Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) said that Republicans support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because “they stand up for anybody that criticizes Barack Obama” on Tuesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” on MSNBC.
“I get why my Republican friends stand up. They stand up for anybody that criticizes Barack Obama. Barack Obama says ‘yes,’ they say ‘no.’ If he says ‘white,’ they say ‘black.’ We know that. They’re against everything Barack Obama — that’s always united. I want there to be a more fundamental unity with Israel, a strategic unity. We’re their best friends and they are our best friends and friends don’t have public spats like this. Friends work with each other and respect each other” he stated.
Gutierrez also said that he boycotted Netanyahu’s speech because “I didn’t want to be part of a political prop two weeks before an election…what did he say today that he couldn’t have said in two weeks? At which point he may very well be elected — re-elected prime minister and come back with that mandate, and then we could have sat down as friends and allies and the strategic alliance that we have with Israel without the kind of bipartisan shift.”
When asked about Netanyahu’s point that North Korea has cheated on agreements and blocked inspections and that Iran is guilty of cheating as well, he responded “they said the same thing to Nixon. They said the same thing to Reagan, and we need to verify.”
He concluded, “I’d like to give the negotiations an opportunity so that we can see the final plan. We don’t know all of the plan. but here’s — you know, Andrea, I guess I’m a little lucky, I’m one of the members of the Intelligence Committee, so last year I said to myself, ‘wow, given the kind of information I have and the kind of certainty that our intelligence services feel in terms of being able to monitor the deal, you can always strike militarily against Iran, but to have a negotiated settlement is a one-time proposition.’ If they falter, we will not falter in making sure. I think the president was pretty clear, right and so was Susan Rice and everybody yesterday. We are not going to accept a bad deal, and we’re not going to accept a deal that puts at risk the certainty of the State of Israel, that’s not who I am — that’s not we are as a nation.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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