The political intrigue around the Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to America plays like something out of Shakespeare.

There is “tragedy” as the word is used in a newspaper headline. To describe something abrupt and awful. A terrible car accident on the way home from a picnic.

Then there’s tragedy as it was invented by the Greeks and perfected by Shakespeare. The dramatic storytelling form where the protagonist is driven by his own unbending nature to follow a path of inevitable doom.

This is the sort of tragedy we’re watching play out in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to America, in defiance of diplomatic protocol and just two weeks before his own election. I’ve spent the past year immersed in classic Shakespearian tragedy as part of a writing project. I know a tragic storyline when I see one.

Even before he entered politics Benjamin Netanyahu was a tragic figure. In 1976 his older brother Yoni led the brilliant rescue of more than 100 hostages hijacked by terrorists and held at Uganda’s Entebbe Airport. Yoni was the sole Israeli soldier killed in the raid. Benjamin Netanyahu has taken a famously hard line against terrorism ever since.

He has been single-minded in his determination to stand against existential threats to Israel. He sees such threats everywhere, most especially in the Iranian nuclear program. Mr. Netanyahu explains his decision to address the Republican-led Congress by saying he has to “do everything I can to prevent” negotiations with Iran over the nuclear issue from reaching a peaceful agreement.

But in tragedy the dramatic pot gets stirred. What was once noble emerges as the very character flaw that sets the wheels of doom in motion. Single-minded determination becomes blind determination. Shakespeare couldn’t have written a better protagonist than Benjamin Netanyahu.

All he needed was an equally Shakespearian antagonist. Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner is perfect for the role, with his unearthly tan and steely eye for political calculation. You can almost see him lying in his tanning bed, arms folded against his chest like Dracula in his coffin, waiting any opportunity to emerge and suck the lifeblood out of the Obama Administration. It’s only natural that Mr. Boehner and Mr. Netanyahu would gravitate toward one another, both hard men of the right.

But John Boehner’s interests are not Israel’s interests. He’s obsessed with the constitutional tug of war currently raging between the Executive and Legislative branches. The dysfunction of a gridlocked congress has created a power vacuum. The Obama Administration stepped in to fill the void with executive actions. Now Congress is pushing back, looking for ways to reassert its authority. That sort of back and forth is a normal part of democracy, but that doesn’t mean it won’t get ugly.

This is the swamp Mr. Netanyahu stepped into when he let Mr. Boehner whisper in his ear. There has been plenty of political grandstanding around the subject of Israel, but somehow both countries always managed to avoid turning the relationship itself into something partisan. Not anymore.

Even before the diplomatic dust-up, Mr. Netanyahu’s policies had made Israel increasingly isolated in the world. His insistence on building settlements in the occupied West Bank are seen as a violation of international law by most of the nations he needs to count as friends. It has wrecked the peace process that is Israel’s best hope for security. Now he has become equally reckless about his relationship with roughtly one-half of the U.S. political establishment. For a man who sees everything through the filter of existential threats, Mr. Netanyahu is blind to the possibility that he has become one. Tragic storytelling is full of irony.

When William Shakespeare authored his famous line, “Et tu, Brute,” he titled the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. We knew what was coming long before Brutus sank his knife into Caesar’s back. Tragedy has flourished for all these centuries as a dramatic form because it tells us so much about human nature. That’s why it’s useful to look at Mr. Netanyahu’s address to Congress through the lens of tragedy. We know the principal players will be too wrapped up in their own motivations to understand the trouble they are heaping upon the things they care about most. But those of us watching from the cheap seats see it all too clearly.