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Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to cancel his planned speech to Congress on March 3, saying it will cause "strategic damage" to Israel's ties with the United States. "I call on Netanyahu again: Stop. Enough, Bibi, enough. You aren't going. Don't go. You will cause strategic damage to Israel's standing and to the relationship with the United States," Herzog said at a press conference, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. Herzog also condemned Netanyahu's decision not to meet with Senate Democrats when he goes to Washington next week, saying the prime minister is...

Matthews said, “Let me finish tonight with this crapstorm that has Netanyahu has started. All the Prime Minister had to do to avoid all this fighting with Washington was to speak out. That’s what he could have done, speak out the second he heard that the invitation for him to address the US Congress was issued without the knowledge of the American President. All he had to do was say ‘I will only come if this invitation is bipartisan, and certainly only if the President of the United States has approved it.’ All he had to do was that just...

Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs Yuval Steinitz responded on Wednesday to criticism that US Secretary of State John Kerry had apparently directed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his stance on how to address the Iranian nuclear threat, Israel’s NRG reported. Steinitz, a key Netanyahu loyalist, said, “[Kerry] might not know everything we know,” referring to Kerry’s implication on Tuesday that being as Israel is not involved in the minutiae of the upcoming agreement with Tehran about its nuclear program, it therefore cannot comment on the nature of the agreement’s outcome. Steinitz’ remarks followed comments made by Secretary Kerry...

Speaking to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry reminded Congress that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was an advocate of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears before both houses of Congress next week, Secretary of State John F. Kerry won’t be there — he’ll be in Geneva trying to hammer out the final details of a nuclear deal with Iran that the Israeli leader in coming to Washington to argue against. Mr. Netanyahu will use the speech to warn U.S. lawmakers of the danger associated with cutting a nuclear deal with Iran that allows the Islamic republic to continue enriching uranium at any level — even for producing electricity. But when Mr. Netanyahu appears before Congress on March 3,...

PM says from the emerging nuclear agreement "it appears [world powers] have given up" on their commitment regarding Iran. As criticism both in Israel and the US of his planned speech to Congress continues to mount, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu framed the debate over Iran in stark life-and-death terms on Wednesday. “I respect the White House and the US President,” he said of the friction his decision to address Congress has triggered, “but on a matter so fateful that it could determine whether we exist or not, my obligation is do everything to prevent such a great danger to the...

Tensions between Israel and the U.S. continue to rise over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming Congress address. President Barack Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice said Tuesday that the Israeli premier's March 3 speech is "destructive" to the relationship between the two countries. Rice made the comments in an interview with Charlie Rose on PBS. The remarks came hours after Secretary of State John Kerry slammed Netanyahu over his opposition to the unfolding nuclear deal with Iran. "The relationship between the U.S. and Israel has always been bipartisan and we have been fortunate that the politics have not been injected...

RUSH: Jeff in Macomb, Michigan. I may not be able to get you all in. We'll hold you through the break if necessary. How are you, sir? CALLER: Hey, good afternoon, Rush. I know we're talking about net neutrality today, but -- RUSH: No, no. Anything you want. That's fine. CALLER: Thank you, Rush. The details of what John Kerry has agreed to with the Iranian negotiating team are being reported in the Middle East, but it's difficult to find them in English and I'd like to very briefly mention them. The Obama administration is agreeing to 6,500 spinning centrifuges...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined on Tuesday an invitation to meet with US Senate Democrats during his trip to Washington next week. "Though I greatly appreciate your kind invitation to meet with Democratic Senators, I believe that doing so at this time could compound the misperception of partisanship regarding my upcoming visit," Netanyahu wrote in a letter to Senators Richard Durbin and Dianne Feinstein obtained by Reuters. Durbin and Feinstein had invited Netanyahu to a closed-door meeting with Democratic senators in a letter on Monday.

Netanyahu is expected to criticize the White House’s negotiations on Iran's nuclear program in his March 3 speech. SKIPPING House (23) Rep. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.), Rep. G.K. Butterfield (N.C.), Rep. Andre Carson (Ind.), Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Rep. Diana DeGette (Colo.), Rep. Donna Edwards (Md.), Rep. Keith Ellison (Minn.), Rep. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.), Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (Ill.), Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas), Rep. Barbara Lee (Calif.), Rep. John Lewis (Ga.), Rep. Betty McCollum (Minn.), Rep. Jim McDermott (Wash.), Rep. Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), Rep. Beto O'Rourke (Texas), Rep. Chellie Pingree (Maine), Rep....

