Another Pinocchio for the President

Fury regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s acceptance of an invitation from Speaker John Boehner to speak before Congress revolved around an accused breach of protocol.   The White House should be notified of world leaders planning a visit to the US, before the visit.  

President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry claim that the breach of protocol will cause them not see the Prime Minister during his visit.  Vice President Biden has made plans to be out of the country.  Some Democrats in Congress threaten to boycott Netanyahu’s address, giving TV interviews voicing concern over the perceived insult to the President. 

Democrat Congressional minority leader Nancy Pelosi said that she spoke with the Prime Minister, and had stressed that the speech “could send the wrong message in terms of giving diplomacy a chance.”

Democrat Senate minority leader Harry Reid said he had told Mr. Netanyahu that he believed Mr. Boehner had been out of bounds in offering the speaking invitation, and “This was not the right thing to do.”

White House Press Secretary claimed that the President learned of the invitation from Speaker Boehner to Prime Minister Netanyahu just before it was publically announced.  State Department spokesman Jen Psaki implied that Netanyahu had not informed the White House.  The New York Times and other liberal media carried the lack of protocol story as fact.

The New York Times printed David Bernstein’s correction of the factually challenged protocol story on January 30, 2015:   “An earlier version of this article misstated when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel accepted Speaker John A. Boehner’s invitation to address Congress. He accepted after the administration had been informed of the invitation, not before.” 

Bernstein further commented: “We have a situation in which the administration was so grossly incompetent that it was circulating false information about Netanyahu from multiple spokespeople, or that it intentionally sought to undermine Netanyahu by lying about his alleged 'breach of protocol.”

The White House has still not retracted claims regarding a breach of protocol, and what they claimed was a scheme to go behind the President’s back, embarrass him, undermine U.S. Policy towards Iran, and incur the wrath of pro Israel Americans.   

The feared outcomes predicted by the White House may come true; but not because of their claimed breach of protocol.