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Special NEWSROOM Coverage of Benjamin Netanyahu's Address to Joint Session of Congress

Aired May 24, 2011 - 10:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SUZANNE MALVUEAX, CNN ANCHOR: Arguably the most important U.S. ally in the world and the center of a volatile and critical region, and a conflict that has pursued for decades. Could there actually be a breakthrough? Well, all of that at the center of a speech today by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Hala Gorani. This is CNN NEWSROOM. Special coverage of the Israeli prime minister's speech before the U.S. Congress. Welcome to all our viewers in the United States and around the world this hour.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Thanks very much, Hala. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. The speech by Benjamin Netanyahu has major implications for the United States. Peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians certainly directly impacts security here in the United States.

Also, the U.S. has very strong ties with Israel, religious ties. A lot of history there, political connections, strategic relations. What happens with Israel is crucial to a region undergoing so dramatic changes from the Arab uprising in North Africa and the Middle East.

GORANI: Of course, as Wolf mentioned, today's speech is not justice about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. This stalled Maravan (ph) peace process. There are no talks going on right now.

It is also part of a tense drama playing out between the Israeli prime minister and the American president over the starting point for peace talks. Our correspondents are covering all angles of this story.

White House correspondent Brianna Keilar is traveling with President Obama in London, and senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is in Jerusalem.

BLITZER: We'll also talk about the major political implications here in the United States with our chief analyst Gloria Borger. She's here in Washington. She'll have perspective.

MALVEAUX: But more now on the drama that's playing out between these powerful leaders over the direction of the Middle East peace process. Prime minister Netanyahu's speech today is in direct response to a proposal that was put out by President Obama . That happened just last week. The line in the sand is over the starting point for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: I'll describe what a peace between a Palestinian state and the Jewish state could look like. But I want to assure you of one thing. It must leave Israel with security, and therefore, Israel cannot return to the indefensible 1967 lines.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: White House correspondent Brianna Keilar. She is traveling with President Obama in London. And Brianna, really have to set the stage here because when the president is out of the country and you have the Israeli prime minister who is now essentially on Obama's home turf challenging his own proposal, how do the Obama administration officials see this? Does this look like potentially a slap in the face?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Suzanne, they're certainly not going to say that. And one of the things that the White House, I think, would emphasize is that the Israeli- Palestinian peace process is going to be a big priority during President Obama's trip overseas.

He's here in London. He'll be having a photo opportunity -- or actually, he just did with the prime minister. He'll be having substantive meetings with Prime Minister Cameron tomorrow. He'll be going on to the G-8 economic summit. He'll be talking with European allies about trying to really shore up some of the support when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

I think one of the thorny issues no doubt is going to be that as the Palestinian coalition government looks for recognition of independents before the U.N. in September -- something that, of course, the U.S. opposes and Israel opposes -- many European allies are ready to recognize that. I think what you would hear the White House emphasize is that they're here taking that stance that they have with Israel against some of their European allies. I think that's really what you would hear their focus would be on, not that this would be -- not that this would be a slap in the face.

Of course, there are those optics certainly that the president is away, and that he did schedule his speech before Netanyahu went before Congress.

MALVEAUX: Well, let's talk about that a little bit, the relationship between Obama and Netanyahu. The U.S. is providing more than $3 billion a year to Israel. That's more than any other country in the world. Is there a certain outrage factor here that is being asked? That this is any way to treat an ally?

KEILAR: I don't know -- certainly publicly you're not hearing --you're not -- we're not hearing that. I think -- I think one of the things that we are certainly hearing, President Obama as he tries to sort of put forward what he said last week, this idea about the pre-1967 borders that obviously infuriated Netanyahu. We've heard some reporting as he tried to kind of assuage some concerns of the prime minister and of Israelis that maybe he did make some headway over the weekend with that, Suzanne.

But certainly it doesn't, you know, doesn't escape notice that the relationship between President Obama and the prime minister, that there may be isn't as great a rapport as there could be even though you have both countries emphasizing what an important alliance that they have. Certainly we know that some relations are frosty. And no doubt this is a -- a tough spot for them right now.

MALVEAUX: Brianna, do we know if the president's even paying attention to this speech? Is he watching or certainly, as administration officials keeping a close eye on what's happening here?

