WashingtonThe notable absences in Congress – such as that of Vice President Kamala Harris – have not swayed the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has spoken out about the war in Gaza. “Give us the tools and we will finish the job”, assured the leader this Wednesday, who asked congressmen for more weapons after last April they approved military aid for Tel-Aviv valued at 26,000 million euros . The Israeli leader addressed the chamber with his hands stained with the blood of more than 39,000 Palestinians who have died since the conflict broke out on October 7, and which have led the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to ask his arrest as a war criminal.
The warmongering tone has been constant in the speech of the Israeli Prime Minister, which has lasted more than 45 minutes, much longer than the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had enough with 30 minutes before the audience of the upper and lower houses of the United States. “Israel will do what needs to be done to secure its northern border,” Netanyahu defended in reference to the powder keg that the border with southern Lebanon has become.
Netanyahu recalled the October 7 attack by Hamas: “These monsters burned babies alive.” The Israeli prime minister has repeated the statement without changing, after his government had to admit that it could not confirm that it was true that Hamas had beheaded and burned babies. He also assured that his army “does everything it can to avoid civilian casualties”. He said it without changing before Hani Almadhoun, a Palestinian who has lost 150 of his relatives in the Israeli bombings, who had been invited to the Capitol by the American congresswoman of Palestinian origin Rashida Tlaib, Netanyahu has raised between the public two Israeli soldiers mutilated in Gaza and that he has assured that they are ready to return to the battlefield.
Protesters ‘Iran’s useful fools’
He received the biggest ovation when he attacked the pro-Palestinian demonstrators who are protesting in the vicinity of the Capitol against the war in Gaza and its intervention. “Iran is financing the anti-Israeli protests there,” Netanyahu said, calling the protesters “useful idiots from Tehran.”
Netanyahu has also outlined his plans for the day after the war ends. He said that once Hamas is defeated “a new Gaza could emerge” and he assured that Israel has no plans to “recolonize” the Strip, words addressed to the virtual Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, who like Joe Biden has said that Israel must not conquer the Strip again. Although Netanyahu has not specified how he plans to do it, when all the Palestinian factions have agreed on a government of national unity to prevent it. He also demanded that the “civilian administration” of the Strip should be “controlled by Palestinians who do not seek to destroy Israel.”
Netanyahu’s first words for President Joe Biden have been positive, highlighting the support he received in the hours after Oct. 7: “He came to Israel to be with us in our darkest hour.” And he added that Biden is “a proud Irish-American Zionist.” In recent months, the relationship between the two leaders has deteriorated, reaching critical moments where Biden threatened his partner with ultimatums, which in the end he did not fulfill. On the contrary, he has not once mentioned Harris, who avoided presiding over today’s session as he is constitutionally required to hold a campaign rally. Democrats don’t want the photo with the Israeli prime minister to spoil the momentum that the democrat is living. To compensate, Harris plans a private meeting with Netanyahu.
At such a critical moment in American politics, with the recent withdrawal of Biden and the assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Netanyahu has also filled his mouth by praising the former Republican president for the Abraham Accords, which were supposed to bring to the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab allies of the United States. The “Alliance of Abraham” that the Israeli prime minister has claimed, it is obvious that the massacre in Gaza has short-circuited, at least for now, that possibility. Netanyahu has returned to his usual rhetoric of presenting Iran as an existential threat to Israel, even though he was responsible for pressuring Trump to tear up the nuclear deal that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had signed and that was the only time the regime of the Ayatollahs had committed to putting its nuclear program under international control.
In addition to Harris, 80 Democratic congressmen did not attend the session, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. The leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, was present at the speech, but he refused to shake his hand when he entered the room. Schumer, who is Jewish, has been highly critical of Netanyahu in recent months over his handling of the war. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Ocasio had already announced on Tuesday that he would not attend the session. “It is a dark day in the history of the United States when an authoritarian with arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court can address a joint session of Congress,” wrote platform X. Senator Bernie Sanders has also boycotted the speech. Moderate democrats, such as Ami Bera, were not there either.
When House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, extended the invitation to Netanyahu in late May, Biden’s handling of pro-Palestinian protests and US complicity in the Gaza war were sinking the president’s popularity. . It was the main weapon Republicans had to attack him: they accused him of allowing “anti-Semitism” on campuses and of not supporting Tel Aviv enough. That is why Johnson took the initiative to invite the Israeli Prime Minister.
Domestic affairs have overshadowed Netanyahu’s visit to such an extent that the focus is no longer on the content of his speech but on how it is being received by the White House and Congress. After the Israeli prime minister landed in Washington on Monday, Biden announced that he was postponing his meeting scheduled for Tuesday until Thursday. Biden has timed his speech to explain the withdrawal just five hours after Netanyahu’s parliament.
Even among the Republican ranks there have been absences. JD Vance, senator from Ohio and brand new tandem of Trump, was not either. His team has excused him saying that his schedule is too full with campaign events, but he sends the message that “he is with the people of Israel.”
Among the absences, the presence of Elon Musk has stood out. The owner of the X social network attended the speech at the express invitation of the Israeli Prime Minister
Street protests
Outside the Capitol, the streets surrounding the building have been cordoned off to keep pro-Palestinian protests at bay. Amid heavy security measures, thousands of people have been congregating around the perimeter to make it clear to Netanyahu that he is not welcome in the capital. “Arrest Netanyahu,” chanted the protesters, referring to the arrest request issued by the prosecutor’s office at the Hague court. The police have arrested at least five people, according to US media. Among those attending the rally was actress Susan Sarandon. Yesterday, about 400 people, including activists from Jewish Voice For Peace, occupied one of the congressional rotundas to show their rejection of the Israeli prime minister and to ask the US government to stop sending weapons to him. This afternoon six activists were arrested for protesting in the corridors of the Capitol.
Source: www.ara.cat
