Prime Minister Netanyahu Visits a Turbulent US
Last Wednesday, Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the US Congress for the fourth time, the most of any foreign leader in history. Winston Churchill had addressed Congress only three times.
Mr. Netanyahu’s previous address to Congress was in March 2015, during the Obama presidency, and only two weeks before the Israeli elections. Traditionally, US administrations do not receive foreign heads of state or government shortly before their elections. Still, the Republican leaders of Congress decided to invite him, defying President Obama.
The word “APPLAUSE” appeared forty-two times in the transcript of Mr. Netanyahu’s address. Members of Congress rose repeatedly to give him a standing ovation. Mr. Netanyahu’s speech was designed to galvanize the Congress against the emerging nuclear deal with Iran. To make his case on the need to contain Iran, the Prime Minister said that Teheran dominated four Arab capitals, Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, and Sana’a. He asked if Iran was gobbling up four countries right now under sanctions, how many more it may devour if sanctions were to be lifted. He argued for more pressure on Iran for a better nuclear deal.
During his visit, there was no meeting with President Obama.
In brief, the visit was a highly controversial one.
The invitation for last week’s visit was extended not by the Biden White House, but this time by the Congressional leaders of both parties, and it took place at a turbulent time in US politics with presidential elections only three months away. Mr. Netanyahu again received standing ovations in Congress, but a good number of House and Senate Democrats skipped his address.
His address to Congress was widely defined as a “defiant” speech.[i] Indeed, he used powerful language. He sought to use the occasion to maximize his political support back home, and to ensure the continuation of Washington’s iron-clad support to Israel. He said, “In the Middle East, Iran’s axis of terror confronts America, Israel, and our Arab friends. This is not a clash of civilizations. It’s a clash between barbarism and civilization.”
He elaborated at length on the Hamas onslaught of October 7. He denied that Israel was deliberately starving the people of Gaza. He called such accusations “utter nonsense”, “complete fabrication”. He also rejected the accusations about the IDF’s targeting of Gaza’s civilian population.
As in 2015, the focal point of his address was the Iran threat. He again said that Iran’s regime has been fighting America from the moment it came to power in 1979 and that Israel is fighting the most radical and murderous enemy of the US.
With Iraq and Syria no longer their former themselves, it is clear that Mr. Netanyahu is now focused on knocking Iran off the regional balance of power as well.
After the first few months of the Gaza war, Mr. Netanyahu has been criticized for not offering a vision for the future of Gaza. Before Congress, he said, “The day after we defeat Hamas, a new Gaza can emerge. My vision for that day is of a demilitarized and deradicalized Gaza. Israel does not seek to resettle Gaza. But for the foreseeable future, we must retain overriding security control there to prevent the resurgence of terror, to ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.” In other
words, he reiterated once again that the “two-state solution” is not and will never be on his agenda. Days before Mr. Netanyahu’s visit to the US, the Knesset had voted overwhelmingly for a resolution that rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state, even as part of a negotiated settlement with Israel.
In Washington, Mr. Netanyahu met with President Biden and Vice President Harris. According to the White House readouts of the meetings, both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to Israel’s security. They also voiced their expectations for a ceasefire and a hostage deal, expressed concern about civilian casualties, and discussed the need to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.[ii] The Vice President also expressed her concern about actions that undermine stability and security in the West Bank, such as extremist settler violence and settlement expansion.[iii]Nothing unexpected.
What made the news was what Vice President Harris told the press following her meeting with Mr. Netanyahu.[iv] After reiterating her unwavering commitment to the existence of the state of Israel, to its security, and to the people of Israel, and calling Hamas a brutal terrorist organization, she said that she had expressed to Mr. Netanyahu her serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians, and the dire humanitarian situation there, with over 2 million people facing high levels of food insecurity and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity.
She also said, “What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating — the images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third, or fourth time. We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to suffering. And I will not be silent.” Finally, she expressed her strong support for the three-phase ceasefire deal launched by President Biden. Her remarks on the humanitarian situation and food insecurity in Gaza were in complete contradiction with Mr. Netanyahu’s address to Congress. Thus, she went far beyond what President Biden has said up till now about the plight of the Gazans.
Her remarks must have been music to Turkish Government’s ears. But, it would take a lot more for both sides to put the relationship back on track if Ms. Harris were to become the winner of the November election.
Donald Trump immediately called Kamala Harris’s statement on the Gaza war “disrespectful”.
Mr. Netanyahu wrapped up his visit to the US with a meeting with Mr. Trump at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort home in Florida. Last Thursday, a day before the meeting, Israel must end the war in Gaza “and get it done quickly,” Mr. Trump said in an interview on Fox News.
The Trump Campaign readout of the meeting says that Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked President Trump for the Abraham Accords, moving the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, eliminating Qasem Soleimani, ending the horrific Iran Nuclear Deal, as well as combatting anti-Semitism in America and abroad.
Indeed, the list is impressive and makes Mr. Netanyahu’s choice for the next US President, more than obvious. After all, during his visit to the Trump White House in January 2020, Mr. Netanyahu had mentioned President Truman as the first world leader to recognize the State of Israel after the declaration of independence in 1948 and called Mr. Trump “the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House”.
The Trump Campaign readout also says that President Trump expressed his solidarity with Israel after the heinous October 7 attack and pledged that when he returns to the White House, he will make every effort to bring Peace to the Middle East and combat anti-Semitism from spreading throughout college campuses across the United States.[v]
Mr. Netanyahu’s US visit has made it clear that the war in Gaza is to continue at its current pace at least until the end of the year. Hopefully, the war would not turn into a broader regional military conflict.
[i] https://www.gov.il/en/departments/prime_ministers_office/govil-landing-page
[ii] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/07/25/readout-of-president-joe-bidens-meeting-with-prime-minister-netanyahu-of-israel/
[iii] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/07/25/readout-of-vice-president-harriss-meeting-with-prime-minister-netanyahu-of-israel/
[iv] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/07/25/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-following-meeting-with-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-of-israel/
[v] https://www.donaldjtrump.com/news/dc743c48-5774-43e8-aa4a-6b08b6d39202