A defiant Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, dismissed as \u201cutter nonsense\u201d criticisms by the United Nations, human rights groups and others that his government has committed war crimes in Gaza and derided protesters as \u201cidiots\u201d and tools of Iran.<\/p>\n
The embattled Israeli prime minister told U.S. lawmakers that Israel will settle for \u201cnothing less\u201d than total victory over Hamas, and described a vision for a postwar Gaza seemingly at odds with the terms of a peace deal being pursued by the Biden administration. The fate of Israel and the United States are inextricably linked, he claimed, making the case that U.S. investments in Israel\u2019s war aims also serve to defend the United States and \u201call democracies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe help keep Americans\u2019 boots off the ground,\u201d Netanyahu thundered, claiming that \u201cIsrael fights on the front line of civilization.\u201d He praised the United States\u2019 extensive annual military assistance, but implored Congress to deliver more. \u201cGive us the tools faster, and we\u2019ll finish the job faster,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a clash of civilizations. It\u2019s a clash between barbarism and civilization. It\u2019s a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life,\u201d Netanyahu said to cheers and applause in the House chamber, as outside the Capitol throngs of police deployed pepper spray to keep protesters at a distance.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu\u2019s address, spanning about an hour, comes as his far-right government nears the start of its tenth month of war in Gaza, where local authorities say 39,000 Palestinians have been killed amid daily bombardment and famine, and as a majority of Israelis say they want him to leave office.<\/p>\n
He arrived on Capitol Hill in a bulletproof motorcade, passing through a phalanx of security as protesters marched through downtown Washington, condemning the Israeli leader as an accused war criminal and calling on the Biden administration to end its weapons shipments to Netanyahu\u2019s government.<\/p>\n
In his remarks, Netanyahu accused pro-Palestinian demonstrators of standing with the Hamas militants who staged October\u2019s savage attack on Israel, triggering the Gaza war.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should be ashamed of yourself,\u201d he bellowed, alleging that Iran, Israel\u2019s sworn enemy in the Middle East, is funding such protests throughout the United States and chiding their participants \u201cuseful idiots\u201d and antisemites.<\/p>\n
Although more than 50 lawmakers said they were boycotting the speech, there were only a few empty seats in the House chamber. Some had been filled by guests, including a group of Israeli soldiers highlighted by Netanyahu in his speech. One, who responded heroically during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 \u201ckilled many terrorists, and saved many lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am past pissed off. I am past upset. I am absolutely ashamed of what is happening,\u201d Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) told reporters on a conference call alongside other Democrats and former government officials who resigned from their jobs in protest of the administration\u2019s Israel policy. \u201cOur government has been actively complicit in genocide every step of the way,\u201d Bush added.<\/p>\n
Many of the Democrats who did attend did so with resignation. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) was one, saying earlier this week that he had chosen to show up out of respect for Israel but that he considers Netanyahu to be \u201cthe worst leader in Jewish history.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than anything, however, Netanyahu\u2019s fourth speech before a joint session of Congress \u2014 a privilege afforded to few foreign leaders, and to Netanyahu more than any other in U.S. history \u2014 underscored Israel\u2019s staying power as a fixture of American foreign policy and as the largest recipient of U.S. military aid. If Democrats have wavered in their support, Republicans, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), have welcomed Netanyahu with open arms, praising his leadership since Hamas launched its cross-border attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw upward of 250 taken hostage.<\/p>\n
The Biden administration and many congressional Democrats, who have grown increasingly vocal in their displeasure with Netanyahu\u2019s conduct of the war, have nevertheless shied away from inflicting consequences on a key U.S. ally, leaving unimpeded the flow of billions of dollars in weapons, intelligence, and diplomatic commitments central to the two nations\u2019 security relationship.<\/p>\n
The administration has also been at pains in recent weeks to stress the fervent, months-long efforts by senior officials to negotiate a lasting cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that would see the return of the remaining hostages and pave the way toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. Officials have claimed repeatedly that a deal is within reach, with a State Department spokesman, Matt Miller, telling reporters earlier Wednesday that Washington is working \u201cto bridge the final differences.\u201d<\/p>\n
