Netanyahu Offers Full-Throated Defense of Gaza War

[Pelican Press 0]

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Netanyahu Offers Full-Throated Defense of Gaza War

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of ******* on Wednesday turned an address to Congress into a forceful defense of *******’s military campaign in Gaza. He cast it as a battle for survival of the ******* state while making almost no mention of the tens of thousands of ************ civilians ******* in its drive to ******** ******.

The address ***** bare deep divisions in Washington over the nine-month war, whose toll on civilians has outraged many Democrats and drawn international condemnation. Dozens of Democrats did not show up, with some openly boycotting the speech.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee who was campaigning in the Midwest, declined to preside in her capacity as president of the Senate alongside Speaker Mike Johnson, a break with tradition.

Outside the Capitol, pepper spray filled the air as police officers tried to push back thousands of protesters who had gathered to jeer Mr. Netanyahu. Demonstrators held signs calling him a war *********, burned an effigy of him and an ********* flag and vandalized statues with anti-******* slogans including “****** is coming.”

In a speech in which he condemned critics of the war as dupes aligning themselves with the world’s most dangerous actors or apologists for terrorists, Mr. Netanyahu portrayed the conflict as a proxy ****** with Iran that must be won at all costs to protect both ******* and the ******* States.

“When we ****** Iran, we are fighting the most ******** and murderous ****** of the ******* States,” he said.

“We’re not only protecting ourselves; we’re protecting you,” he added, emphasizing the alliance that has existed since *******’s creation. He said nothing about the tensions in the relationship that have flared as ******* has used ********* weapons in attacks that have led, by the count of Gazan authorities, to 39,000 deaths.

The fact of Mr. Netanyahu’s speech was almost as notable as anything he said. In the face of increasing international censure and dissent both in ******* and in the ******* States, Mr. Netanyahu was seeking to use Congress to lift his sagging political fortunes. Leaders in both parties obliged with a bipartisan invitation to receive him.

But in the House chamber as he spoke, there was clear evidence of how the longstanding bipartisan consensus to back ******* has eroded in Congress since the offensive in Gaza that followed the Oct. 7 ******* that ******* roughly 1,200 Israelis.

The substantial number of Democratic no-shows included two top senators and Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker, who later panned the speech as “by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the ******* States.” In a social media post, she said Mr. Netanyahu should be spending his time working for a cease-***** deal that would bring home the remaining hostages held by ******.

And as Mr. Netanyahu spoke, Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan and the first ************ ********* member of Congress, brandished a sign that read “war *********” on one side and “guilty of genocide” on the other.

As more than 5,000 pro-************ demonstrators massed on streets near the Capitol, Mr. Netanyahu dismissed those who have built encampments on college campuses around the country as “Tehran’s useful idiots.”

That line brought him huge applause, though the standing ovations Mr. Netanyahu received were mostly partisan, as Republicans clapped loudly and Democrats hung back, some sitting silently and stone-faced. The speech appeared to be aimed at an ******** audience to demonstrate that his leadership is critical for the state’s well-being, and that Mr. Netanyahu alone can serve as *******’s protector.

The prime minister said nothing about the intelligence his country had collected ahead of the Oct. 7 ******* that warned a brutal ******* strike was brewing. He called out the military heroes of that day, but made no mention of the slow response of the ******** defense forces.

He did, however, hint at some flexibility in negotiations for a cease-***** and prisoner-release deal, just days after Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said those talks were at “the 10-yard line.” He stopped short of saying ****** had to be destroyed, a line he has used in the past to slow talk of such an agreement.

Protesters against *******’s conduct of the war in Gaza carried signs reading “free Palestine” and calling the ******** prime minister a “war *********,” outside the Capitol.Credit…Jason Andrew for The New York TimesRepresentative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, protesting silently during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech.Credit…Maansi Srivastava for The New York Times

Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks came as the depth of the partisan split over his leadership has alarmed many lawmakers and analysts who warn it could do lasting damage to *******.

