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US should arrest Netanyahu if he comes to Capitol next month: Politician

Thursday, 22 January 2015 12:32 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 22 January 2015 1:19 AM ]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with US Secretary of State Kerry

US Attorney General Eric Holder should order the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he shows up to address Congress next month, American politician Jim Condit Jr. says.

Hours after US President Barack Obama threatened to veto any Iran sanctions bill during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu to Congress to speak about the so-called threat from Iran.

Condit Jr., who ran against Boehner in Cincinnati, Ohio, said that the invitation is “another slap in the face to the American people whether the American people realize it or not.”

“This was clearly done because Obama said last night that he would veto any sanctions Iran,” he added.

The invitation to Netanyahu to address Congress, extended without having consultations with the White House and the State Department, is a sharp rebuke to Obama, who asked the new Republican-dominated Congress to stay out of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

“Netanyahu is being treated as if he is the president of the United States. We need him to come and straighten up the country by addressing Congress,” Condit Jr. wondered.

He went on to say that “this is a landmark bootlicking event by John Boehner, the House speaker, where they are again selling the interests of the United States to kowtow this very powerful organized Jewish lobby and Israel.”

“The best thing that could happen if Netanyahu shows up to give speech before Congress is if the attorney general of the United States, together with other countries, would arrest Netanyahu and send him off to The Hague to stand trial for crimes against humanity, the crimes he did against the Palestinian people over his ten years in office,” he stated.

“Enough is enough. At some point, there got to be some justice here,” he added.

The White House has reacted to news that Netanyahu has been invited to address Congress, saying it would be a departure from protocol.

During his sixth State of the Union speech, Obama warned Congress that any measures to impose new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program would result in the failure of US diplomacy.

A bipartisan group of US senators is pushing a new round of sanctions on Iran and could be part of the Senate’s agenda in coming weeks.

Iran and the P5+1 states - the US, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany - are making intensive efforts to narrow their differences and pave the way for a final, long-term accord aimed at putting an end to the 12-year-old dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program.

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