PM Benjamin Netanyahu gives House Speaker John Boehner a scroll of the book of Esther, Tuesday – Photo: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO

“I think Netanyahu’s speech was an excellent mix of content, logic and emotion,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Israel Hayom. “He came here to remind us what a bad deal is and that we don’t have to accept it.”

Graham noted that Netanyahu “told us that not accepting a bad deal does not mean war. Netanyahu came here to Washington and served as an alarm clock to Congress. The prime minister of Israel came here to make clear to us that if we lift the sanctions, Iran will not change. And what will Iran do with the money? What, you think it will suddenly invest in education? In schools? No, this money would be used to continue Iran’s arms race. Netanyahu could not have come to us at a better time.”

Graham is among the senators promoting a bill that would require President Barack Obama to submit any final nuclear deal with Iran for approval by Congress. If passed, the bill would give Congress two months to consider a deal after it was announced.

“I believe this could help block an agreement,” Graham said. “For us, a nuclear Iran is a question of security. For Israel, it is a question of survival.”

Republican House Speaker John Boehner in a statement to the press, “This was a speech the American people needed to hear, plain and simple. It addressed the gravity of the threats we face and why we cannot allow a nuclear Iran, or any semblance of a path to a nuclear Iran. It demonstrated why there is such deep-seated — and bipartisan — concern about the deal that is being made. I thank my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats, who took the time to hear the prime minister’s address on behalf of their constituents, and I hope all Americans will have the chance to see it for themselves.

“Let me take this moment to personally thank Benjamin Netanyahu. With his presence here, he demonstrated that politics can never come before our commitment to do what’s right for our future. And he again revealed himself to be a leader of principle and deep conviction. It all speaks not only to the kind of leader he is, but to the bonds between America and Israel — bonds that will, with work and sacrifice, long outlast us.”

View original Israel Hayom publication at: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=23909