KEILAR: Administration officials are definitely keeping a close eye. We don't know -- we're trying to figure out if the president is going to be watching this speech. But you know that he's paying very close attention.

I think also something that strikes me as we're here and watching sort of news domestically revolving very much around the tornado damage in Missouri and this speech that the prime minister is giving before Congress, that those are really the big stories that we're seeing domestically. And you know that President Obama is kind juggling all of these things as he's on his second stop of four here in Europe, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Brianna Keilar, thank you so much.

I want to toss it over to Wolf. Wolf, you know -- you have interviewed the Israeli prime minister on numerous occasions that this can be very much a frosty relationship between these two leaders. Sometimes there's a high, sometimes there's a low. But this seems to be a tense moment between the two.

BLITZER: I think it's fair to say the prime minister, based on what he said last night in his address and what he's probably going to say today, is going to try to paint -- paint over that and try to suggest that the U.S.-Israeli relationship remains strong, irrespective of Democrats or Republicans or whatever. Because that -- that would be in Israel's best interests.

I want to bring in our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger. This is - and I think Suzanne has a point. This has been a tense moment in U.S.-Israeli relations because in the president's speech last Thursday, he did do publicly and official what no other president had formally done. Although it was a huge surprise that that's the -- that's the negotiating position. When he referred to the basis for negotiations, the pre-'67 lines with mutually-agreed land swaps. GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. And the key phrase when you talk to people at the White House is "mutually agreed land swaps." But I think the problem for the Israelis is that they believe that the Obama formulation actually suggests an equal exchange of territory in a final deal. And that is, of course, something that they would not agree to.

So, their question is why did the president say it now? And they also believe that it contradicts a letter they got from President Bush in 2004 which said that that would not be the case. That you would not go back to the 1967 borders as a starting point.

So, it was clear that when Netanyahu spoke with the president that this was going to be a matter of some discussion. And it clearly was. What we saw essentially from Netanyahu was a public rebuke, if you will, of Barack Obama when they had that availability with the press.

Clearly, I think this has been defused a little bit. But we'll have to see what the prime minister says when he speaks to Congress.

BLITZER: I think it was defused by the president when he went before APAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying organization here in Washington on Sunday. And he basically said, well, here's what I meant to say when I used that -- that controversial phrase.

BORGER: Right. And you know, the White House will say that in his speech ,the president put the onus on the Palestinians to rebuke Hamas. And so, that is something he also took to the prime minister in saying, you know, I did that to the Palestinians, too, and that is an important part of this. And we will always guarantee Israel's security.

BLITZER: Gloria's going to be with us for our coverage. The PLO representative is here for our coverage, as well. We're obviously going to hear at length from the prime minister of Israel. An important speech before a joint meeting, Hala, of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate. We're only moments away.

GORANI: All right. Wolf, thanks.

Bottom line, it is difficult to imagine how the U.S. can even try to revive Mideast negotiations. They are stalled. When President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu are deeply divided over the starting point on the road to peace talks.

Our senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance, joins us live from Jerusalem.

You know, the key word I suppose, is "1967" this year. Last year, the key word was "moratorium on settlement building."

First, I want to put up this map of what we're talking about, of what the president referred to when he talked about 1967. This is the land, I suppose, highlighted in dark green there that was captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. It includes the West Bank, it includes Gaza and East Jerusalem. What was the reaction to 1967 in Israel, Matthew?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the reaction, first of all, of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was very strong indeed. He made that fiery statement at that press conference saying that under no circumstances would Israel go back to what he called "these indefensible borders in 1967."

But of course, that's not what President Obama said, and he clarified at that speech to the pro-Israeli lobby, APAC in Washington, a few days later, saying that he was talking about going back to the '67 borders, but with mutually agreed land swaps. And of course, that's inevitable because what we're talking about in the pre-'67 borders is the state of Israel. The territory they captured in 1967 are going to be the future borders of a two-state solution including Israel and an independent Palestinian state.

So, once President Obama made that clarification, perhaps, of course, the -- the Israelis wanted to defuse the situation, as well, the criticism of Washington and of President Obama was toned down significantly both in Israeli general and from the Israeli prime minister's office, as well, Hala.

GORANI: Right, the mutually agreed land swap part seems to be left out more often than not over the past 48 hours.

