In a bipartisan nod to genocide, US lawmakers welcomed Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a genocidal war criminal, into Congress yesterday, making him the first foreign leader to address Congress four times. It was the most shameful and dystopian congressional address in US history.
Speaking through unending applause, Netanyahu asked Congress for more funds and weapons and a license to massacre more Palestinians. In a tacit nod to US complicity in the Gaza genocide, Netanyahu told Congress, “Our fight is your fight.” He vowed a “total victory,” praised IDF soldiers despite their numerous war crimes, and cast anti-genocide protesters as “Iran’s useful idiots.” He claimed, amid roars of cheers, that the number of civilians who have been killed in Gaza is “practically none,” echoing the genocidal mantra “There are no innocents in Gaza” that Israel has repeated throughout the war. Emboldened by the unquestioning crowd, Netanyahu told lie after debunked lie.
A dazzled Congress gave Netanyahu fifty-eight standing ovations, lasting about half of the speech’s duration and marking a record in US history, or perhaps any country’s history, at more than 400 percent the number Kim Jong Un receives in North Korea, thus breaking Netanyahu’s own record from 2015, when his forty-three-minute speech received forty-three standing ovations and rounds of applause from nearly every single US lawmaker. After a long, torturous hour of cheering and clapping, lawmakers scrambled on the House floor to shake Netanyahu’s hand.
The circus was incredibly undignified. Even former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, a staunch Israel ally and longtime AIPAC darling, described Netanyahu’s address as the “worst” speech to Congress given by a foreign leader.
But if there’s a silver lining to Netanyahu’s noxious speech, it’s surely that the address was a gift to historians of genocide. Looking back on this dark day, the culmination of ten months of US genocidal complicity in Gaza, future historians will have no difficultly telling who cheered for genocide and who stood against it.
They will look back with horror at the US lawmakers who cheered for a war criminal charged with the massacre of over forty thousand Palestinians — or, to cite more plausible estimates, two hundred thousand Palestinians, and over twenty thousand children. In the words of Reverend Munther Isaac, “History books will record that the US Congress hosted a war criminal and gave him an outrageous number of standing ovations.”
History will be kinder to Representative Rashida Tlaib, who held a sign reading “GUILTY OF GENOCIDE” and “WAR CRIMINAL.” She later wrote: “I will never back down in speaking truth to power. The apartheid government of Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians. Palestinians will not be erased. Solidarity with all those outside of these walls in the streets protesting and exercising their right to dissent.”
The rest of the crowd stood and cheered. To show his ceremonial respect for the smug war criminal, John Fetterman even wore a suit to Congress for possibly the first time. The lawmakers played blind and deaf to the suffering of Palestinians, even as the Gaza genocide has become the “most documented genocide in history,” to cite the UN Palestinian ambassador, in which Israeli leaders, led by Netanyahu, have openly called for genocide and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. As Tlaib remarked: “Netanyahu is a war criminal committing genocide against the Palestinian people. It is utterly disgraceful that leaders from both parties have invited him to address Congress. He should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court.”
Netanyahu spoke to only half of the Democrats of each chamber — roughly 100 of the 212 House Democrats, and 28 of 51 Senate Democrats and independents. Many boycotted the speech, including Bernie Sanders, Sara Jacobs, and Jamaal Bowman. Vice President Kamala Harris declined to preside over Netanyahu’s address. Over 230 congressional staffers signed a letter urging lawmakers to boycott Netanyahu, prompting House Speaker Mike Johnson to openly threaten lawmakers over boycotting.
The United States has become incredibly isolated in its backing of Israel’s genocide. Just as Netanyahu landed in Washington, Amnesty International released a damning report warning of US complicity in war crimes in Gaza. Netanyahu’s visit comes days after the International Court of Justice found Israel guilty of apartheid in Palestine, and shortly before the International Criminal Court (ICC) is expected to issue an arrest warrant against Netanyahu for his war crimes in Gaza.
Facing arrest in Europe, Netanyahu flew directly to the United States, where he has found a safe refuge — perhaps his only safe refuge after several European countries, including strong Israel allies such as Germany and France, and likely the UK, have declared their intention to arrest Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders if the ICC issues arrest warrants against them. The Israeli leader even ruled out stopovers in the Czech Republic and Hungary. A US cargo plane loaded with weapons landed in Israel upon Netanyahu’s departure to Washington.
To shield Netanyahu from facing justice, some US lawmakers have threatened to dismantle the international justice system altogether. As Senator Lindsey Graham openly admitted, “If ICC does this to Israel, They Will Come For Us NEXT.”
Meanwhile, thousands protested outside Congress. Anti-genocide activists called for a mass mobilization to arrest Netanyahu for war crimes. Jewish Voice for Peace and dozens of partner organizations issued a notice of “Citizen’s Arrest for Netanyahu.” Over one hundred grassroots human rights organizations demanded that the US government immediately cease weapons transfers and military funding to the Israeli military. More than four hundred American Jews staged a sit-in protest inside Congress to demand an end to US unconditional military support for Israel. Protesters burned an effigy of Netanyahu a few blocks away from Congress.
Even families of Israeli hostages protested Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, as they hold him responsible for sabotaging cease-fire efforts for the sake of saving his political career. Some were reportedly arrested. Hundreds of other protesters were arrested, tear-gassed, and brutalized by police during Netanyahu’s speech. Thousands gathered to rally against Netanyahu on Thursday as he prepared to meet with Joe Biden at the White House, where Netanyahu stated, “From a proud Jewish Zionist, to a proud Irish American Zionist, I want to thank you for fifty years of support for the State of Israel.”
History will look back on those protesters as having taken the only morally sane position in a conflict characterized by bloodthirsty brutality and madness. The elected officials on their feet cheering the principal architect of that madness, on the other hand, will face a slew of questions, including but not limited to “How did they get away with it?” “How did they sleep at night?” “Why weren’t they thrown in jail?”
Seraj Assi is a Palestinian writer living in Washington, DC, and the author, most recently, of My Life As An Alien (Tartarus Press).
Source: Jacobin