NOTE: I did two interviews over the past week. Robert Scheer, one of America’s great progressive journalists, invited me on his KCRW show and podcast. And I did WMNF’s True Talk (July 25th show). Please give a listen. The New Arab also published my latest piece on the broader implications of Bibi’s speech.
If you have a favorite public affairs show, let them know that I am available to do interviews.
Bibi Netanyahu addressed a Joint Session of Congress earlier today. He was feted like a Roman emperor by the mostly Republican members of Congress who fawned over him like a rich uncle. It was his fourth such address, an honor bestowed on few foreign leaders. None has been invited as many times as the Israeli leader.
It was a blustering speech full of bombast. It recalled lessons learned at the knee of Ben Zion Netanyahu, his father, who was a middling academic Jewish historian. The Israeli leader mustered references from the Maccabees to Winston Churchill (one of his favorites). All offered with a rhetorical flourish, without any real historical analysis.
He began by arguing that Israel’s war against Iran and its “axis of terror” was not a war of civilizations, but a war of “barbarism against civilization.” In finest colonialist style he called for a transformation of:
…A troubled region [the Middle East], from a backwater of oppression, poverty and war into a thriving oasis of dignity, prosperity and peace.
He called this a “noble mission” which would be undertaken with an “alliance” among the US, Israel and “its Arab partners.” He coined the term “the Abraham Alliance,” with a rhetorical flourish. No one seems to remember that Abraham, the father of the Jewish people banished Ishmael, the progenitor of the Arab nation, and his mother, Hagar, into the wilderness.
No one in the cheering chamber seems to have asked whether the residents of this “backwater,” as he described the Middle East, want or need to be transformed. After all, they have the evidence before their eyes of Israel’s “transformation” of Gaza from a besieged enclave to a desert moonscape. Why would they want to permit the US and Israel to do the same to them?
Useful idiots
Netanyahu went on to accuse campus anti-war protesters of being “useful idiots” for Iran. He claimed without evidence that it was financing the demonstrations against the war. He rose in high dudgeon against slogans used in the protests, saying that “Gays for Gaza” was like “Chickens for KFC.” His appeared to expect a laugh, but the majority of the crowd seemed nonplussed.
He claimed that “the majority of Americans support Israel.” Correction: while the majority of Americans support Israel in general terms, in fact the majority of Americans oppose both Israel’s war and Biden’s policy towards it. In fact, they are disgusted by the slaughter.
Bibi exploited some of the most pernicious lies about 10/7 offered by Israel apologists. He called the Hamas fighters “monsters who burnt babies” and raped Israeli women. There were no babies burnt and the few instances of sexual violence were not committed by Hamas, but rather by thugs who accompanied the fighters into Israel. Pres. Biden has unfortunately, repeated these manufactured untruths.
Even the claim reported by Israel’s apologists and world media that Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis on 10/7 is false. In fact, the IDF deliberately killed scores if not hundreds of its own citizens as part of the Hannibal Directive, a protocol permitting the killing of anyone falling into enemy hands. Thus helicopter pilots interviewed by Israeli TV fired on jeeps carry hostages into Gaza. An IDF general ordered a tank to fire point-blank into a kibbutz home containing Israeli civilians and their Palestinian captors. He was cleared of any wrongdoing and is slated for a promotion.
The Israeli PM trotted out virtually every platitude in the hasbara playbook. For example, he said:
It’s a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life.
Shorter Netanyahu: they kill us so we kill them. Palestinians don’t glorify death. They engage in armed resistance against foreign occupation. As a result, they kill Israelis and Israelis kill them in response. That’s resistance, not glorification of death. But even if we accept Bibi’s claim, the Zionist movement no less glorified death. Baruch Kimmerling showed this in his account of Israel’s “culture of martyrdom.”
We can even dispute the claim that Israel sanctifies life. If it truly did, it would accept a ceasefire and bring its hostages home. Instead, Netanyahu insists on continuing the war, while the IDF kills its own citizens in the process of fighting against Hamas. In one instance, soldiers pumped poison gas into a tunnel, believing a Hamas commander was inside. Instead, Israeli hostages were there and died as a result.
He belongs in a jail cell, not the halls of Congress. Instead of persuading the American people of the righteousness of his cause, his rhetoric fell flat. It will make barely a ripple in the domestic debate about the war. Just as the Israeli people are weary of him, so are Americans.
He trumpeted Israel’s respect for Palestinian civilians, recounting a purported conversation with an IDF officer in Rafah. When asked, the soldier claimed that no civilians were killed there except a “few dozen” when a Hamas weapons depot was bombed. In fact, this attack did not target an arms arsenal. It obliterated a civilian location. It is an insult to the world’s intelligence to claim that no civilians were killed there, when thousands, if not tens of thousands were, according to the Palestinian health ministry, whose death count is accepted by the IDF.
War without end
Netanyahu, as I noted above, claimed he would not stop the war until every last hostage is freed. Not even his generals believe they can eliminate Hamas, no matter how long the hostilities continue.
