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The really bad news is that even if Netanyahu does cancel the speech, most of the damage to the U.S.-Israeli relationship has already been done. A comic campaign video released by Netanyahu’s Likud party yesterday shows him talking on the phone with the U.S. president. What’s truly funny is the idea that Netanyahu will ever have another phone call with the president as long as Obama remains in office.

Despite Netanyahu’s claim that he must address Congress to warn about the Iranian threat, his conduct in recent weeks has caused incalculable damage to international efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear program. At this critical moment in the negotiations, when maximum coordination between America and Israel is vital, relations between the prime minister and the U.S. president are at an unprecedented low.

The crisis has diverted attention in both Washington and Jerusalem from the real goal: obtaining an agreement that will prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons. And not only has this crisis damaged Israel’s standing in America and worldwide, but it has also made Iran think it is winning.

Unknowingly, Netanyahu has become the Iranians’ secret weapon. If he didn’t exist, the Iranians would have to invent him. Destroying the strategic alliance with America would be a real existential threat to Israel, but so far, he’s much closer to leaving scorched earth in Washington than he is to stopping Iran’s centrifuges. In this situation, Iranian leaders don’t have to do a thing but sit in front of the television, eat popcorn and laugh.