Let's talk about the Arab Spring now. All around Israel, we see Egypt's revolution, we see the uprising in Syria. We see -- uncertainty around Israel. What is Israel's reaction to the majorly transformative period now in the Arab world around it?

CHANCE: Obviously, Israel's got more at stake in this than most other countries in the world. These are the neighbors that it has very bad relations with at times. And so, it often is looking at these events, these very transformative events, as you say, in the region with a great deal of concern.

I think it's important to remember that Israel often sees the region through the prism of stability and what it's been used to over the past several decades, since its foundation perhaps, since the peace agreements with Egypt, for instance, is a peace deal with Hosni Mubarak, peace deal with the Jordanians, with a relationship, which is not necessarily a good one. With President Assad in Syria. And it watches all these transformative changes, these big strategic shifts, with concern for the simple reason it doesn't know what's going to come next. Will it be better for Israel, or could it be worse?

GORANI: OK. Matthew Chance, thanks very much.

As far as Egypt is concerned, it's very interesting how that relationship potentially is shifting with Israel.

So, we're going to take a short break. And when we come back --

MALVEAUX: Then we're going to be noticing a major moment in U.S.- Israeli relations. We are talking about Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will be delivering a speech before the U.S. Congress. Set to begin at the top of the hour. We're going to bring it to you live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We are waiting to see the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu go before the U.S. Congress. You're taking a look at live picture there as people begin to gather in great anticipation of this very important speech.

Obviously you're looking at the leadership, both Democratic as well as Republican leadership, beginning to gather, a lot of handshakes that are taking place as they enter into the chamber.

And this is really a critical time for both President Obama and the Israeli prime minister because when we look at this, there are critical ties between the two countries. We are talking about political ties, religious ties.

As well as real concerns, big questions about security, security in the region, in the Middle East, among the dramatic changes that we have seen over just the last four or five months or so and the question about whether or not Middle East peace, Israelis and Palestinians can actually achieve any kind of breakthrough through this administration.

We have seen it time and time again from previous administrations, cannot be done, has not been done, can this president do a better job? And now we have the Israeli prime minister who is trying to appeal to Congress.

GORANI: Yes, appeal to Congress. He's also addressing his own electorate. This is -- there's a political overtone to all of this in both the United States and in Israel.

This is a joint meeting of Congress. It happen a handful of times a year that a world leader addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. It is an important occasion. But at the same time, President Obama is not in the country. He's on a European trip.

Wolf Blitzer is in Washington also following events there in the nation's capital and the anticipation associated with this address by the prime minister of Israel, Wolf.

BLITZER: It's a rare honor indeed for a world leader to be invited to address a joint session of the House and Senate. It's only been done a few times. I'm told that the countries that have had the most leaders addressing a joint session of Congress have been Britain and France.

But right behind them, Italy, Ireland, and Israel, their leaders are invited right behind. It underscores the nature of the U.S. relationship with those countries. The vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, who is the president of the Senate, he'll be there sitting behind the prime minister when he addresses this joint meeting of the House and Senate as will the speaker of the House, John Boehner. Pretty soon we'll be hearing the announcements coming in from the sergeant of arms introducing the prime minister of Israel with the famous words, "Mr. Speaker, the prime minister of Israel."

PLO Representative Maen Areikat is here with us in our studio, what's the most important thing, Mr. Areikat -- you would like to hear from the prime minister of Israel?

MAEN RASHID AREIKAT, PLO REPRESENTATIVE TO THE U.S.: Well, I think what we need to hear from him is to go beyond the nationalist ideological slogans and start talking substance. I think it's an important day for him.

But he knows as well that if he wants to make peace, he has to make peace with the Palestinians, and he should be talking to us because we are his partners in this endeavor to end the conflict in the Middle East.

BLITZER: Is it acceptable to the Palestinian authority, the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas that what the president said the other day that the basis of negotiations should be the pre-1967 agreement with mutually agreed land swaps? Is that acceptable to you?

AREIKAT: The Palestinian leadership has welcomed the speech of President Obama. We continue to appreciate the efforts that the president and the administration are making in order to bridge the gaps, get the parties back to the negotiating table. The 1967 basis have always been the starting point --

BLITZER: Are you ready to adjust those lines in negotiations?

