Netanyahu’s Washington Visit and Congress Speech a Lose-Lose Game

Netanyahu, the prime minister of an apartheid regime, at Wednesday night in a speech he delivered to the US Congress spread lies as much as he could to distort the realities of Gaza war and replace wrong with the right. Meanwhile, a near-majority of the American politicians stood and cheered for his lies. But neither those lies nor the shameful applause of the American officials for the "butcher of Gaza" could change the public opinion's view of the crimes that have been going on in Gaza for 9 months, and only increased the global backlash against the US for rolling out a red carpet for an internationally wanted war criminal. This visit to the US is a lose-lose game for the host and the guest. 

Coldest reception of history 

Netanyahu expected a majority of members of Congress to attend his speech in order to have the Democrats and Republicans broadly rallying behind him. But to his frustration, half of the Democrats, including presidential candidate Kamala Harris, boycotted the speech. Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders called Netanyahu a war criminal and a liar, and Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American lawmaker who attended the meeting, held a sign reading "war criminal."

After Netanyahu's speech, Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the US House of Representatives, posted a message on X, saying: "Benjamin Netanyahu's speech in Congress today was the worst speech by a foreign official who was honored to speak in the United States Congress." Jamal Anthony Bowman, a member of the House of Representatives, said: "Netanyahu is a war criminal. It is a shame that he is speaking in our Congress. Our tax dollars should not be spent on killing children." 

The unprecedented boycott of Netanyahu's speech by the Democrats was a source of shame for him, who has even lost his credibility among Americans because of the crimes in Gaza. The rate of boycotting Netanyahu by the Democratic party has been growing in recent years, going beyond 50 percent. In the recent meeting, 128 Democrats joined a campaign boycotting him while in 2015, only 56 Democratic representatives and senators boycotted Netanyahu's speech.

Some Democratic representatives have made fiery speeches against Netanyahu in recent months to show that they differ with the Biden administration in supporting the Palestinian occupiers, something happening perhaps for the first time in American political history.

So far, it was unprecedented for American officials to attack a high-ranking foreign official speaking in Congress at their invitation, but Netanyahu took this title in his name and showed that he is not popular among his allies.

Provoking the American protestors 

The growing anti-Israeli sentiments could be obviously seen in the street protests in Washington. Certainly, one of the goals of Netanyahu behind the US visit was alleviation of the public opinion anger with ongoing genocidal war on Gaza. But hiding behind the old trick of playing victim to justify the massacre no longer works and the awakening conscience of the people in the West cannot be easily deceived anymore.

However, Netanyahu tried to calm down the escalating anti-Israeli atmosphere in the US firstly by giving false statistics, especially since today American Jews, as the main financial and propaganda supporters of the regime, have also joined the protests against Israeli criminal actions. And secondly, by alleging that these protestors are hired and paid by Iran, he wanted to downplay these protests. But his allegations not only have not assuaged the exploding public anger, but also stood as a catalyst for its explosion, making the demonstrators so furious that they even burned the American flag in the front of the police forces. 

The protestors even made a splash against Netanyahu on social media platforms. Calling Netanyahu an butcher, American users considered his Congress speech to be a shame for their country and questioned Netanyahu's lies about the Gaza war. They said that they will always stand by the Palestinian people and continue their protests against the genocide.

Israeli opposition growing stronger 

Under heavy pressures at home since the start of the war, Netanyahu hoped he could relatively ease the pressures using the gains he would make of US visit. But his promise of continuing the war until obliteration of Hamas was nothing favorable to the Israeli public, especially the families of prisoners held by Hamas. These statements showed that all the show in recent weeks about pursuing negotiations with Hamas in Qatar and Egypt was nothing more than a deception, and in practice, Netanyahu does not attach any importance to preserving the lives of prisoners and their freedom. From the point of view of the Israelis, the main cause of the crisis is the radical government of Netanyahu, which has endangered the security of Israeli citizens for its political interests. 

The coldest reception in the history of an Israeli prime minister in the US sharpened the sword of the Israeli opposition, which can force Netanyahu to stop the war and sink the cabinet and finally hold early elections by increasing the pressure— an election that will definitely end the current situation in favor of the opposition. 

