U.S., Israel trade jabs over Netanyahu's 'destructive' speech

Tension between Israel and the United States escalated Wednesday as senior Obama administration officials publicly admonished Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for accepting an invitation to address Congress two weeks before Israeli elections and questioned his judgment on nuclear talks with Iran.

National security adviser Susan Rice said in a television interview Tuesday that the Israeli prime minister's actions were "destructive" to the close ties between the two countries.

Netanyahu fired back Wednesday, accusing the United States and its negotiating partners of abandoning the commitment to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Relations between Israel and the United States have plummeted since Netanyahu accepted the invitation by House Speaker John A. Boehner (R., Ohio) to deliver a speech Tuesday on the perils he sees in striking a deal with Iran over its nuclear program.

Boehner did not consult the White House or State Department before issuing the invitation, a move that administration officials have called a breach of protocol.

In an interview on the PBS program Charlie Rose, Rice said Netanyahu's decision to go ahead with the address had "injected a degree of partisanship which is not only unfortunate, I think it's destructive of the fabric of the relationship" between the two countries.

"The relationship between Israel as a country and the United States as a country has always been bipartisan," Rice said. "We need to keep it that way."

Obama has said that he won't meet with Netanyahu so close to the March 17 elections in case it is seen as trying to influence the outcome. Vice President Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry plan to be out of town, and several Democratic lawmakers have said they will skip the speech in protest.

The Israeli prime minister on Tuesday turned down an invitation to meet privately with Senate Democrats, saying it "could compound the misconception of partisanship regarding my upcoming visit."

"I regret that the invitation to address the special joint session of Congress has been perceived by some to be political or partisan," Netanyahu said in a letter to Sens. Richard J. Durbin (D., Ill.) and Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.). "I can assure you that my sole intention in accepting it was to voice Israel's grave concerns about a potential nuclear agreement with Iran that could threaten the survival of my country."

Netanyahu's defenders say the approaching deadline for an accord with Iran justifies the timing of his speech. Negotiators have given themselves until the end of March to work out a framework and set a June 30 deadline to complete a deal.

The United States and five other powers - Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China - have been trying to persuade Iran to agree to strict monitoring and limits on its uranium enrichment program in exchange for easing and ultimately lifting economic sanctions on the country.

Netanyahu accuses Tehran of not negotiating in good faith and claims the administration is preparing to accept terms that would enable Iran to someday build nuclear weapons.