AREIKAT: Two for two, 338, the terms of reference for the Madrid peace conference, they all talked about 1967 with minor modifications. And this is -- this has always been the Palestinian position. It has to be based on 1967 with very minor modifications.

BLITZER: The president didn't say very minor. He said mutually agreed land swaps, which could be minor or could be major.

AREIKAT: But the word agreed, mutually agreed. We have to agree that -- another thing with the Bush letters of guarantees to the Prime Minister Sharon.

President Bush did make it clear after that that any final agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis on the border should be mutually agreed to.

So regardless of what the previous administration said, they always said that it has to be agreed between the two parties.

BLITZER: What about the whole issue of the United Nations General Assembly in September coming up with a potential resolution recognizing the creation of an independent Palestinian state?

You heard the president -- they're getting ready to introduce some of the distinguished guests coming in. The Diplomatic Corps, members of the Joint Chiefs, here's John Boehner. Let's listen to the speaker for a second.

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: The joint meeting will come to order. The chair appoint as members of the committee on the part of the House with -- his Excellency Benjamin Netanyahu into the chamber.

The gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Kantor. The gentleman from California, Mr. McCarthy. The gentleman from Texas, Mr. Esterling. The gentleman from Texas, Mr. Sessions. The gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Price. The gentlewoman from Washington, Ms. Rogers. The gentleman from Texas, Mr. Carter. The gentlewoman from South Dakota, Ms. Nohm. The gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. Scott.

The gentleman from Oregon, Mr. Walden. The gentleman from California, Mr. Dreygr. The gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Roscom. The gentlewoman from Florida Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. The gentleman from California, Mr. Mckeon. The gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Chabot.

The gentlewoman from California, Ms. Pelosi. The gentleman from Maryland, Mr. O'Hare. The gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. Clyborn. The gentleman from New York, Mr. Israel. The gentleman from California, Mr. Waxman. The gentleman from New York, Mr. Ackerman.

The gentleman from California, Mr. Berman. The gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Levin. The gentlewoman from New York, Ms. Lowey. The gentlewoman from Nevada, Ms. Berkeley. The gentlewoman from Illinois, Ms. Chaikowsky.

The gentleman from California, Mr. Shift. The gentlewoman from Pennsylvania, Ms. Swartz. The gentlewoman from Florida, Ms. Wasserman Shultz, and the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Deutsche.

BLITZER: You can see this is going to be a formal introduction. The vice president, Joe Biden, is now using his capacity as president of the Senate to offer a few remarks.

Hala, Suzanne, this is one of those moments that's not that often a foreign leader comes to Capitol Hill, addresses what's called a joint meeting. It's not technically a joint session.

It's a joint meeting of the House and the Senate, but Benjamin Netanyahu, he really wanted to come at this particular time. And the speaker, John Boehner, obviously made it happen.

MALVEAUX: And you know, Wolf, you can't help but ask some of the questions about the politics. We talked about the optics involved, but also the politics involved here because you have -- the invitation from the House speaker, you have both Democrats as well as Republicans coming out.

Very strong statements saying they believe the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to move forward is one that they're in agreement with, that there are issues that they take up with President Obama.

And you have to wonder how is this going to play out with members of Congress and the president's chances in 2012. There are already some people -- our own Dana Bash would know this better than anyone -- that are using this occasion to make a political argument here.

That they don't believe President Obama perhaps is strong enough when it comes to his position on Israel. There's a powerful Jewish lobby group here that are looking at how this plays out.

GORANI: Suzanne, you mentioned some of how this plays into the overall political landscape in the United States as well as Israel. And you mentioned that in the president's own party there's been criticism of his mention of the 1967 lines.

Elliot Engle, Democrat from New York, simply not defensible to go back to those lines, this echoing Prime Minister Netanyahu. Steve Rothman, Democrat from New Jersey, reverting the borders would only embolden Hamas. So all this is going to have to have an impact somewhat politically, domestically on President Obama.

MALVEAUX: Sure. And Wolf, I don't know if Mr. Areikat is still available, but I did have a question for him because we've heard some very powerful statements coming from President Obama, coming from the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, about the role of Hamas.

And the fact that you have Palestinian moderate mainstream Palestinian groups now talking in a coalition with Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by our administration. How do they -- how do they resolve that? Because our administration says there will be no discussions with Hamas, and Israel says the same thing.

