US House Speaker Boehner creates mischief

SPEAKER of the US House of Representative, John Boehner recently took it upon himself to personally invite the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to speak before the American Congress on the issue of Iran, two weeks before the March 17th elections in Israel. This flagrant breach of protocol resulted in the White House announcing that President Obama would not see the Israeli Prime Minister when he was in Washington. And Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, called on Mr. Netanyahu to cancel the proposed speech to the US Congress.

This unnecessary bit of mischief has created an embarrassing situation between the two governments. The United States and Israel are firm allies. But this “irresponsible” act, as one White House official called it, provoked hard feelings. And if Mr. Netanyahu had hoped that this speech would bolster his international standing as a statesman, the undiplomatic way it was handled has, instead, created a backlash not only from the White House but from Democrats in Congress, which is a blow to Israel, which has prided itself on maintaining bipartisan support in the US Congress.

The chemistry between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu has never been especially good. And it deteriorated in 2012 when the White House accused Mr. Netanyahu of meddling in the US presidential campaign by embracing the Republican presidential challenger, Mitt Romney, when Romney visited Jerusalem.

This recent fiasco is a direct result of Speaker Boehner’s overstepping his authority. A House speaker’s actions are normally limited to domestic issues and they do not deal with foreign policy. And the Speaker has no power to dictate a White House schedule.