Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuThis morning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the United States Congress. We believe he will argue against the United States joining a number of major European powers in signing an agreement with Iran that would temporarily limit the development of nuclear grade enriched uranium and allow for the production of non-nuclear grade material.

Netanyahu views this agreement as simply putting off the inevitable, which would endanger Israel, the Middle East and beyond. However, it might be better to wait for the speech and not put words in the prime minister’s mouth.

The speech comes in the midst of what has been a virtual firestorm of unraveling relationships between two great historic allies – Israel and the United States. In particular, there has been an unfortunate erosion of relationship between Netanyahu and the American President, Barak Obama.

Augmenting the intensity of the discussion are a number of internal political issues. First of all, the invitation for Netanyahu came from Republicans through Senator John Boehner and not from the president’s office, which caused the US Democrats to view the speech as being used by Republicans for political gain. Additionally, the Israeli general elections are scheduled for March 17, where Netanyahu is running for his third term as Prime Minister and is facing considerable opposition on the home front. The timing of his trip and the speech is viewed as Netanyahu using the moment to show that he has influence with a broader coalition of Americans beyond the current president.

Jewish critics in America and Israel are concerned with Iran’s nuclear proliferation, but are also worried about the relationship between the United States and Israel, and see the speech as potentially causing further political damage.

Netanyahu is calling upon the United States to adhere to the agreement made in 2006, UN Security Resolution 1696, which demands the dismantling of the infrastructure for creating weapons grade enriched uranium. Our president agreed to this resolution, but is now wavering on implementation.

According to the New York Times, the