Kerry: Netanyahu ‘wrong’ on Iran talks

Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday questioned the reasoning behind Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to U.S. attempts to a secure a deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

“He may have a judgement that just may not be correct here,” Kerry said during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday.

{mosads}”Israel is safer today with the added time we have given and the stoppage of the advances in the Iranian nuclear program than they were before we got that agreement – which, by the way, the prime minister opposed,” Kerry said. “He was wrong.”

Later, Kerry invoked Netanyahu’s support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

“The prime minister as you recall was profoundly forward-leaning and outspoken about the importance of invading Iraq under George W. Bush. And we all know what happened with that decision,” he said.

Kerry, while a Massachusetts senator, voted in 2002 to authorize Bush’s use of military force in Iraq.

His remarks came on the heels of those from another top Obama administration official, national security advisor Susan Rice, who remarked on PBS’s “Charlie Rose” show Tuesday night that Netanyahu’s speech to Congress next week is “destructive” to U.S.-Israeli relations.

Netanyahu pushed back on Rice’s comments, suggesting that world leaders had “given up” on thwarting a nuclear Iran.

“I respect the White House and the president of the United States, but on such a fateful matter, that can determine whether or not we survive, I must do everything to prevent such a great danger for Israel,” he said.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest defended Rice’s remarks while aboard Obama’s flight to Miami on Wednesday to discuss his executive action on immigration.

“The president has said the relationship between the U.S. and Israel can’t just be reduced to a relationship between the Republican party and the Likud party,” Earnest said, referring to Netanyahu’s political affiliation.

“Let’s wait and hear what he says,” Kerry said Wednesday, referring to Netanyahu’s address to Congress next week, which Kerry will not be attending.

Kerry and President Obama have said they won’t attend because the speech comes just two weeks before Netanyahu is up for reelection. Vice President Biden will be in Latin America and will also miss the speech.