Netanyahu: ‘Great respect’ for Obama

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said his controversial speech to a joint session of Congress is not intended to “inject Israel into the American partisan debate.”

Speaking at the conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), where he received multiple standing ovations, Netanyahu stressed that his address on Tuesday is not “intended to show any disrespect to President Obama or to the esteemed office that he holds,” adding he has “great respect for both.”

“The last thing that I would want is for Israel to become a partisan issue, and I regret that some people have perceived my visit here this week as doing that.”

{mosads}Netanyahu is a vocal critic of the U.S.-led international negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) invited the Israeli leader to lay out his concerns in an address to Congress but did not notify President Obama of the invitation, angering Democrats.

The Israeli leader, who is up for reelection in two weeks, said his country must not stand idly by in the face of threats from Iran.

“We have a voice, and tomorrow, as the prime minister of the one and only Jewish state, I plan to use that voice,” he said, referring to his speech to Congress.

“I plan to speak about an Iranian regime that is threatening to destroy Israel, that’s devouring country after country in the Middle East, that’s exporting terror throughout the world and is developing, as we speak, the capacity to make nuclear weapons. A lot of them.”

Some Democratic lawmakers plan to skip Netanyahu’s address, and Obama and other top administration officials have said they will not meet with him due to the looming election in Israel.

U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power and national security advisor Susan Rice are representing the U.S. at the AIPAC conference. Vice President Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, who each spoke in the past two years, are not attending.

Power spoke before Netanyahu, defending the administration’s choice to seek diplomacy but declaring that America will not let Iran develop a nuclear weapon.

Netanyahu called the disagreement in tactics among allies “only natural from time to time,” but said the U.S. and Israel have different perspectives. While America worries about its safety, he said, Israeli leaders worry about survival.

Still, the Israeli leader ended his speech on a hopeful note, and to yet another standing ovation, as he declared the two nations will “weather this current disagreement to grow even stronger in the future.”

“Our alliance is sound, our friendship is strong, and with your efforts, it will get even stronger in the years to come.”

— Updated at 11:41 am.