But behind closed doors, officials and even some former Israeli officials, have acknowledged that Netanyahu and his cabinet have shown little interest in ending the war. Families of Israeli and American hostages in Gaza also have increasingly criticized Netanyahu for failing to deliver their loved ones from captivity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis administration has been pretty clear with us consistently where they thought the pressure needed to be,\u201d Jon Polin, the father of American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, told The Washington Post in an interview. \u201cThey have told us when they thought it needed to be Hamas \u2014 and right now their belief is it\u2019s more in Israel\u2019s court.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu\u2019s former Army chief of staff-turned-opposition leader, Benny Gantz, also on Wednesday accused Netanyahu of intentionally delaying a cease-fire deal by months, and leaving more Israeli hostages to die.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu told his audience Wednesday that his government was engaged in efforts to bring home the hostages, and that when he spoke to the hostages\u2019 families earlier this week he \u201cpromised them this: I will not rest until all their loved ones are home.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Netanyahu spoke to American lawmakers, doctors in the Gaza Strip said the ongoing carnage from Israeli bombardment and severe shortages in critical medical supplies had rendered them unable to save those they might have been able to under normal circumstances.<\/p>\n
Almost 200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Monday, when Israeli forces launched a fresh operation in the city of Khan Younis, targeting Hamas militants whom it accused of launching rockets from the area. Doctors in the largest remaining hospital in southern Gaza have said in recent days that their wards have been deluged with civilian casualties, leaving blood banks near dry and an emergency room filled with children.<\/p>\n
\u201cI pulled a curtain back and there was just a small girl alone, dying,\u201d Javid Abdelmoneim, a medical team leader with Doctors Without Borders, told The Post this week by phone from Gaza. \u201cIn a system where there were staff and supplies, and she was the one trauma case, we could have saved her,\u201d he added. But they couldn\u2019t. \u201cShe looked like she was eight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Vice President Harris, who has replaced President Biden atop the Democratic presidential ticket, declined to preside over the address, an aide emphasized her \u201cunwavering commitment to the security of Israel.\u201d Both she and Biden will meet with Netanyahu on Thursday instead.<\/p>\n
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Netanyahu would travel to meet with him at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, their first meeting since Trump expressed his fury toward the Israeli leader for recognizing Biden\u2019s electoral victory in 2020.<\/p>\n
Republicans have sought to capitalize on deepening liberal opposition to the U.S.-Israel relationship, particularly on college campuses, and have framed Democratic criticisms as nothing short of anti-Semitic betrayal in Israel\u2019s hour of need. The GOP, Republican leaders have argued, is Israel\u2019s only true ally.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a moment for moral clarity, and it is unconscionable to us that the president of the United States and some of the leaders in the Senate are unable or unwilling to stand and say what is good and what is evil,\u201d Johnson said last week.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu also is no stranger to flame-throwing in U.S. politics. He used his last address to Congress, in 2015, to blast the Obama administration\u2019s efforts toward an Iran nuclear deal, infuriating the White House.<\/p>\n
While he sought to tread a more bipartisan line on Wednesday, praising the Capitol as a \u201ccitadel of democracy,\u201d and avoiding partisan distinctions, he has made little effort in recent years to disguise his preference for the GOP, which has abstained from questioning Israel\u2019s human rights record and its treatment of the Palestinians.<\/p>\n
Steve Hendrix in Tel Aviv, Louisa Loveluck in Jerusalem, Marianna Sotomayor, Mariana Alfaro and Ellie Silverman contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A defiant Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, dismissed as \u201cutter nonsense\u201d criticisms by the United Nations, human rights groups and others that his government has committed war crimes in Gaza and derided protesters as \u201cidiots\u201d and tools of Iran. The embattled Israeli prime minister told U.S. lawmakers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}