AREIKAT: Well, first of all, there is no coalition with Hamas at this moment. The agreement that was signed between Fatah and Hamas on May 4th calls for the creation of an independent technocrat government that will prepare for national elections in May 12th and will help in rebuilding the Gaza strip.

This is one of the misperceptions that have been spread here in this country and in Israel about a national, so-called national unity government between Fatah and Hamas. Actually the members of the future cabinet must be -- must not be affiliated with any political factions.

Therefore, the elections on May 12 will give the Palestinian people the chance to elect their own representatives and hopefully the Palestinian people will vote for those who are advocating the peaceful resolution of the conflict with Israel.

So before we go to elections, before we allow the Palestinian people to exercise the democratic rights to choose their president, I think the existing PLO policy, the policies of the existing cabinet will continue because the PLO is in charge of negotiations and the political fight.

GORANI: Ambassador Areikat, let me ask you about the United States. What is the perception of the role the United States can, but importantly is willing to play as far as the peace process is concerned? Do you view America as an arbiter, or do you view America as a one- sided party supporting Israel? What do you think the role should be and can be of America in all of this?

AREIKAT: We would like to see a role played by the United States that is more even-handed, more balanced. I know this word doesn't sit well with some people in this country.

In order for the United States to be able to end the conflict and bridge the gaps between the Palestinians and Israelis and bring about a larger Middle East peace, they have to be more even hand wanted in their approach to the conflict.

We believe that the administration, President Obama, are sincere about their efforts, but we need to see that translated into a more concrete step and more even-handedness.

BLITZER: Do you think that the president of the United States' speech the other day was fair? Was even-handed if you will? Was it balanced?

AREIKAT: We understand studying the speech. The leadership is meeting tomorrow to assess it. We are this close context with the Arab countries and hopefully we will be able to make our evaluation public in the next few days.

BLITZER: These are the Diplomatic Corps, at least a couple members of the Diplomatic Corps who have been introduced. The acting dean of the Diplomatic Corps is the ambassador from the Republic of Palau.

Normally the real dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Washington, as Mr. Areikat knows, is the ambassador from Jibuti, but Jibuti does not have relations with Israel. So obviously they're not going to come to this event.

MALVEAUX: What about the vote in the United Nations? There is talk that the Israelis clearly want the United States to pre-empt that vote, to stop it, recognizing a Palestinian state.

ARIEKAT: Well, President Obama was clear in his speech at APAC on Sunday when he said that he understands why the Palestinians are contemplating going to the United States. He said the impatience. The frustration for the lack of progress in the peace process, the bilateral track did not produce any tangible results, not to the occupation, not the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Our leadership said clearly that going to the United Nations is not our only option. That we will continue to be committed to the political option, but we have to create clear terms of reference, clear time frame, and an end game to whatever process that we want to embark on.

And the other issue is the issue of settlements, which is -- you know, Prime Minister Netanyahu said it clearly when he said 44 years of changes. It has been stated obviously by the prime minister that the aim of the settlements was to change the facts on the ground and to create a new realty. So settlements are meant to be --

MALVEAUX: But you intend to go ahead with the U.N. vote?

AREIKAT: Again, if something happens in between that will produce a genuine, sincere process with clear terms of reference and clear time frame and an end game, which in our view is an end to the Israeli military occupation, the establishment of a sovereign, viable Palestinian state with freezing of settlement activities, I think our leadership will consider seriously getting engaged again.

BLITZER: Hold on for a moment. Momentarily, the deputy sergeant at arms of the United States Congress will introduce the prime minister of Israel. He will then walk in and I'm sure will be very, very warmly received.

He'll be escorted by the delegation - those members that were announced earlier by the speaker of the House. As we await that formal announcement, it could have come very, very soon, Suzanne. We'll see what happens. But this is, as you point out correctly, this is a very sensitive moment.

And as the PLO representative here, just pointed out, what happens in December could be a decisive development in whether or not this whole peace process moves forward dramatically or there's a serious setback.

So everyone is watching this very closely. A lot of folks believe the president made those statements on the pre-'67 lines with mutually agreed swaps to try specifically to head off the U.N. general assembly vote.

