This week, Alpher discusses what was wrong with Netanyahu’s speech before the US Congress last week; what were some possibly positive contributions in the speech from the standpoint of Israelis who don’t support the prime minister politically; what issues the event raised; and significant political dilemmas framed by the speech.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack in Jerusalem.

A young Palestinian intentionally rammed a private car at police officers and civilians, leaving six female police officers and a male civilian injured. The attacker was shot, injured, and arrested.

APN condemns the attack. We wish full recovery to those who were injured.

Ahead of Israel's March 17 election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in Washington on a mission to undermine President Obama's Iran policy. This, his latest and greatest diplomatic affront, has starkly revealed the degree to which many here have tired of his shtick.

But what may come as a surprise is that Israelis are sick of Bibi too.

Prime Minister Netanyahu began his speech to Congress with a reference to the book of Esther – the book also known as the “Megillah” that we read on the holiday of Purim. In attempting to make the case for his controversial speech, Netanyahu implied that he was playing the role of the heroine of the story, Queen Esther, savior of the Jewish people. It sounds absurd, but he was quite serious.

In fact, the whole path leading up to the speech was a series of twists and turns that are nearly unbelievable, although they certainly fit the themes of intrigue and absurdity that characterize the Purim story. Indeed, the political circus surrounding the speech provided us with our very own “Purim spiel” - whether it was the spectacle of House Majority Leader John Boehner inviting a foreign head of state to come to Congress and attack the elected president of the United States, or Netanyahu’s flagrant efforts to exploit the invitation for his own electoral gains, or the entire history of Netanyahu’s gratuitous jabs at President Obama (nor his unmitigated chutzpah in pretending otherwise)!

By Daniel Levy (published by APN with permission from the author)

Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu can claim a victory of sorts by having set the agenda and received wall to wall coverage of his congressional speech and by succeeding in making his message rather than empty seats the story.  The speech is likely to play well at home and his re-election prospects will not have been harmed by today’s events. But that is probably where the good news ends.

Following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s congressional speech today, Americans for Peace Now urges Congress to resist Netanyahu’s unattainable conditions for an Iran deal, and act responsibly by giving the Obama administration's diplomacy a chance to address Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

For detailed information on each of these bogus arguments against the current Iran diplomacy, go HERE

Additional sanctions and credible threats of military action can secure a better deal with Iran than current negotiations.

A deal that “sunsets” after 10 or 15 years is no good – it just means that Iran will wait and ready itself and then go nuclear the minute a deal ends.

A nuclear deal with Iran will leave Iran as a threat to the world and an existential threat to Israel, will sell out our allies in the Gulf, and will fuel a nuclear arms race in the region.

The current negotiations are leaving in place too many Iranian centrifuges.  The more centrifuges left spinning, the greater the threat Iran poses.