(CNN) —
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power on Monday sought to quash any doubts over the United States’ continued commitment to a strong alliance with Israel, amid tensions over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to address Congress on Tuesday.
Power directly addressed the controversy swirling around Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, downplaying talk of tensions between the U.S and Israel and insisting that the U.S.-Israel relationship “transcends politics.” Her remarks came at the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual, high-profile conference, just moments before Netanyahu took over the podium.
“We believe firmly that Israel’s security and the U.S.- Israel partnership transcends politics. It always will,” Power said. “This partnership should never be politicized and it cannot and will not be tarnished or broken.”
RELATED: With hard feelings all around, White House set to rebut Netanyahu
Netanyahu’s plans to address the Iranian threat at a joint session of Congress on Tuesday has sparked a political fight in Washington, with a few dozen Democrats planning to skip Netanyahu’s speech and Republicans seizing on the opportunity to question the Obama administration’s commitment to Israel’s security.
Power insisted that the “bond between the United States and Israel is still a national commitment,” amid concerns that the controversy over Netanyahu’s visit was revealing a partisan divide on Israel.
“It should never be a partisan matter,” Power said. “we cannot and we will not lose sight of that.”
Power vehemently dismissed talk of a rift between the U.S. and Israel, pointing to her work at the United Nations defending Israel against biased attacks, the Obama administration’s more than $20 billion in military assistance to Israel – “far more than any president in U.S. history,” she said – and President Barack Obama’s commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
RELATED: Obama and Netanyahu: A clash of world views, not just personalities
Power pointed to Obama’s repeated insistence that the U.S. will “never” allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, whether or not the diplomatic talks are successful.
“We will not let it happen,” Power said. “Talks, no talks. Agreement, no agreement. The United States will take whatever steps are necessary to protect our national security and that of our closest allies,” Power said.
“There will never be a sunset on America’s commitment to Israel’s security,” Power said, appearing to refer to suggestions that the U.S. might broker an agreement with Iran that would expire in 10 years.
Power also trained in on the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, honing in on anti-Semitic rhetoric masquerading as anti-Israel demonstrations.
RELATED: Boehner hits Obama over Netanyahu visit
Addressing the most prominent pro-Israel body in the U.S., Power also highlighted her work at the United Nations to fight anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, citing a decrease in the percentage of resolutions targeting Israel in the organization’s human rights body – from half to one-third – though she said more work still remains.
Power also did not shy away from reaffirming the U.S.’s position that “Israeli settlement activity hurts prospects for peace,” but insisted that that is by no means the only roadblock to peace.
“It is a false choice to tell Israel that it has to choose between peace on the one hand and security on the other,” Power said, adding that no other country would face that choice and “it should not be asked of Israel.”
RELATED: Will Netanyahu’s speech to Congress backfire?
Photos: Netanyahu's life in pictures
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem on October 27.
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Netanyahu, right, sits with a friend at the entrance to his family home in Jerusalem on July 1, 1967. The Israeli prime minister was born October 21, 1949.
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Netanyahu, right, with a friend in the Judean Desert on May 1, 1968.
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Netanyahu serves in the Sayeret Matkal, an elite commando unit of the Israeli army, in 1971. He spent five years in the unit.
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Netanyahu shakes hands with Israeli President Zalman Shazar during a November 1972 ceremony honoring the Sayeret Matkal soldiers who freed hostages in a hijacking earlier that year.
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Netanyahu and his first wife, Miriam, in June 1980.
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Netanyahu and his daughter, Noa, in June 1980.
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Netanyahu speaks in July 1986 with Sorin Hershko, one of the Israeli soldiers wounded in Operation Entebbe. It was the 10th anniversary of Operation Entebbe, a dramatic rescue of Jewish hostages at Uganda's Entebbe Airport. Netanyahu's brother, Yonatan, was killed leading Operation Entebbe in 1976. Affected by his brother's death, Netanyahu organized two international conferences on ways to combat terrorism, one in 1979 and another in 1984.
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From 1984 to 1988, Netanyahu was Israel's ambassador to the United Nations.
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Netanyahu talks to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir on a stroll in New York's Central Park in November 1987.
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Netanyahu, as Israel's deputy foreign minister, goes through some papers as Government Secretary Elyakim Rubinstein recites morning prayers on a flight from New York to Washington in April 1989.
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Shamir speaks with Netanyahu at a Middle East peace conference in Madrid in October 1991.
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Netanyahu celebrates after being elected chairman of the right-wing Likud party on March 21, 1993.
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Netanyahu and former foreign minister David Levy sit in the Knesset during the vote for a new Israeli President on March 24, 1993.
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Netanyahu meets with King Hussein of Jordan, center, and Crown Prince Hassan in December 1994. It was Netanyahu's first visit to Jordan.
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Netanyahu shakes hands with outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres before taking the office himself in June 1996.
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Netanyahu meets with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for the first time on September 4, 1996, at an Israeli army base at the Erez Checkpoint in Gaza.
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Netanyahu meets with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Washington in February 1997.
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Netanyahu spends the day on the beach with his wife, Sara, and son Avner in Caesarea, Israel, on August 16, 1997.
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Actor Kirk Douglas holds the King David Award, presented to him by the Jerusalem Fund of Aish HaTorah during a dinner in Beverly Hills, California, on November 17, 1997. Douglas was honored for his inspirational commitment to Israel and the Jewish people and in recognition of his new book "Climbing the Mountain." Netanyahu is on the left. To the right is Rabbi Nachum Braverman, director of the Jerusalem Fund of Aish HaTorah.
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Netanyahu looks through binoculars during a tour of the West Bank with the Israeli Cabinet on December 28, 1997.
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Netanyahu and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan meet in Annan's office in New York on May 15, 1998.
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From left, Arafat, King Hussein, US President Bill Clinton and Netanyahu sign an interim Middle East peace agreement in October 1998.
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Netanyahu thanks a crowd of supporters in Tel Aviv, Israel, at a Likud party meeting in May 1999. The outgoing Prime Minister announced that he was quitting the Knesset and stepping down as party leader 10 days after being defeated in elections.
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Netanyahu testifies before the US House Government Reform Committee on September 20, 2001. The committee was conducting hearings on terrorism following the September 11 attacks.
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Netanyahu, as Israel's foreign minister, laughs with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the start of a Likud convention in Tel Aviv on November 12, 2002.
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Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are seen at a polling station in Jerusalem on August 14, 2007. He was re-elected as head of the Likud party.