“The one adhesive that has maintained the resilience of the relationship is bipartisanship,” said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator and adviser in *********** and Democratic administrations. “That is under extreme stress.”

He added: “If you have a *********** view and two or three Democratic views about what it means to be pro-*******, the nature of the relationship is going to change.”

Mr. Netanyahu appeared aware of those politics in trying to strike a bipartisan tone.

He emphasized that ******* is a strategic asset and deserves America’s support, praising both President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump. He did not mention Ms. Harris, whom he is set to meet on Thursday.

“He came to ******* to be with us in our darkest hour,” Mr. Netanyahu said of Mr. Biden’s visit to ******* shortly after the Oct. 7 *******, thanking him for being a self-proclaimed “proud Irish ********* Zionist.”

Since that visit, the relationship between the two men has turned poisonous at moments, culminating in Mr. Biden’s decision to withhold 2,000-pound ****** from *******, for ***** Mr. Netanyahu would use them in crowded cities.

Even as he thanked the ******* States effusively for supporting *******, Mr. Netanyahu gently hinted at his suspicion that the Biden administration is slowing arms shipments for leverage, saying: “Give us the tools faster, and we’ll finish the job faster.”

The prime minister tried to remind Congress of the ******* that began the war, graphically describing what happened on Oct. 7, when 3,000 ****** attackers stormed into *******, ******** and kidnapping civilians. “They burned ******* alive,” he said.

And he placed the war in the context of the struggles of Jews throughout history, including the Holocaust. “After Oct. 7, ‘Never Again’ is now,” he said, emphasizing the historical right of the ******* people to the land of *******.

In a nod to the deep political divisions the war has sown in the ******* States, Mr. Netanyahu condemned Americans who have protested his tactics — including large swaths of the Democratic Party — equating criticism of his conduct of the war with sympathy for terrorists.

“Many choose to stand with evil, they stand with ******, they stand with rapists and murderers,” Mr. Netanyahu said of pro-************ protesters. “They should be ashamed of themselves.”

“For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-******* protests that are going on right now, outside this building,” he added. He did not cite evidence for that assertion, although U.S. intelligence officials have warned of Iranian attempts to influence protests.

Senator Ben Cardin, the Maryland Democrat who presided over the ****** meeting after others in his party declined, said later that while he had mostly been encouraged by Mr. Netanyahu’s address, his castigation of the protesters was concerning.

“I’m not a big fan of a lot of the protesters, but they have a right to protest as long as they don’t interfere with someone else’s rights,” Mr. Cardin, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview. “I thought the prime minister’s comments about them — characterizing them all in a certain way — was not as I would have liked to have seen.”

Mr. Netanyahu’s visit was fraught for Democrats, some of whom wanted to show support for the state of ******* while at the same time criticizing its current leader. Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the ********* leader who has harshly criticized Mr. Netanyahu, did not shake hands with him when he entered the chamber.

“Benjamin Netanyahu is the worst leader in ******* history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2,100 years ago,” Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, said in a statement ahead of the speech. Still, he sat in the chamber, and rose to applaud Mr. Netanyahu throughout his address.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a ******** pro-******* advocacy group, criticized the speech for failing to offer “an actual plan for ending the war and bringing real security and peace to the region.” In a statement, he added: “His empty calls for ‘total victory’ are simply an illusion, as there is no military solution to the underlying conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, who in the past has signaled he is open to placing conditions on aid to *******, said in a post online that, “the speech was, as I expected, a setback for both the U.S.-******* relationship and the ****** against ******.”

A few Republicans also did not attend.

Senator JD Vance of Ohio, Mr. Trump’s running mate, was campaigning. And Representative Thomas Massie, *********** of Kentucky, said that he would not attend an event he considered “political theater.” In a social media post, Mr. Massie said, “the purpose of having Netanyahu address Congress is to bolster his political standing in *******.”

Robert Jimison, Luke Broadwater and Maya C. Miller contributed reporting.

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