Dershowitz, Netanyahu and liberal boycotts

Although I have my differences with Professor Dershowitz, I don't question his intellectual integrity. He will stand for hie view of the Constitution no matter what party is in power. Being a liberal Democrat and a Jew, he is again showing he is not the hypocrite many on the left are.

The Appalling Talk of Boycotting Netanyahu

By Alan M. Dershowitz

As a liberal Democrat who twice campaigned for President Barack Obama , I am appalled that some Democratic members of Congress are planning to boycott the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on March 3 to a joint session of Congress. At bottom, this controversy is not mainly about protocol and politics—it is about the constitutional system of checks and balances and the separation of powers.

Under the Constitution, the executive and legislative branches share responsibility for making and implementing important foreign-policy decisions. Congress has a critical role to play in scrutinizing the decisions of the president when these decisions involve national security, relationships with allies and the threat of nuclear proliferation.

Congress has every right to invite, even over the president’s strong objection, any world leader or international expert who can assist its members in formulating appropriate responses to the current deal being considered with Iran regarding its nuclear-weapons program. Indeed, it is the responsibility of every member of Congress to listen to Prime Minister Netanyahu, who probably knows more about this issue than any world leader, because it threatens the very existence of the nation state of the Jewish people.

Congress has the right to disagree with the prime minister, but the idea that some members of Congress will not give him the courtesy of listening violates protocol and basic decency to a far greater extent than anything Mr. Netanyahu is accused of doing for having accepted an invitation from Congress.

Recall that President Obama sent British Prime Minister David Cameron to lobby Congress with phone calls last month against conditionally imposing new sanctions on Iran if the deal were to fail. What the president objects to is not that Mr. Netanyahu will speak to Congress, but the content of what he intends to say. This constitutes a direct intrusion on the power of Congress and on the constitutional separation of powers.

Not only should all members of Congress attend Mr. Netanyahu’s speech, but President Obama—as a constitutional scholar—should urge members of Congress to do their constitutional duty of listening to opposing views in order to check and balance the policies of the administration.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with Speaker John Boehner ’s decision to invite Mr. Netanyahu or Mr. Netanyahu’s decision to accept, no legal scholar can dispute that Congress has the power to act independently of the president in matters of foreign policy. Whether any deal with Iran would technically constitute a treaty requiring Senate confirmation, it is certainly treaty-like in its impact. Moreover, the president can’t implement the deal without some action or inaction by Congress....

Diplomatic courtesy and other issues of foreign policy protocol have little to do with the regime of B Hussein Obama. This is the same group that gave the British Prime Minister a gift of classic American films that cannot be viewed on British DVD systems. Also there is national embarrassment of the Dalai Lama being sent into and out of the White House by the trash cans.

But you are completely right sir, the members of Congress should listen to the leader of the only democracy in the Middle East and one of the few men in the international community screaming from the top of his lungs about the Iranian nuclear program. Now this I find interesting.

...Another reason members of Congress should not boycott Mr. Netanyahu’s speech is that support for Israel has always been a bipartisan issue. The decision by some members to boycott Israel’s prime minister endangers this bipartisan support. This will not only hurt Israel but will also endanger support for Democrats among pro-Israel voters. I certainly would never vote for or support a member of Congress who walked out on Israel’s prime minister.

I must respectfully disagree with you there Mr. Dershowitz, the Democrats will not loose the 70% support among American Jews. For many Jews in this country, the first religion is liberalism and Israeli is not as critical an issue for them as supporting big government. So yes, the Democrats will continue to be supported by the Jewish vote.

Otherwise an excellent article to read and absorb.