Boehner to Netanyahu: Bonds between US and Israel are as strong as ever

US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner says the bonds between the United States and Israel are strong and they are going to continue to be strong.

Boehner, who antagonized the White House by inviting Benjamin Netanyahu to address the US Congress about Iran last month, made the remarks during a press conference on Wednesday in al-Quds (Jerusalem) before holding a closed doors meeting with the Israeli premier.

“Let me use the opportunity of this visit to reiterate something that I’ve said before but needs to be said again and again,” Netanyahu said, standing next to Boehner.

“The people of Israel know that we have no better friend in the world than the United States of America. And the American people should know that they have no better friend in the world than… Israel.”

Boehner added, “As you said, the bonds between the United States and Israel are as strong as ever. Our two countries [sic] cooperate on many different levels. And while we may have political disagreements from time to time, the bonds between our two nations are strong and they’re going to continue to be strong.”

On March 3, Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress, where he ranted for nearly 40 minutes against the talks between Iran and P5+1 , warning Washington that it was negotiating a “bad deal” with the Islamic Republic.

The invitation to Netanyahu was extended by Boehner without consultation with the White House, drawing angry reaction from the Obama administration, which called it a breach of protocol.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu thanked Boehner and the Republican-dominated Congress for “the warm welcome you gave me in the US Capitol.”

Before Boehner arrived in Israel, Netanyahu harshly criticized the talks underway between Iran and the P5+1 – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – in Lausanne, Switzerland aimed at laying the groundwork for a potentially historic agreement to resolve the Western dispute over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

Netanyahu said “the concessions offered to Iran in Lausanne would ensure a bad deal that would endanger Israel, the Middle East and the peace of the world.”

Israelis and US Republicans are scared that peace might break out between Iran and the United States, challenging those groups that have a vested interest in escalating tensions against the Islamic Republic, American political commentator and antiwar activist Brian Becker told Press TV on Friday.

“If the United States and Iran were to establish a new relationship, based on a recognition that increased hostility or war is against the interests of both countries…that would pose a threat, one to the status of Israel, as a needed extension of American military power in this geo-strategically important resource-rich part of the world, and secondly it would be a blow to the military-industrial complex in America which makes a trillion dollar each and every year because of war or the threat of war,” Becker said.