Benjamin Netanyahu came to America to deliver a simple message:  Don’t do it.

Don’t succumb to the false notion that a bad deal is better than no deal at all.

Don’t fall for the lie that anything our nation, or Congress, does to strengthen our hand to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon, will lead to war or to Iran walking away from the negotiating table.
And we need to put aside the debate over protocol violations and political gain.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s speech before Congress and America served the purpose of strengthening our nation’s resolve against capitulating to an Iranian Regime that has had a direct role in killing and threatening American and Israeli citizens and our brave men and women in uniform.

As I stood in the House Chambers I was struck by the resolve of the Prime Minister.  He did not come to attack the President – he came to challenge the premise the President makes that Iran can be trusted without further demands.”

Demands that shouldn’t even be a point of contention between the United States and Israel.

It should be noted that the Israeli Prime Minister did not come to America demanding that Iran be stripped completely of its nuclear program.  The fact is they, like any nation, have the right to develop safe, clean and abundant nuclear power for their people and their economy.

He did challenge the idea, though, that negotiations with Iran are so far advanced that stepping back from them until Iran denounces its commitment in funding terror, and proves it, would cause them to completely collapse and make it more likely Iran will simply go forward and develop nuclear weapons.

Iran is a threat to the world.  Its political leaders are committed to the destruction of Israel.  The Iranian Regime has had a direct role in funding acts of terror against Americans and Israelis.  
It is true we must do all we can to strip Iran of its capacity to ever build a nuclear weapon at the negotiating table.

This doesn’t mean lines that are not drawn in the sand to ensure that Iran has the capacity to quickly convert its nuclear program into an instrument to terrorize its neighbors or to arm its terrorist allies to o its dirty work.

Being unwilling to speak to the destructive aims of the Iranian Regime towards our country, and our allies, is as fascile as it is unprincipled.

There has long been a growing danger to America from this President’s view of the world from the rose colored glasses he has insisted on wearing from the beginning of his term of Office.

That danger has grown larger and more serious as the President has also become determined to put our national values and principles aside in favor of rhetoric that seeks to soothe the egos of those that threaten America rather than inform them of our resolve to defend and protect those values and principles.

We have seen him do so in Cuba.  With Syria.  And, most recently at a summit on terrorism that spent more time avoiding calling terror by its name than it did discussing any impactful strategy to defeat it.

Imagine if, instead of attacking Prime Minister Netanyahu – or boycotting his speech – the President and the shameful handful of Democrats who refused to hear his words – had spent weeks underscoring the danger that a nuclear Iran poses to the world.

How better well informed would the American people be if that had been the focus of the President’s message and rhetoric rather than making sure we understood just how personally offended he was that he wasn’t consulted for approval of an invitation to our most important ally.

Or, for that matter, the embarrassing number of my home state Minnesota politicians – from Congresswoman Betty McCollum to Congressman Keith Ellison to Senator Al Franken – who put their ego and their politics ahead of our national priorities.

What if they would have, instead, simply said, “Iran is a threat.  We agree that they are a threat.  The Prime Minister has every right as our ally to come to America to join with us and our President to make abundantly clear to our nation of this threat”.

What if instead of being unwilling to be a part of the dialogue they joined in voice with a bipartisan group of Senators who are urging that any Iran deal come back to Congress for review and approval – just as Congress did with over other 23 nuclear deals.

Why didn’t our President and those who stood with him on the sidelines while our ally attempted to rally the American people to the side of stability, security, freedom and liberty step up – speak up – and level with us.

Because when all is said and done – and the President’s ego has been satiated – and Al Franken, and Betty McCollum and Keith Ellison’s partisanship has been promoted – it comes down to base.

It was never about disrupting a negotiation which has yielded nothing more than threats from Iran to walk away from the table if Congress acts to impose sanctions on a regime that has directly funded efforts that have resulted in the killing of our own people.  

It was about disrupting a false narrative from a President who continues to try to market and promote a world he demands exists but reality makes it clear it does not.

A world where organized actors — not Islamic Terrorists – kill, behead, torture and destroy.

A world where terrorists are on the run – not expanding and growing and ISIS/ISIL is recruiting more young men and women to its cause.

A world where we cannot demand more of Iran to show proof of their nuclear program and its capacity to create nuclear weapons – but we will attack our allies for reminding us that the enemy of our enemy is our enemy.

The world the President wishes existed blocks out the real world that threatens the very existence of Israel every single dayThat real world demands a clear message from the American people and the Congress to the President to any effort to agree to a deal with Iran that doesn’t permanently end its hopes and aspirations for nuclear weapons capability.  Or attempts to lift or weaken sanctions on Iran until 100% transparent and verifiable certainly can be achieved that they are not doing so.

Don’t do it.