Aaron Schacter, Assignment Editor with the WGBH program "The World" joined Morning Edition's Bob Seay to talk about the implications of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address on a US-Iranian nuclear deal to a joint session of Congress Tuesday. Schacter says that it was one of the few times that the political spectrum of the Jewish community agreed on one thing: Netanyahu may have good points, but he should not have gone before congress.
Controversy swirled about the address in the days leading up to the address, with some members of congress-- including many New England delegates-- publicly boycotting the speech. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representatives Jim McGovern and Katherine Clark and Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse were not in attendance, finding the speech arranged by Republican House speaker John Boehner without telling the White House, inappropriate.
Following the Prime Minister's appearance, President Obama noted that the speech on Iran's nuclear program said "nothing new". Netanyahu's speech sought a tougher stance against Iran, accusing the Obama administration of negotiating a "bad deal" with Iran that will allow that country to develop a nuclear bomb. However Schacter notes that by the time it was all said and done, Israel gained some unlikely support from Arab neighbors in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf regarding the threat of Iran's nuclear ambitions.
