john kerry tried to defuse the ongoing row over benjamin netanyahu's forthcoming speech to congress   despite fears it will affect negotiations with iran over their nuclear program the secretary of state said he did not want the israeli's prime minister's forthcoming address to a joint session of congress to become 'some great political football' netanyahu's speech, organized by john boehner, the republican house speaker, was set up without the blessing of the obama administration   and comes as the white house tries to strike a deal over iran's nuclear ambitions scroll down for video  play ball: secretary of state john kerry, right, tried to stop a feud over israeli leader benjamin netanyahu (left) escalating in an interview sunday  on his way: netanyahu is pictured above with his wife sarah, leaving tel aviv for the address to congress on tuesday  it is feared that such a public show of closeness to israel, a firm foe of iran, could dash obama's hopes in the negotiations, in which he hopes to curb the nuclear program in exchange for easing economic sanctions kerry played up us israeli unity in an interview on sunday for abc's this week show, insisting 'the prime minister of israel is welcome to speak in the united states, obviously 'and we have a closer relationship with israel right now in terms of security than at any time in history' there is, however, a clear different in policy between netanyahu and the white house   with the israeli leader expected to urge congress to stop iran's nuclear ambitions by keeping up the current sanctions regime congress wants to keep the sanctions regime strong, but the president has said he would veto any new penalties to preserve the negotiations kerry reiterated washington's determination to pursue negotiations with iran, saying the white house deserved 'the benefit of the doubt' to see if a nuclear deal could be reached by accepting an invitation from the republican party to  address congress on tuesday, the israeli leader infuriated the  obama administration, which said it was not told of the speech  before plans were made public in an apparent breach of protocol solemn: netanyahu has claimed his visit is above the political, and says he is standing up for all jews by visiting washington he is pictured above praying at jerusalem's western wall  but both sides have tried to downplay the rift in remarks on saturday at jersualem's western wall,  netanyahu said: 'i would like to take this opportunity to say  that i respect us president barack obama' he added that he  believed in the strong bilateral ties and said, 'that strength  will prevail over differences of opinion, those in the past and  those yet to come' netanyahu did not repeat those remarks as he departed on  sunday the israeli prime minister, who is running for  re election in a march 17 ballot, has framed his visit as being  above politics and he portrayed himself as being a guardian for  all jews 'i'm going to washington on a fateful, even historic,  mission,' he said as he boarded his plane in tel aviv 'i feel  that i am an emissary of all israel's citizens, even those who  do not agree with me, and of the entire jewish people,' he told  reporters not popular: anti israeli demonstrator are pictured above protesting in dc ahead of netanyahu's address  netanyahu is expected to use his speech to urge congress to  approve new sanctions against iran despite obama's pledge to  veto such legislation because it would jeopardize nuclear talks us officials fear he is seeking to sabotage the iran  diplomacy, and critics have suggested his visit is an elaborate  election stunt that will play well with voters back home while white house and israeli officials insist that key  areas of cooperation, from counter terrorism to intelligence to  cyber security, will remain unaffected, the divide over the iran  talks has shaped up as the worst in decades previously israel has always been careful to navigate  between the republican and democratic camps the planned  address, however, has driven a rare wedge between netanyahu's  government and some congressional democrats some two dozen or  more of them plan to boycott the speech, according to unofficial  estimates iran itself has weighed in on the speech as well speaking in tehran on saturday, iranian foreign minister  mohammad javad zarif accused netanyahu of trying to undermine  the nuclear talks in order to distract from the palestinians' unresolved bid for an independent state 'netanyahu is opposed to any sort of solution,' zarif said meanwhile a us official, speaking on condition of anonymity,  said the 'politicized' nature of his visit threatened 'what  undergirds the strength of the relationship' as one former us official put it: 'sure, when netanyahu  calls the white house, obama will answer but how fast will he  be about responding (to a crisis)?'
state israeli congress gop white house iran kerry us israeli
secretary of state tried to downplay rift over israeli prime minister's speech . he will address joint session of congress on tuesday after gop invite . white house said the speech was organized without their blessing . administration worries it could tank negotiations with iran . but kerry today emphasized us israeli unity in attempt to make up 