At this point you have to wonder why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in terms of imagery, doesn’t simply just apply to be a member of the RNC:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined on Tuesday an invitation to meet with U.S. Senate Democrats during his trip to Washington next week.

“Though I greatly appreciate your kind invitation to meet with Democratic Senators, I believe that doing so at this time could compound the misperception of partisanship regarding my upcoming visit,” Netanyahu wrote in a letter to Senators Richard Durbin and Dianne Feinstein obtained by Reuters.

Durbin and Feinstein, two senior Senate Democrats, invited Netanyahu to a closed-door meeting with Democratic senators in a letter on Monday, warning that making U.S.-Israeli relations a partisan political issue could have “lasting repercussions.”

Republican congressional leaders broke diplomatic protocol by consulting neither the White House nor Democrats in Congress before inviting Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and Senate.

No matter how Netanyahu slices it — and no matter what defense-lawyer like arguments his supporters here and in the United States now use to defend it, the Israeli P.M. has done a Three Stooges eye poke into the eye of the White House on this and now in his statements and actions has essentially jumped in and taken sides in an ongoing power struggle between the GOP’s Speaker of the House John Boehner and President Barack Obama. Netanyahu’s action and Boenher’s invitation without clearing it with the White House and almost gleeful insistance the the speech will go on as timed despite the White House and State Department’s wishes suggest he has a)taken partisan sides in America’s (tiresome) 24/7 partisan war b)framed this for maximum political advantage in his re-election battle — which he is likely to win.

There will be all kinds of lawyerly like and debating game arguments from those defending him on this but, yes, Boeher’s action and Netanuahu’s behavior are indeed unprecedented.

And now, no matter how he argues it, refusing to meet with Democrats is one more bit of imagery: he is taking a PARTISAN prerference stand. And all the arguments and attacks on those who sugggest he is will not alter this imagery. In 21st century politics, the way it works is that partisans repeat a mantra over and over as if it’ll be fact. They can repeat this mantra for as many years as Moses wandered in the desert and it won’t alter the facts.

Netanyahu has faced criticism at home and abroad for his decision to address the U.S. Congress two weeks before Israeli elections and at a sensitive point in international negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.

In his letter, Netanyahu said he agreed “wholeheartedly” that strong ties between the United States and Israel have been built on bipartisan support. “I also fully understand the importance of bipartisan support for ensuring that our alliance remains strong in the future,” he wrote.

He expressed appreciation for the opportunity to address lawmakers from both parties on Tuesday and said he regretted that the invitation has been perceived by some as partisan.

“I can assure you my sole intention in accepting it was to voice Israel’s grave concerns about a potential nuclear agreement with Iran that could threaten the survival of my country,” Netanyahu wrote.

Nope.

He could have done this in other ways and he and those defending him know it.

And he could have postponed his speech slightly.

And, if not, since when are foreign leaders allowed to directly go into the United States and in effect campaign against the White House and State Department using a forum where they will be assured of a)media coverage because of the forcum b)being backed by a banch of government in sharp conflict with another branch of government?

Not meeting with the Democrats will confirm the suspicions that Mr. Netanyahu is letting his favorites and least favorites be known.

And, increasingly, it seems as if the suspicions are correct.

FOOTNOTE: If you surf the internet and twitter you can see how political this is by how conservative writers, Fox News, are almost gleefully reporting that he won’t meet with the Democrats. So, yes, the Israeli Prime Minister is morphing into one more political activist making it clear that he prefers one political party, and has a partisan and ideological cheering section in the U.S. as he does.

Here are a few of the other Tweets from those not cheering Netanyahu on:

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JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.

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