On July 24, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a powerful address to a joint session of Congress. The hour-long speech featured a forceful defense of the Jewish state from criticisms it has faced throughout the world, a pointed challenge to manipulative interference powered by Iran and a full-throated reaffirmation of the promise for the future of Israel’s unshakable alliance with the United States.
This was Netanyahu’s fourth address to Congress, which is a historic accomplishment. He used the opportunity masterfully — with much of the theater that features guest show-and-tell efforts now used by U.S. presidents in their State of the Union addresses — to tell Israel’s side of the story relating to the Gaza war effort and its ramifications.
Netanyahu began with a graphic description of the horrors of the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 and wove a narrative through the past 10 months, featuring heroic IDF soldiers in the gallery while peppering his remarks with demeaning criticism of those who have challenged Israel’s defensive efforts and the resulting death and destruction in Gaza.
Much of what Netanyahu said was soothing and reassuring to a frustrated pro-Israel community that has struggled to react and respond effectively to orchestrated protests around the world that challenge Israel’s legitimacy and accuse Israel’s government
and military of deliberately targeting innocent civilians. According to Netanyahu, those “malicious lies … are meant to delegitimize Israel, to demonize the Jewish state and to demonize Jews everywhere.” And he called them “nonsense.”
He was equally harsh in his criticism of anti-Israel protesters on college campuses and elsewhere, accusing them of standing in solidarity with “evil” and with rapists and murderers, lamenting that they “should be ashamed of themselves.” He mocked protesters’ ignorance of history, their cluelessness of Middle East geography and their gullible acceptance of emotional accusations that have no basis in fact. And after citing a recent U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran is funding the protests, Netanyahu dismissively described the protesters as “useful idiots” for Iran.
But while Netanyahu’s rhetoric soared and his words were greeted by more than 40 standing ovations from most of those gathered in the chamber, several things were missing.
Most significantly, even after 10 months of reflection, Netanyahu refuses to acknowledge any responsibility for anything related to Israel’s embarrassing intelligence, military and political failures leading up to and since Oct. 7.
And though he brought hostage families with him from Israel to attend his speech — and made a solemn promise to bring every single one of the hostages home — the family attendees showed virtually no enthusiasm for the message he delivered. That’s because they fault Netanyahu with frustrating efforts to secure a cease-fire deal to bring home those still held captive by Hamas, including eight Americans.
Finally, the speech failed to move the needle on Netanyahu’s deep political challenges in Israel and the sentiment of more than 70% of Israel’s population that wants him removed from office.
And then there was the challenge of the timing of Netanyahu’s visit. Not only did Netanyahu have to navigate the upheaval of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race days before the visit, but he had to deal with the unavailability of Vice President Kamala Harris to attend his speech, and he wanted desperately to meet in person with former President Donald Trump before returning to Israel.
He got it all done. But it was messy.
Harris’ absence points toward trouble between her and Netanyahu should she win. Let’s hope she doesn’t.