When is an invitation not just an invitation, but a defiant breach of protocol, a rash partisan move, and a self-interested political tactic?

When House Speaker Kevin McCarthy travels abroad to invite an embattled, highly unpopular world leader to Washington to address Congress about the White House’s reservations, critics argue.

The Bakersfield Republican this week led a delegation to Israel, where he lauded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, becoming only the second speaker of the US House to address the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, after Newt Gingrich in 1998.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, is on trial for corruption and has begun plans to change his country’s judiciary and other institutions in ways that many Israelis believe will permanently undermine democracy. His actions have sparked massive protests across the board in Israel, drawing military officers, academics and ordinary citizens alike.

In unusual criticism, President Biden has said Netanyahu’s efforts risk violating values ​​he says the US and Israel have long shared. Biden has emphatically refused to invite Netanyahu to the White House since the latter returned to power late last year, a rarity for two such close allies.

Biden waited too long to welcome Netanyahu, McCarthy said in Jerusalem. “If that doesn’t happen, I will invite the prime minister to meet the House,” he told the Netanyahu-friendly Israel Hayom newspaper, founded by Sheldon Adelson, the late American casino tycoon and mega-donor of GOP and right-wing Israeli causes.

At one point, it was taboo for elected U.S. officials to travel abroad and criticize the foreign policy of the U.S. government. It’s the never out of the water doctrine, say what you want at home but not abroad.

Such diplomatic rules seem to be a thing of the past.

McCarthy’s invitation to Netanyahu recalls a similar move by Republican lawmakers

WHO

in 2015

when they brought

the Israeli Prime Minister to Washington to address a joint session of Congress.

on that journey,

Netanyahu emphatically skipped the White House, then occupied by President Obama, with whom relations were frosty. He used his speech to attack one of Obama’s major foreign policy initiatives

the international agreement that restricted Iran’s nuclear activities.

But several diplomats and analysts said McCarthy’s performance is more blatant in some ways. It continues to firmly position the GOP in Netanyahu’s increasingly controversial camp.

Israel was probably first used as a partisan wedge issue during Gingrich’s tenure in the late 1990s.

The trend was reinforced by former President Trump, who settled in Netanyahu’s favor and openly favored Israel on all issues, including

are

long conflict with the Palestinians. He moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, defying the decades-long view that the holy city remained a moot point.

This approach was criticized by numerous American and Israeli diplomats and politicians.

The strength of US support for Israel is traditionally rooted in its position as a bipartisan issue. Support never faltered, regardless of who was in the White House or which political party controlled Congress.

In his address to the Knesset, McCarthy said he paid tribute to

“

two-piece

“

support for Israel. But others saw it as the opposite.

McCarthy’s move shows how partisan Israel has become in US politics with Rs as the Israel we love you right or wrong party, said Aaron David Miller, a veteran US diplomat who has worked in the Middle East for decades. Twitter.

It fits very well with Republican efforts to corner the market for support for Israel and to portray Democrats as uncommitted at best, Miller continued. It is a natural symbiosis and that is why it is so dangerous.

McCarthy was probably trying to accommodate

American

Jewish voters

in the U.S,

as well as those pro-Israel members of his GOP insurgent base

,

who have tested his tenuous grip on power. But his calculation is wrong

the –

brand, according to shifting public opinion.

Long

–

Over time, loyal American supporters of Israel have turned increasingly against Netanyahu’s current government, which is populated with extremist ultras.

–

Orthodox and Ultra

nationalist politicians. Hundreds of American Jews have held protest rallies outside Israeli diplomatic missions in numerous American cities, while hundreds of thousands of Israelis have regularly held street demonstrations in Tel Aviv since the beginning of the year.

Alon Pinkas, a political commentator and retired Israeli diplomat, said he doubted McCarthy’s aid to Netanyahu would help land

the prime minister anhim in the

oval office

visit

. McCarthy’s “sycophantic relationship with Trump” has made him “a voodoo doll” to the White House and most Democrats, Pinkas wrote in

hair net,

the Israeli newspaper

hairnet

who is highly critical of Netanyahu.

“His promise, or threat, to invite Netanyahu to D.C. if Biden doesn’t, may be the Israeli prime minister’s desperate attempt to come to Washington. However, it can be counterproductive,” said Pinkas. “What it does is further only identify Netanyahu with the Republicans in direct confrontation with Biden.”

When asked about McCarthy’s visit to Israel, Biden administration officials said they were aware of the speaker’s comments, but reiterated that a visit by Netanyahu to the White House was not on the agenda.

“Israeli leaders have a long tradition of visiting Washington”

White House

That said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby

for years

friendship Biden and Netanyahu have shared. Kirby said he expected a visit from Netanyahu “someday,” but that the government would continue “open-hearted discussions” with Israel about its judiciary reforms and other actions that could affect the rights of secular Jews and minorities .

At the State Department, where criticism of Netanyahu’s policies was sparse but sharp, officials were also not

–

stake. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said he would not comment on “a hypothetical” when asked.

or

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was scheduled to meet Netanyahu

if he was

in town at McCarthy’s best.

“We will of course remain in close contact with our Israeli partners at all levels,” Patel said. “Our relationship and partnership with Israel is deeply rooted. … We will continue to engage with them, and I have no visits or anything to preview.”