US Secretary of State John Kerry defended the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran on Tuesday in comments that appeared to be directed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As Netanyahu accused the P5+1 group of world powers of giving Iran a green light to maintain the ability to make nuclear weapons, Kerry said that those bad-mouthing the deal are doing so prematurely, before the contours of the deal have been determined. During a tour of the IDF's Southern Command, Netanyahu said that "the information I have received in recent days reinforces our fears in regard to the emerging deal between world...

Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog announced Tuesday he will not be traveling to the US to appear before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual conference, amid growing tensions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned speech to Congress on March 3. "Netanyahu's spin about who is going to Washington must stop," Herzog told a gathering of foreign media in Israel. "My firm position against a nuclear Iran is known by every Israeli and American, including the US president, and I know how to voice it in a sharp, clear manner - from here, not from there." Herzog added: "A...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has reiterated his resolve to speak before Congress later this month, saying Congress could well be the "final brake" stopping a "bad deal" over Iran's nuclear program, which would allow the Islamic Republic to become a nuclear threshold state. Netanyahu made the comments during a tour of the IDF's Southern Command headquarters, along with Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkot and GOC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Sammy Turgeman. "Even after Hamas took the severest blow in its history, we are continuing to monitor its activities and we are prepared for any and all developments,"...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu The emerging U.S.-led deal that would allow Iran to enrich uranium at a limited rate, with the restrictions easing over time, poses a “great danger” to the Western world and Israel from a “messianic, apocalyptic” nation, Israel’s defense minister declared Monday. Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon made the comments as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, against the wishes of President Obama, prepares for a trip to Washington next week to explain in an address to both houses of Congress why he is against the negotiations. As WND reported, the prime minister’s aides have claimed Israel...

Zionist Camp Chairpersons Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni toured the northern border Monday, making it a point to continue their attacks on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. "Bibi's failure against Hamas in the Gaza envelope severely impairs our deterrence against Hezbollah on the northern border," Herzog charged. Livni added that "Israel's security and our power to deter attacks is based on a strong army and our relationship with the United States, that the same Netanyahu would tear to pieces."

KYIV, February 20 /Ukrinform/.The idea of nuclear disarmament has failed and led to a selective reduction of the nuclear arsenal in the world, and, as a result, Ukraine received guarantees that are not performed in exchange for unilateral disarmament. Former Secretary General of NATO [1999-2004] and Secretary of State for Defence and Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland George Robertson expressed this opinion in his article for Herald Scotland, an Ukrinform correspondent reported. "I started my own political career, as many people know, carrying a Ban the Bomb banner. By giving up the Bomb I believed that we would give...

It seems likely that whoever read Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog's interview with the Washington Post over the weekend became confused and thought for a moment that they were reading a statement from the U.S. State Department,or from Secretary of State John Kerry himself. In a demonstration of complete disconnection from reality, Herzog refused to define Iran as an existential threat to Israel, and then said, "I trust Obama to get a good deal." Herzog's words could not help but bring readers back to September 1938, when then-British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned to London amid cheering throngs who praised...

GENEVA - Talks between the United States and Iran on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme have made "some progress" and managed to "sharpen up some of the tough issues" that need resolving, a senior U.S. administration official said on Monday. Political directors from Iran and the six major powers have agreed to resume talks next week at a venue to be decided, the official said, speaking after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held two-day talks in Geneva.

GENEVA - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif met for two hours in Geneva on Sunday in another round of nuclear talks to try to narrow gaps as they pressed against a March 31 deadline to reach a political agreement. The meeting included for the first time U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi, who spent most of the day separately negotiating technical details of curbing Iran's nuclear program. The talks are set to resume on Monday before Kerry returns to Washington in time to testify before...

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani blasted President Barack Obama, saying in a recent speech that Israeli Prime Minster Bejamin Netanyahu is a “a man who fights for his people, unlike our president.” Guiliani’s comments came during a Feb. 13 speech on countering Islamic extremism at the Iranian-American Community of Arizona.