It is unsurprising that President Obama opposes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking to Congress without begging his permission, yet Israel is the only longstanding functional democracy in the Middle East and the U.S. should support it.

Being born and raised an American citizen, I was taught about equal branches of government. Obama has no authority to tell Congress who it may invite to speak. A breach of protocol? A few years ago, Obama breached protocol by snubbing Netanyahu — making him enter the back door of the White House and then wait to meet him for a humiliating span of time.

Men with no courage despise men with the backbone to say what needs to be said when the truth is uncomfortable. Obama does not want Netanyahu to address Congress because it might sink the president’s nuclear sellout deal with Iran.

Obama views the Middle East through rose-colored glasses from Washington, D.C.

Netanyahu lives there, in Israel, where terrorism is a daily threat and frequent occurrence.

What would it be like to wake at night and race for shelter because rockets are being deliberately fired at our residential area? Jewish and Arab Israeli citizens lived through seven weeks of this.

Since Obama refuses to do so, as an American citizen, I will respectfully state this: “Mr. Netanyahu, welcome back to America. Speak what you believe to Congress and this nation. We still have freedom of speech, according to our Constitution, even if Obama thinks it is outdated.”

Isaiah Lary, Wales