undermine critical negotiations,” the Democrats wrote.

Generally speaking, the 23 lawmakers who signed the letter are among the most left-leaning Democrats, representing 12% of their party’s House membership.

“Support for the State of Israel in Congress has always been bipartisan, and it should remain so,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu responded on Thursday to White House claims that some specifics of the nuclear talks with Iran have been withheld from Israel.

Israel’s prime minister spoke one day after the Obama administration said it is keeping some details from Israel because it fears the close US ally has leaked sensitive information to try to scuttle the talks and will continue to do so.

Netanyahu said it is a “bad agreement”, and asked: “If anyone thinks otherwise, what is there to hide here?”