Wickham: Netanyahu's speech insult to blacks Israeli prime minister's end around Obama disrespects not only America's first black president.

DeWayne Wickham | USATODAY

On the eve of his ill-conceived address to a joint session of Congress, Benjamin Netanyahu told cheering delegates at the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that he'd come to Washington to make his case against Iran, not to disrespect President Obama.

But, in fact, he has managed to do just that. The Israeli prime minister's decision to bypass the normal diplomatic protocol and accept a Republican invitation to address Congress on Tuesday is a personal affront to America's first black president.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Ron Dermer, Israel's ambassador to the United States, secretly negotiated the invitation, with Dermer agreeing not to let the White House in on those discussions. A more obvious act of disrespect is hard to imagine.

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"This is a real in-your-face slap at the president, and black folks know it," Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., told me. "He (Netanyahu) wouldn't have done it to any other president."

When I asked Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat and highest-ranking black in the House, why the Israeli prime minister would be so disrespectful of Obama, he responded: "You know why."

I think I do. By agreeing to sidestep normal diplomatic channels to address Congress, Netanyahu has become an instrument of a Republican Party that has shown an unbridled, personal disrespect for Obama, his wife and children since this black family moved into the building many Republicans apparently think is literally a white house.

Of course, Netanyahu has every right to criticize the nuclear arms deal the Obama administration is brokering with Iran. He fears it will leave Iran with the capability to produce a nuclear weapon. But Netanyahu easily could have voiced that criticism on Israeli TV, in a 60 Minutes interview or on Fox News. But his GOP handlers craved the symbolism of a foreign leader attacking Obama's foreign policy in a speech to Congress.

By plotting with Republicans to take his differences with Obama to the floor of Congress, he has angered some black leaders like no Israeli leader since former Israeli foreign minister Moshe Dayan publicly disparaged the intelligence of blacks in the U.S. Army. Back in 1980, Dayan questioned the ability of the U.S. to respond militarily to Middle East trouble spots because the U.S. Army had too many black soldiers "who have a lower education and intelligence." The U.S. Army, he said, needed "better blood and brains."

Dayan's ignorant talk drew sharp rebuttals from a wide range of black leaders, including Rep. Shirley Chisholm, D-N.Y., and then-Secretary of the Army Clifford Alexander, the first black to hold that position. According to The New York Times, 90.6% of black Army recruits in 1981 had a high school degree, compared with just 76.3% of white recruits.

Netanyahu may not have set out to offend Obama's black supporters, but that's certainly been the result. "Hell will freeze over before I attend" the prime minister's address, Clyburn said a few days before Netanyahu arrived in Washington. Other black legislators, including Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., who chairs the 46-member Congressional Black Caucus, and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., the legendary civil rights activist, announced weeks ago that they would boycott Netanyahu's speech.

Even more harmful, by conspiring with Boehner, Netanyahu has become a prop for the GOP's efforts to defeat Obama at every turn, no matter what the chicanery costs in American money and blood.

Last week, Susan Rice, the president's national security adviser, called Netanyahu's decision to address Congress "destructive." She was talking about relations between the Israeli prime minister and Obama — who has nearly two years remaining in his presidency. By becoming an instrument of the GOP's mean-spirited war on Obama, Netanyahu has done great harm to his relationship with the president and his supporters in Congress.

Now, Netanyahu — I believe — has a lot of blacks wondering whether Israeli voters will affirm his mistreatment of this nation's first black president when they go to the polls on March 17 to choose a government that speaks for them.

DeWayne Wickham, dean of Morgan State University's School of Global Journalism and Communication, writes on Tuesdays.

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