Former secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Wednesday slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday, accusing him of "interfering in our internal affairs."
The Hill reports that in an
interview with MSNBC, Albright said: "I don't want to interfere in Israeli internal affairs, but it strikes me that there is an awful lot going on in his neighborhood in the Middle East, and that's where he should be."
Iran's Press TV prominently featured Albright's attack on Netanyahu and noted that senior Obama administration officials like Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden have said they would not attend the Israeli leader's March 3 congressional address.
The regime-controlled station also noted that three Democratic members of Congress — Reps. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Maxine Waters of California, and Steve Cohen of Tennessee — sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner calling on him to postpone Netanyahu's speech.
"The timing of this invitation and lack of coordination with the White House indicate that this is not an ordinary diplomatic visit," the trio wrote.
Instead, "this appears to be an attempt to promote new sanctions legislation against Iran that could undermine critical negotiations between the P5+1[the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany] and Iran," they added.
But according to Netanyahu, it is vital that he speak out because his nation's very survival is threatened by the prospect of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons.
"I intend to speak about this issue before the March 24th deadline [for a framework agreement between world powers and Iran] and I intend to speak in the U.S. Congress because Congress might have an important role on a nuclear deal with Iran,"
he said.
Netanyahu said current tensions with Washington are the result of honest differences over the Obama administration's approach to Iran. He believes that the White House is pursuing a fatally flawed negotiating approach that will move Tehran closer to developing nuclear weapons and that that will put his nation in mortal peril.
"Israel's survival is not a partisan issue, not in Israel nor in the United States," the Israeli leader added. "This doesn't mean that from time to time Israeli governments have not had serious disagreements with American administrations over the best way to achieve the security of Israel."
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