MALVEAUX: That's right. He actually said that that's what he wanted to do, essentially that he did not approve of the Palestinians moving forward and using that international body to set up a Palestinian state.

That they should come forward to a two-state solution under the previous negotiating terms. I want to bring in our own Dana Bash, senior congressional correspondent because she is actually there. She's watching all of this.

She has a sense of the tone, the tenor, the flavor taking place. Dana, two questions for you. First of all, why this invitation from Congress to have the prime minister there? Secondly, why have we also seen these strong statements in support of Israel coming out before his speech?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, to answer your second question first, the fact there are strong statements in support of Israel coming from Congress, as you know, Suzanne, is not a surprise.

This is -- this Congress is so pro-Israel and in a bipartisan way and that is why I think what we are going to see here is really going to be a contrast to what we have seen and heard over the past week or so with regard to the prime minister's relationship with the president. And it's interesting -- I was talking to some lawmakers about this earlier. They made the point -- this is true. From the Israeli perspective, Suzanne, presidents come and go. But Congress, the relationship that Israel has with Congress is far more important because there are relationships they build here for sometimes 30 years.

So that is one of the reasons why the prime minister wanted to come here. That's one of the reasons why the House speaker invited the prime minister. He personally has been here before. He was here once in 1996 when he was prime minister the first time around.

But it is -- it is going to be very interesting, and I think the optics of it will be fascinating to watch the kind of bipartisan support that he will get here in the U.S. Congress.

GORANI: Dana, is it unusual for -- I don't see Hillary Clinton there, the secretary of state, I don't see the secretary of defense. Of course, the president is abroad, is it unusual for these major cabinet members and the president not to attend a joint meeting of Congress when a world leader addresses both parties?

BASH: That's a good question. I think every speech like this is different. They don't happen very often, speeches by any world leader -- very rare. And Israeli prime ministers have spoken just about as many times as any other or world leader that the U.S. has close relationships with like England and France.

But I think there's really no formula if you will for the prime minister and for the protocol for the cabinet to be here. But the reality is that he has had meetings with the administration. This is not about the administration, this particular speech.

This is about the United States Congress and in many ways the Republican-led House making it clear with this invitation that they also have a different kind of relationship with the prime minister and stand by Israel from their perspective in a different way from the Obama administration.

MALVEAUX: Dana, real quick here -- has there been any talk, any discussion about whether or not it's appropriate that you have a foreign leader who goes before Congress when the president is overseas, when he's away from home?

BASH: You know, I've been trying to get the answer to the question what happened first, the chicken or the egg, f lack of a better way to say it. When the prime minister was invited and what they knew in Congress about the president's trip.

What I can tell you from talking to Republican aides in the House is that they -- when they invited or thought about inviting the prime minister, they did check with the White House, and the White House had no problem with the prime minister's visit here on this day and this speech.

MALVEAUX: All right. The chicken and the egg question -- BLITZER: If I could just weigh -- I think I know the timing issue of how this happened right now. It was all timed around -- hold on a second.

You can see a very warm, enthusiastic reception for the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, as he walks in, meets some members of the Obama cabinet and gets ready to address the joint meeting of the House and the Senate.

He's walking up to the podium right now. That woman you saw in the gallery, that's his wife, Sara Netanyahu, sitting next to the wife of the Israeli ambassador in Washington, as well. Joe Biden represents the Obama administration.

That's the wife of Prime Minister Netanyahu, Sara and the speaker of the House, John Boehner, is obviously there, as well. Once again, they will introduce him. There will be another standing ovation and then he'll begin his carefully prepared remarks.

I'm going to be listening, Suzanne. I'm going to be listening specifically what he says on those pre-'67 with mutually agreed swaps, what if anything he says about settlements on the West Bank and what specifically if he says anything about Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is the subject the president said has to be kicked down the road. I'll be listening to see if he gets into those specifics of the refugees, the Palestinian refugee, will he get into the details or not. Most of the speech, though, probably will deal with U.S.-Israeli relations.

MALVEAUX: I suspect, Wolf, as well he will address the issue of Hamas and whether or not it's appropriate that they're at the negotiating table and whether or not that's acceptable to Israel and the united states and other very contentious -- another very contentious point with the Palestinians.

GORANI: And will this be make news.

Let's listen in and see what the prime minister has to say.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)