International security/ Third appearance before Congress, an honor allowed previously only to Winston Churchill.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been "reaching out," as the New York Times delicately puts it, to Democratic leaders in the U.S. Congress who were blindsided by Republican House Speaker John Boehner's invitation to Netanyahu to address Congress March 3.

Netanyahu's office confirmed Thursday, according to the Times, that the Prime Minister had called Democrats and "other friends" in Congress in recent days, and that he "reiterated that the survival of Israel is not a partisan issue."

AIPAC usually handles "reaching out" for Israel when needed among power players in Washington. Not this time. AIPAC, according to a U.S. Jewish media source, did not know about the speech in advance of Boehner's invitation.

Pressure Grows to Delay or Drop Bibi's Speech