Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, set a record when he spoke to a joint session of the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. on July 24. In delivering his fourth speech to Congress in 28 years, he surpassed Sir Winston Churchill, who delivered three speeches on Capitol Hill.
Netanyahu, who has been in office even longer than David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, previously appeared on Capitol Hill in 1996, 2011 and 2015 (when he blasted the emerging Iran nuclear agreement, thereby upsetting President Barack Obama).
This was Netanyahu’s first trip abroad since October 7, the day some 3,000 Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, killed roughly 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and kidnapped 250 Israeli and non-Israeli hostages, triggering the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and the war of attrition along the Lebanese border between Israel and Hezbollah.
A seasoned, hard-nosed politician who heads the most right-wing government in Israeli history, Netanyahu arrived in Washington with the intention of broadly explaining his war aims, defining the current conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon as proxy wars with Iran, strengthening Israel’s alliance with the United States, its chief ally and benefactor, and expressing thanks and appreciation for its support.
Netanyahu could not even be remotely likened to Jefferson Smith, the newly-minted, bashful and naive politician who was memorably portrayed by James Stewart in Frank Capra’s 1939 classic movie, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.
Netanyahu, 76, projected vigor and confidence as he outlined his views, yet he was under immense internal and external pressure to bring home the hostages and end the nine month-old war. His trip, therefore, could be regarded as a public relations gambit to burnish his tattered image.
His far-right coalition partners, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have threatened to topple his government if he agrees to a premature ceasefire before Hamas is defeated.
The families of hostages have taken to the streets demanding an immediate truce so that the captives can be freed. Their insistent calls have been echoed by Netanyahu’s political opponents and the security establishment, which supports a hostage deal/Palestinian prisoner exchange with Hamas to pause the fighting, at least for a while.
Shortly after Netanyahu finished his speech, and just hours before he separately met U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House, Israeli forces fighting in Khan Younis found the bodies of five hostages who had been presumed dead: Maya Goren, 56; Tomer Ahimas, 20; Kiril Brodski, 19; Oren Goldin, 33; and Ravid Katz, 51.
According to the most recent Israeli opinion polls, most Israelis want Netanyahu to resign, convinced he has not done enough to prioritize the release of hostages still in Hamas captivity.
In addition, Netanyahu has been under pressure by the Biden administration, Israel’s regional partners and the international community to accept a ceasefire and sign a hostage agreement, both of which could pave the way for an end to hostilities in Gaza and Lebanon.
Netanyahu was invited to address Congress by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Michael Johnson, a Republican. The invitation was seconded by Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer.
Johnson’s invitation outraged many Israelis, who think he cares only about his political survival and resent his attempt in 2023 to overhaul the judiciary.
On July 23, a group of former Israeli military and intelligence agency commanders wrote an open letter to American congressional leaders in which they urged them to cancel Netanyahu’s invitation: “Prime Minister Netanyahu poses an existential threat to the State of Israel. He has no clear strategic objectives for the war in Gaza, no plan for the day after.”
Upwards of 70 Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and one Republican boycotted Netanyahu’s speech on the grounds that he did not set out a clear vision for post-war governance in Gaza, that the scale of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza was too harsh, and that the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians was blocked by Israel at some points.
One of Netanyahu’s critics, Senator Bernie Sanders, also skipped his speech. Sanders, who sponsored an unsuccessful bill to make U.S. military aid to Israel conditional on its observance of human rights and international law, condemned him as a war criminal and urged Johnson to rescind the invitation.
“It will be the first time in American history that a war criminal has been given that honor. He should not be welcome in the United States Congress. Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government has … waged what amounts to total war against the entire Palestinian people. This invitation to Netanyahu is a disgrace and something that we will look back on with regret. With this invitation, it will be impossible, with a straight face, for the United States to lecture any country on Earth about human rights and human dignity.”
Seven major labor unions, notably the Service Employees International Union and the United Auto Workers, called on Biden in a joint open letter to halt to U.S. military aid to Israel.
“Large numbers of Palestinian civilians, many of them children, continue to be killed, reportedly often with U.S.-manufactured bombs,” they wrote. “And the humanitarian crisis deepens by the day, with famine, mass displacement, and destruction of basic infrastructure including schools and hospitals. Stopping U.S. military aid to Israel is the quickest and most sure way to do so, it is what U.S. law demands, and it will show your commitment to securing a lasting peace in the region.”
Netanyahu blithely ignored these sharp critiques.
In a rousing speech that was continually interrupted by waves of applause, particularly from Republicans in the chamber, Netanyahu rose to the occasion.
He recalled the massacre of October 7 in all its grisly details. He saluted Noa Argamani, a released Israeli hostage, and four Israeli soldiers, in the gallery.
Netanyahu defiantly declared that Israel would wage war in Gaza “until we destroy Hamas’ military capabilities and its rule in Gaza and bring all our hostages home.”
“That’s what total victory means and we will settle for nothing less,” he added.
He said the war would end tomorrow if Hamas “surrenders, disarms and returns all the hostages.”
Claiming that “a new Gaza” can emerge after Hamas’ defeat, he said, “My vision for that day is for a demilitarized and deradicalized Gaza.”
He noted that demilitarization and deradicalization worked in Germany and Japan after World War II. “That led to decades of peace, prosperity and security.”
Israel “does not seek to resettle Gaza,” he said. But Israel must “maintain overall security control for the foreseeable future to make sure Gaza never again poses a threat to it. Gaza should have a civilian administration run by Palestinians who don’t seek to destroy Israel,” he said. “That’s not too much to ask.”
“If you remember one thing, one thing from this speech, remember this,” he said. “Our enemies are your enemies. Our fight is your fight. And our victory will be your victory.”
“When we fight Iran, we are fighting the most radical and murderous enemy of the United States. We’re not only protecting ourselves, we’re protecting you.”
Iran, he said, wants to impose “radical Islam” on the region and regards the United States as its greatest enemy because it is “the guardian of Western civilization and the world’s greatest power.”
Netanyahu argued that Iran manipulates surrogates such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen for its own ends. “Israel is merely a tool,” Netanyahu said. “The main war, the real war, is with America.”
Netanyahu thanked Biden, now a lame duck president, and Donald Trump, the former and would-be president, for their respective support. (Like Biden, Trump has urged Israel to wrap up the war, to “finish up and get it done quickly”).
Tellingly enough, Netanyahu omitted major issues in his 52-minute presentation.
He did not mention the state of the current hostage negotiations, the role the Palestinian Authority may play after the war, or the possibility of a two-state solution, which he opposes.
While Netanyahu spoke forcefully, Pelosi panned his speech as “the worst presentation” by any foreign dignitary before Congress.
Representative Jerrold Nadler, another Democrat, castigated Netanyahu as “the worst leader in Jewish history” in centuries. His colleague, Senator Chris Murphy, dismissed his speech as “a setback for both the U.S.-Israel relationship and the fight against Hamas.”
Clearly, Netanyahu did not score high marks with some American politicians.