Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's acceptance of an invitation to address the US Congress, without the blessing of the White House, is destructive to US-Israeli ties, a senior official has said.

The comments by national security advisor Susan Rice are some of the harshest yet regarding Republican House speaker John Boehner's invitation to the Israeli leader to speak to lawmakers, bypassing protocol by not advising president Barack Obama first...

...Mr Obama and other Democrats have said they will not attend the speech on March 3 in Washington.

The president has said his attendance would be seen as partisan, with Israeli elections on March 17, and said he has no plans to meet Mr Netanyahu.

Democrats also say the appearance by Mr Netanyahu will undermine nuclear talks with Iran and have urged a postponement of the speech.

Ms Rice said that US relations with Israel have always had a bipartisan nature, but the invitation for the speech now breaks that tradition and adds a political component.

"What has happened over the last several weeks by virtue of the invitation that was issued by the speaker and the acceptance of it by prime minister Netanyahu two weeks in advance of his election is that on both sides there has now been injected a degree of partisanship," Ms Rice said.

"Which is not only unfortunate, I think it is destructive of the fabric of the relationship...

...In order to offset the perceived partisanship of Mr Netanyahu's speech to US congress, Democratic senators Dick Durbin and Dianne Feinstein had invited the Israeli prime minister to a closed-door session with the Democrats.

Mr Netanyahu declined the invitation, saying it could further "compound the misperception of partisanship" plaguing his visit.

"I regret that the invitation to address the special joint session of Congress has been perceived by some to be political or partisan," Mr Netanyahu said.

"I can assure you that my sole intention in accepting it was to voice Israel's grave concerns about a potential nuclear agreement with Iran that could threaten the survival of my country."

Mr Durbin expressed his disappointment about Mr Netanyahu's decision not to meet the Democrats.

"We offered the prime minister an opportunity to balance the politically divisive invitation from speaker Boehner with a private meeting with Democrats who are committed to keeping the bipartisan support of Israel strong," Mr Durbin said in a statement.

"His refusal to meet is disappointing to those of us who have stood by Israel for decades."

www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-25/netanyahu-speech-to-us-congress-will-harm-ties-wi...