A day before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, House Speaker John Boehner told Israel Hayom there was no one better suited to tell the American people about the threats of a nuclear Iran. "This is a crucial time in the history of America's relationship with the State of Israel, and Prime Minister Netanyahu is uniquely suited to speak to the Congress and the American people about the threat posed by Islamic terrorism and the potential of a nuclear armed Iran," Boehner said. At the speech Tuesday, Boehner plans to give Netanyahu a bust of Winston Churchill. The gift was chosen because Netanyahu and the former British prime minister will have been the only foreign leaders to have addressed Congress three separate times. Netanyahu told the Jewish lobby group AIPAC on Monday that his speech was not intended to inject Israel into American political debate, yet some Democrats plan to skip his address. Boehner has also invited former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Netanyahu's office says the Israeli leader will give Boehner a menorah and a copy of the story of Purim, a Jewish holiday being celebrated this week that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire, where a plot had been formed to destroy them. The gift is symbolic in that Iran has vowed to annihilate Israel.
