Netanyahu address: is Obama on a collision course with Israel?

The White House has pre-empted an anticipated attack by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the US approach to Iran's nuclear programme by revealing details of an emerging deal that seeks to limit Tehran's nuclear capacities for a decade. But tensions over Netanyahu’s speech to the United States Congress are high.

The Israeli prime minister is expected to underline the serious threat Iran poses to his country's "survival" in a speech that has polarised Democrats and Republicans, and "plunged US relations with Israel to new lows", The Guardian says.

In anticipation of the speech, Susan Rice, Obama's national security adviser, addressed a pro-Israeli lobby about the administration's plans, and the president spoke to journalists about how the international coalition is negotiating with the Iranian government over Iran's civil enrichment capabilities.

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Obama spoke in scathing terms about Netanyahu's approach to the question. "[Netanyahu] thinks that the best way to do that is either through doubling down on more sanctions or through military action, ensuring that Iran has absolutely no enrichment capabilities whatsoever," he told Reuters. "And there's no expert on Iran or nuclear proliferation around the world that seriously thinks that Iran is going to respond to additional sanctions by eliminating its nuclear program."

Some commentators in Washington see the speech as a tipping point in the US Jewish community's attitude to Israel. "For some time, there has been a greater diversity of viewpoints on Israel issues within Israel than within the American Jewish community," Adam Schiff, a Jewish Democrat from California told The New York Times. "You're now starting to see more diversity of opinion in the pro-Israel community here."

There is a history of "bad blood" between Obama and Netanyahu, says Simon Tisdall in The Guardian. "This level of public recrimination has not been seen since George HW Bush fell out with Yitzhak Shamir over illegal settlements in 1991, and perhaps not even then".

The decision by House Speaker John Boehner to have Netanyahu deliver a speech on security to a joint assembly of Congress has also effectively helped the Republicans to drive a wedge into the Democratic caucus, says the [5]Washington Post. Many Democrats now face the question of whether to be seen "as condoning an effort to undercut President Obama on foreign policy or to be seen as bucking a politically potent ally".

The clash between the US president and the Israeli prime minister marks a significant moment in US-Israeli relations, says The Times. "The defiant decision of Benjamin … represents a watershed in the dismal relations between Jerusalem and the Obama administration".

In the run-up to an election in Israel, the White House has attempted to paint the move as crude electioneering, but "it is a necessary speech" The Times says. Netanyahu sees the nuclear deal with Tehran as a first step towards turning Iran into a "de facto ally and a regional power-broker". And while relations between Obama and Netanyahu have never been warm "the US should recognise that Iran cannot be blindly trusted", the paper concludes.