The Netanyahu speech. Was it as some think Republican leadership inviting him to tamper in our foreign policy, or as a lesser known possible motive, Republican leadership's will to tamper in Israeli election juggling?

We are in a two party bind, and they have multiple parties, with new ones formed regularly, in what are still early years in their nationhood, relative to ours.

While not pretending to have an answer to the headline's question - ask those who invited the gentleman - some links readers might find intersting,

"Shocker! Benjamin Netanyahu Uses Speech to Congress in Campaign Ad," online here, and who might really be shocked by a politician doing exactly that?

BBC giving a score-card, but with Lieberman barely mentioned despite his having had past power; here. How accurate is any of that BBC analysis? I have no way of knowing.

Haaretz, now behind a paywall but with enough lead paragraphs printed to show poll watching is not solely our national sport.

Commentary, here.

The Hill, headlined, "Dem: 'My fears have been realized' from Netanyahu speech." That item begins:

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) said his suspicions that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would use his address to Congress last week to bolster his own reelection campaign have come true.

The Israeli Likud Party, which Netanyahu leads, released a campaign advertisement Thursday that includes footage from Netanyahu's speech to Congress last week. Members of Congress are shown applauding as Netanyahu speaks at the House dais.

Cohen, who is Jewish, was among the more than 50 Democrats who skipped Netanyahu's speech. The Tennessee Democrat said he suspected Netanyahu would use the footage for campaign ads ahead of the Israeli elections next week, given that he had done so in the past.

“I had hoped this prediction might have had a chilling effect and caused the prime minister to reconsider before using Congress as a campaign backdrop. Instead, my fears have been realized," Cohen said in a statement.

Cohen noted that members of Congress are banned from using congressional proceedings for their own campaign ads, arguing a foreign leader should be held to the same standard.

JPost, here, pick a story.

The Independent.

USA Today, here.

If this post has any merit it would be to dispell any notion that "The Israelis" have a monolithic and unchanging face and policy set, without internal debate. Why expect them to be different?

Back to the headline, my vote is for the latter possibility, Republican nose-poking into Israel's internal election affairs. Something, mixing the two nations' politics, that fared poorly for Republican Romney, but then he had that 47% video dooming him before he reached out to Netanyahu.