US politicians may “verbally” express support for President Barack Obama’s criticism of an upcoming speech to the Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but they will act otherwise as they know about Israel’s power in the American political system, says a former US congressional staffer.

“They are going to go because they know that Netanyahu wields enormous political power via the Jewish lobby,” Rodney Martin told Press TV on Monday.

The Israeli premier is set to address the Congress on Tuesday over the “threat” of a possible nuclear deal with Iran following an invitation by House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, sent without any consultations from the Obama administration.

The fact that Obama would leave the White House in two years makes the politicians consider him not more than a “lame duck”, while “the Jewish lobby via AIPAC will be around for time and memorial”, Martin further argued.

“Netanyahu has injected himself routinely in the US political dynamic,” noted the former congressional staffer, citing his support for Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election, which “probably hurt” Romney.

However, Obama has still two years in office and this has made many in Israel, according to Martin, to reject the speech, already boycotted by Obama and other high-ranking White House officials.

Israelis “have long said that they control US policies both foreign and domestic,” he noted.

 

Bibi to deliver speech yet respectful to Obama

At a speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee earlier in the day, Netanyahu said his address to the Congress would not be “intended to show any disrespect to President Obama or to the esteemed office that he holds” but he has a “moral obligation to speak up in the face of these dangers.”



Planned without having consultations with the White House and the State Department, the speech further marks a sharp rejection of Obama’s plea for the new Republican-dominated Congress to stay out of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

Tehran and the P5+1 states - the US, France, Britain, Russia, China, and Germany - are making intensive efforts to narrow their differences and pave the way for a final, long-term accord aimed at putting an end to the 12-year-old dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Israel has repeatedly accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons and using the talks to buy time.

Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

By Press TV