Netanyahu to deliver more empty promises at Congress: The Atlantic
6 Min Read
Yair Rosenberg cites that throughout Netanyahu's 10 years of speeches that have attempted to bolster his reputation as a leader, none of his words have been tied to any real accomplishments.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an event marking the acceptance of "Israel" into the US government's visa waiver program in occupied al-Quds on September 28, 2023. (AP)
Nothing Benjamin Netanyahu will say during his address to Congress would change the fact that he was incapable of defeating the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas, Yair Rosenburg wrote in The Atlantic.
Rosenburg maintains in his piece that 15 years ago, Netanyahu promised to defeat Hamas, something he has yet to accomplish.
According to him, while Netanyahu is very effective at making grand announcements, his words usually have minimal effects beyond the brief spectacle he makes delivering them. He recalls Netanyahu's last speech before Congress in 2015 when he delivered a "masterful piece of political performance" lobbying against Barack Obama's looming Iran nuclear deal.
Despite the wide political turmoil and media coverage, his address failed to disrupt the nuclear agreement as it went into force in January 2016, when the Republican-controlled Congress failed to assemble the requisite votes to block it.
Rosenburg cites that for over 10 years, Netanyahu has delivered several speeches in "Israel", the United States, and the UN, in an attempt to bolster his reputation as a leader, yet none of his words have been tied to any real accomplishments.
Rosenburg points to his 2009 speech at Bar-Ilan University when, under pressure from Obama, he claimed to have adopted the "two-state" solution, citing "two peoples live freely, side-by-side, in amity and mutual respect."
Rather than follow through with his promise, Netanyahu unsurprisingly guaranteed no Palestinian state would be established in his time as a leader when he ran in 2015.
He also told a reporter in December that he was "proud" to have averted the action.
Netanyahu a 'parade of empty utterances'
The Knesset this month approved a resolution opposing the creation of a Palestinian state. The vote was passed with a majority of 68 out of 120.
The author details how Netanyahu's "parade of empty utterances goes on" as he told the UN in 2014 he would address the status of 34,000 African asylum seekers in "Israel", describing the meticulously negotiated agreement as a "landmark achievement".
Hours later, he canceled the whole operation due to outrage from his followers. In 2019, as part of his reelection campaign, he frequently promised to occupy a portion of the occupied West Bank and add it to "Israel", only to abandon the proposal as a condition for signing the normalization agreements.
10 years ago, Netanyahu told an Israeli talk show that "the ability to spot danger in advance and prepare for it is the test of a body’s functioning,” vowing that under his leadership, "Israel" would not be "surprised again and again."
Rotenburg concludes by calling Netanyahu a "singular salesman for himself," describing his antics as an illusion of him being a senior "statesman".
However, this illusion only succeeds because onlookers, especially the press, mistake rhetoric for truth and spectacle for significance, according to Rotenburg.
"What matters are not the words Netanyahu speaks but the actions he ultimately takes. The rest is noise, and—like his address today—can be safely tuned out."
Democrats, Republicans boycott Netanyahu's speech
While Republican legislators are expected to warmly welcome Netanyahu, Democrats, some of whom have stated that they intend to boycott his address, will be less enthusiastic.
Over 2 dozen Democrats in the House and Senate have announced their intention to skip it, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, according to her spokesperson Ian Krager in a fresh statement released Wednesday.
Meanwhile, according to sources and public statements reviewed by CNN, approximately 80 House Democrats and at least six Democratic senators are expected to skip Netanyahu’s speech on Wednesday.
Netanyahu is set to meet with US President Joe Biden on Thursday at the White House, according to a US official on Monday.
Reportedly, Netanyahu will be meeting Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris separately. Talks with Biden are expected to touch on the war on Palestine where the two leaders will discuss ways to reach a ceasefire in Palestine's Gaza Strip, with topics set to include Iran and others.
In turn, a Harris aide announced that the vice president, who also became the top Democratic presidential candidate following Biden's announcement of stepping down, stated that Harris intends to stress the importance of bringing the war to an end in the Strip.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois and Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina are among the Democrats who will not attend the event. Progressives such as Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as well as numerous Jewish members of Congress, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, will not attend the event. Those preferring to boycott are angered by "Israel's" onslaught in Gaza and the humanitarian catastrophe caused by the aggression on the Strip.
Durbin released a statement decrying the "39,000 Palestinians dead and 90,000 injured is a brutal strategy beyond any acceptable level of self-defense. ... I will stand by Israel, but I will not stand and cheer its current Prime Minister at tomorrow’s Joint Session.”
Even some Jewish lawmakers like Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs of California are not planning on attending.
“I’m not attending the Netanyahu address because I don’t want to condone his behavior over the last 10 months,” Jacobs told CNN. “I think Israel’s security is incredibly important. I have family who live there. But what Netanyahu has done, how he has prosecuted this war, what he has been doing in the West Bank does not actually make Israel any safer.”
In a post on X, Republican US Representative Thomas Massie announced a boycott of the speech, especially that the goal of Netanyahu’s speech before Congress was to “strengthen his political standing in Israel and suppress international opposition to his war.”
Today Congress will undertake political theater on behalf of the State Department.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) July 24, 2024
The purpose of having Netanyahu address Congress is to bolster his political standing in Israel and to quell int’l opposition to his war.
I don’t feel like being a prop so I won’t be attending.
