Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a fourth Congressional address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday — unprecedented for a foreign leader.
Only former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was invited to address Congress three times over the course of his career.
Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. Before leaving on this trip, he said his goal in Washington would be to shore up bipartisan support. But his visit comes at a moment of high tension.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers announced they would skip Netanyahu’s speech, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York, who called him “a war criminal.”
Meanwhile, protesters in Washington, DC, gathered to send a message to Netanyahu that he is not welcome because of the war in Gaza. Streets were closed downtown, and the police were out in force.
The antiwar group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organized a sit-in inside the Cannon Building on Capitol Hill, where members of the House have their offices. The demonstration ended with 200 arrests, according to Capitol police.
“I personally appreciate the voices in America that have spoken out loudly against this genocidal war in Gaza,” said Mkhaimar Abusada about the protests. He is a Palestinian political scientist from Al-Azhar University in Gaza, and he fled to Cairo after the current war in Gaza began. His extended family, though, is still in the Gaza Strip, where he said the situation “is beyond catastrophe.”
Estimates say nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since last October, with around half of the territory’s buildings destroyed or damaged.
People in Gaza at this point want a ceasefire, and when the war is over, most of them want the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, to come back to run Gaza, Abusada said.
Since last fall, the Biden administration has been pushing for the US-financed Palestinian Authority to return to Gaza. Some Israeli opposition leaders agree.
But Netanyahu has publicly ruled that out. “I’m not aware of any serious discussions by Netanyahu and his coalition government on the day after,” Abusada said. “Netanyahu doesn’t even want to discuss this issue.”
Rabbi Gilad Kariv, a member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, from the Labor Party, said that Netanyahu’s refusal is a strategic mistake.
“We believe that we need to work together to have a political dialogue with the more moderate forces in the Palestinian Authority,” Kariv said, adding that it’s also a good example of how the prime minister has put Israel’s security at risk by teaming up with coalition members from the extreme religious right.
“They want us to go back to Gaza and to control the daily life of 2 million Palestinians,” Kariv said. “This is a terrible vision. It will isolate Israel totally from the international community and will prevent Israel from dealing with the real strategic threats.”
Kariv, along with Israelis across the political spectrum, largely agree with Netanyahu about the threat posed by Iran and its Middle Eastern proxies — a narrative that Netanyahu has been pushing since long before the Oct. 7 attack.
“Israel today is being challenged by a pro-jihadist regional alliance led by Iran,” Kariv said. “Iran is coming closer and closer to meet a nuclear capacity.”
The World’s host, Carolyn Beeler, discussed the situation and Netanyahu’s address further with Matthew Bell. Click the player above to listen to the full conversation.