Therefore, with the cold reception of Netanyahu's speech in Congress by the Israeli media and citizens, the continuation of the war with the Palestinian resistance groups with further escalate waves of internal opposition. Because according to Israeli media reports, mutiny and disobedience have increased among the army forces and about 62 percent of them want to stop the war. The disillusionment and erosion of the military forces will increase the casualties of the occupiers in Gaza, and this issue will be come costly for Netanyahu and his cabal. 

World does not believe Netanyahu’s lies 

Another part of Netanyahu's goals in visiting the US was to use the news coverage of his speech in Congress by the American media to make his voice heard by the world and to show himself as a supporter of the peace process in the region using the threadbare Iranophobia policy. 

But to his disappointment, he made no gains in this regard. Many Arab and Western media either did not cover Netanyahu's speech, or criticized him for saying that the Israelis were justified in the war in Gaza and described his remarks as ridiculous. 

Pro-Palestinian countries and human rights organizations, which criticize Israel's crimes everyday and warn the world about the consequences of this war expressed their anger at Netanyahu's unfounded words. They emphasized that war criminals should stand trial, not be given a platform to talk in the Congress. 

Therefore, Netanyahu's speech did not help ease the wave of global backlash against Tel Aviv, but this arrogance turned the world even more against the radical Israeli government, and the political show that Netanyahu launched in the Congress was nothing but a failure for him. Many analysts agree that he had no gain, and his only supporters were the fools who applauded the Israeli lobby without understanding the realities in the occupied territories. The story of Netanyahu is like a person who is stuck in mud up to the mouth and the more he struggles, the more he sinks into this dirt. 

Shame for the US leaders 

For people who are considered as the US political elites, hosting the most loathed war criminal is a betrayal of the American claims of advocacy to the democracy and human rights. Congressmen and women clapping for Netanyahu were like elementary school students standing up to cheer their teacher and they were really nothing but callous minds who turned a blind eye to the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians and encouraged the war criminal to kill more by clapping.

Netanyahu gave a speech to politicians whose decisions affect the whole world and instructed them when to clap for him and when not to do it. In other words, the top American officials listened to the order of the Israeli PM who like a guide showing them the way. 

Netanyahu's big lies will be a disgrace for the Congress, especially the Republicans who invited him just for financial privileges. The history will never forget that while the world was united against Israel, the US alone backed the Israeli occupation and stood to cheer the Israelis who are massacring the Palestinians. 

Any member of Congress attending Netanyahu's speech should remember that cheering for Netanyahu is cheering for the prolongation of the Gaza war, preventing the formation of a Palestinian state and more regional wars, violence, destruction and instability that will compromise the security of the Israeli occupation and potentially drags Washington into a regional war. 

The Congress welcome of the war criminal Netanyahu, who is mainly responsible for the genocide in Gaza, confirms that the US is the main sponsor of terrorism and genocide of the Palestinian people and is directly involved in unprecedented crimes against the Palestinians. Although the international community wants the war to stop, the American leaders, by supporting Netanyahu, approved the continuation of the massacres in Gaza. 

The Republican fury with the American protestors and threatening and detaining them showed that advocacy of human rights is not but an empty claim. Ostensibly, American politicians defend the formation of an independent Palestinian state and show themselves inclined to stop the war in Gaza, but hosting a war criminal revealed that the humanitarian gesture of the Americans is nothing but a deception of public opinion and that they are complicit in Israel's crimes, with their hands stained with Palestinian blood through vetoing UN resolutions and sending arms to the Israeli military. 

So, the pro-rights advocacy of the American leaders cannot deceive the world public anymore, and they see equal the Israeli occupiers and White House leaders, whose interests are interwoven and are ready to destroy rights of millions of Palestinians to boost their ties and interests. By hosting Netanyahu and sending arms to Tel Aviv, Washington insists on violation of the international laws, no matter how many more Palestinians will be victimized. 

Feedback to Netanyahu's speech revealed the truth that he has no acceptance among the public and even politicians, and the more Israeli crimes unfold, the heavier anti-Israeli sentiments grow among American public and politicians.