Sen. Blumenthal: I'll Attend Netanyahu's Speech to Show Support

Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" he would attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress in March in an effort to show bipartisan commitment to U.S. support for Israel.

"I'm going to attend this speech," Blumenthal said Wednesday. "My conclusion is the best way to restore or preserve or strengthen that bipartisanship is to go to the speech. Being absent is not a way to bolster that relationship."

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Blumenthal said it was "unfortunate" that House Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu to speak to Congress "without apparently consulting" President Barack Obama. He said the relationship between the U.S. and Israel was "sacrosanct in its bipartisanship," adding it was important "because our national security is involved in that relationship."

Blumenthal, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the U.S. military was "far from exhausted" in the challenge posed by the Islamic State (ISIS), though he maintained, "Americans do not want another massive land war."

"[The military is] ready for this challenge. But, it's not going to be the same challenge of massive numbers of U.S. combat troops on the ground. It's going to be the special operators," he said.

The military had done some "very, very good work" in addressing terror threats to the U.S., much of which was classified because "when it's successful, it can't be made public."

However, he said it would require more than military force to "provide the political and governance solutions that are necessary" in the Middle East, adding there needed to be "involvement, commitment, engagement of our partners in that part of the world."

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