Netanyahu goes to Washington

And delivers the worst speech ever spoke

Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress yesterday was the most atrocious and revolting speech I’ve ever had the misfortune of feeling compelled to watch. Statistically, it was probably composed of more falsehoods than truths, and is better described as a propaganda and lie-filled rant than a speech. Even worse, as difficult a bar as that is to clear, was the reaction. The vast majority of Congress stood and cheered at the end of nearly every sentence. They applauded lie after lie, they applauded his smearing of U.S. anti-genocide protesters, they got up and sat down like puppets on the end of a string, with hands that must have burned from clapping so vigorously and frequently for over half an hour.

For those who missed this despicable event, I won’t burden you too much with each painful line of Netanyahu’s genocidal ranting, but for a quick snapshot of his lies I’ll just tell you that he said Iran is funding U.S. protesters, October 7th was like 20 9/11s all at once, and queer people who support Palestine are like chickens supporting KFC. Yes, word for word. It was a speech written by some assistant who lives detached from reality in some fascist-Zionist corner of the internet, filled with nonsensical slogans that are only coherent to the far-right. Oh, and he also attacked the International Criminal Court, didn’t even mention pursuing a ceasefire, and vaguely proposed a Middle East NATO.

In other words, it was not only full of racism and horseshit, Netanyahu’s rant was also a foreign policy disaster. It was so bad that it brought together people ranging from Rashida Tlaib to Nancy Pelosi, united in condemnation. Pelosi took to Twitter, calling it, “by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States.” And Rashida Tlaib protested in the chamber itself, holding signs calling Netanyahu a war criminal, and accusing him of being guilty of genocide – both accurate accusations of course.

There was something akin to a silver lining in one of the developments surrounding this nightmarish address. 136 Democrats skipped out on the event, boycotting this genocidal authoritarian. As Waleed Shahid says, “Netanyahu and AIPAC are losing the Democratic Party.” And there was further evidence of this trend after the speech, when Senators Manchin and Fetterman were the only two Democratic members of Congress to stick around and join the swarm of Republicans eagerly trying to shake the Israeli Prime Minister’s hand after he spoke.

But in this moment we have to remember that disavowing Netanyahu, or trying to distance themselves from him, is not in fact the same as abandoning AIPAC. Democrats have moved slightly on Gaza, but much of that shift looks like pinning this entire, relentless atrocity on the Israeli PM, without acknowledging the fuller context of Israeli settler-colonialism, apartheid, and genocide. And Netanyahu makes it easy, he’s an atrocious fascist and never fails to remind the world of that. But Democrats distancing themselves from him must be just the beginning. In the short term, immediately halting all arms and money to Israel must be our demand. And in the long term the entire party must reject AIPAC money. We have to make their contributions so toxic that Democrats magically grow backbones when it comes to Israel and stop accepting their blood-soaked campaign cash.

And that’s an uphill battle. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jefferies signed on to inviting Netanyahu to Congress after months and months of genocide and ethnic cleansing and the worst war crimes the 21st century has seen. Now, despite 136 Democrats boycotting the speech, most of the party still very readily accepts millions from the Zionist lobby. As for the many members of the party who were in that chamber yesterday, it was impossible to miss the unity and applause for most of Netanyahu’s lines, although as the speech went on some Democrats appeared to regret being in that room.

Maybe the most glaring moment came right up front, before a little regret set in, when almost the entire room began this charade with a three-minute standing ovation before Netanyahu even said word. The entire spectacle was revolting and gut-churning. With this speech a genocidal sociopath becomes the single foreign leader to address a joint-session of Congress more than any other — four speeches on the podium standing before U.S. leadership. And most of Congress welcomed the world’s number one war criminal and genocidaire with open arms. Watching it was enough to make me physically sick. Watching it was enough to convince anyone with a head on their shoulders that radical change is urgently needed.

Photo by Mohammed Ibrahim on Unsplash

Our path to getting Israel’s influence out of our politics won’t be easy. But this moment, with the transition from Biden to Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket, and her search for a Vice President, provides an opportunity. Already people are urging her to change course on Gaza, to choose a running mate who understands the need to cut off aid to Israel and stop providing support for genocide, and to ultimately lead the party in moving Palestine towards peace.

Now we all know that might not happen. There are signs of hope, like Harris skipping out on Netanyahu’s address to Congress and refusing to preside over it, but then again she’s also meeting with him separate from his meeting with Biden. Anything could happen in that conversation, but Kamala’s history on Israel-Palestine is one of unwavering support for Israel, like most of her party. However, she also wants to win. And the polling is clear. Democratic voters want a drastic change of course. They want arms to stop flowing to the IDF, and they want a ceasefire. So, even if only born out of the desire to ascend to the White House, there is a chance of significant change in Gaza policy from Kamala Harris.

But the ultimate truth remains what it has been – we should not wait and rely on the political apparatus to bring peace and justice. We should build a movement, as the thousands of protesters assembled in Washington, DC to greet and confront Netanyahu are doing. Our aim must be to generate the power to force a change of course, on Gaza and countless other issues, rather than just having our power limited to the many ways we can politely ask politicians to do the right thing. We must transmute our rage into organization, into a movement capable of winning our demands. We might not have countless millions of dollars on our side, but we do have millions of people, and once our numbers are translated into structure and power we will become unstoppable.