He falsely claimed that three Israeli hostages attempted to flee their captors but:
…Tragically they were killed making their way back to our lines.
Another lie: they died with white flags in the air, speaking Hebrew, and telling the soldiers who killed them that they were hostages.
He likened 10/7 to American tragedies, Pearl Harbor and 9/11, in an attempt to elicit sympathy from his audience. All three events do share parallels, but not in the way he believes. While we can argue about whether the motivation for these attacks was legitimate, in each case the perpetrators had a grievance against what they perceived as US aggression and threats to their interests. Similarly, Hamas’ attack on Israel was based on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and the ongoing genocide both in the West Bank and Gaza. Again, as I wrote above, such resistance is wholly legitimate according the UN General Assembly.
The Israeli premier excoriated the International Criminal Court for claiming Israel was “starving” Gaza. A claim supported by human rights NGOs and academic experts. He trotted out the misleading claim that Israel had admitted 40,000 truckloads of aid. He added that this amounted to 3,000 calories per person. What he didn’t note is that over that same period the normal number of truckloads would be 135,000. Human rights NGOs contradict Netanyahu’s calorie account saying that Gazans receive 245 per day. The average daily intake is 1500-1800. He also avoided mentioning 50 children have died of starvation, nor that 40% (15,000) of the dead are children.
Bibi’s speech was a shameful litany of lies. I’m thankful that half of the Democratic senators and House members boycotted this dog and pony show. But I am disgusted that the MAGA Repugnicans offered 60 standing ovations in the 45 minute speech, more than one per minute.
There is little difference between Israel’s fascist government and the GOP. The former is mounting a coup against what’s left of Israeli democracy, while the latter plan to do so if/when they return to power in November. While Republicans may not be planning the sort of genocide Israel is perpetrating, they are planning a permanent takeover of government and suppression of any and all Democratic opposition; along with a dismantling of Constitution protections and American democracy.
I tuned in. Do not desire to read your post because three fits of rage during the speech itself is enough for me. Thank you.
Thankful … there is some daylight between Joe and Kamala … sliver of home in an cruel Middle East.
First benefit of the Tory switch to Labour:
UK won’t challenge ICC arrest warrant request for Netanyahu, Gallant
deadline passed on 26 July
UK appoints new attorney general critical of Israeli rights violations: Richard Hermer strongly opposed the anti-BDS bill and was among the Jewish lawyers urging Israel to respect international law in Gaza.
As the death toll in Gaza for the Palestinians, mainly children and women, has reached nearly 40,000 leaving the survivors without water, food, clothing, fuel, electricity, communication systems, shelter, and medical support, I ask why, early morning on October 7 of the massacre, were Israeli sentry guards ordered to leave their posts as the security alarm system was deliberately turned off? It appears as if Netanyahu had earlier developed a plan to drive all Palestinians out of Gaza. Now, nearly all opposing Israelis who attempted to share this information have been silences as Congress acts without truth or knowledge.
@ John Spring: You’re made claims that aren’t supported by credible evidence. THe claim that this was some sort of false flag event or that Netanyahu deliberately wanted the attack to succeed isn’t supported. Please do not spread disinformation here.
Richard,
any commentary on the speculation that the projectile that struck the soccer field in the occupied Golan Heights a couple of days ago was an Israeli one? Apparently some in the Syrian Druze community believe so and they weren’t too happy with Israeli politicians trying to turn their “visit” into a PR op.
Mr. Frog: My Israeli security source says it was definitely Hezbollah and that the intended target was likely the Mt. Hermon IDF base. But that the missile struck the village in error.
The IDF base is about 3 miles north-east of that soccer field. That’s quite a miss.
and Hezbollah isn’t really known for missing. That’s the thing.
@Mr Frog: The distance between Majdal Shams and the IDF Mt. Hermon base is 5 miles (9km). So it’s entirely possible there was an error in the missile firing.
I see. I know I’ve asked you this before, but have you considered that your source is just toeing the “party line” in terms of what the IDF says and what Israel says?
I’m not saying you don’t know what you’re talking about obviously, but I assume this guy is an ideological zionist and is pro IDF– he’s just willing to give you the inside scoop on what the government and the israeli military say/plan on doing.
@ Mr. Frog: He’s an Israeli security source. So of course he has his own agenda. But I’m not, and I have my own interests as a journalist. I view what my source tells me with a skeptical eye. But also generally trust the information he provides. When I am skeptical I will couch information in a non-definitive way.
According to Israeli sources, organizers were worried about the 140 seats that would be empty. The Israeli contingent filled 30 or 40 of them, and the rest were filled with Republican staffers. So who was actually cheering? Nadler read a book the entire time, Democrats who came didn’t stand and cheer and Rashida held the fort for all of us demonstrating outside.
In reviewing three cases involving different pieces of Facebook content containing the phrase “From the River to the Sea.” the Board finds they did not break Meta’s rules on Hate Speech, Violence and Incitement or Dangerous Organizations and Individuals.