With friends like Israel, do we really need enemies? It seems an understandable question to ask after the embarrassing, empty and condescending speech to Congress by Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday. But of course the answer is that Israel is a friend, a close ally of the United states. It is necessary, however, to recognize that there is a difference the state of Israel and its leaders. We support Israel – but Mr. Netanyahu deserves little.

Everything about his address smelled badly. First, he should never have been invited. That the invitation came from an incompetent simpleton named John Boehner — whose recent behavior makes me wonder if he is becoming unhinged — was nothing less than an insult to the President and to this country. Which, of course, was exactly what Boehner intended. The invitation was extended because the irresponsible Republicans in Congress (that’s not all of them, just a big majority) oppose the President’s efforts to strike a nuclear deal with Iran, and anything that might prevent that is acceptable.

The insult was real. Can you imagine the reaction of those same shameless Republicans had a foreign leader been invited to address Congress in 2003 opposing President Bush’s Iraq invasion? Their whines would still be heard, and rightly so. But they are without decency and common sense in this instance, swooning over Netanyahu as if he were a rock star instead of a careless, unprincipled politician whose actions have done as much if not more to block Middle East peace than George Bush.

In his address, Netanyahu sharply criticized current negotiations with Iran, warning they imperil the safety of his country. Do we need the leader of a foreign nation telling us what our policies should be? As long as our President is a black man named Obama, I’d say the Republicans would answer with an almost unanimous “yes.” It is to me condescending, rude and insulting. And wrong. Netanyahu offers nothing, only opposition to negotiations. He doesn’t and trust the Iranians. Well, neither do we, but a negotiated deal is better than nothing, allowing the Iranians to spur development of nuclear weapons, They’ve already made clear addition all economic sanctions won’t prevent them. And no one in their right mind currently suggests we start bombing Iran to stop it. Oops, did I forget John McCain?

Netanyahu says we can’t trust and work with the Iranian government. So if they are so intent on dominating the Middle East, no nuclear agreement will stop them, right? So what’s left to keep them from getting the bomb? Regime change? Well, yes, that was the unspoken part of his address, unspoken because he knows that after our misguided Iraq invasion, we’re not about to throw tens of thousands of Americans into a war with Iran. And if Netanyahu is so intent on securing peace in the region, how about putting an end to continuing Israeli settlements in the West Bank?

Nope, no mention of that in the speech. No touches of political reality entered the conversation between the Prime Minister and the Republicans. Opportunism was the dominant element of the day. Shameless, senseless Republicans and a crooked, smirking politician from Israel make unsurprising bedfellows, don’t they?