Once again, the U.S. Congress is tone deaf to the average American.
Whether you’re in support of Israel’s campaign against Hamas or are calling for an immediate ceasefire, most Americans believe inviting Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress on July 24 is a mistake and only further polarizes the nation. At a time when divisions in our country run deepest, it’s irresponsible, even derelict, to have Netanyahu address Congress.
Netanyahu is a lightning rod of controversy. He’s under investigation for war crimes by the United Nation’s highest court. He’s been criticized by most leaders in the world, including by some leaders in ally nations. Further, polls show a majority of Americans support an immediate ceasefire and do not support additional military foreign aid to Israel.
But still, the top four leaders of the House and Senate invited Netanyahu on the premise that the U.S. stands in solidarity with Israel in their fight against terrorism. Admittedly, this could be justified as a policy. However, the presence of Netanyahu is damaging optics and basically amounts to arousing vitriol in large sectors of American society who hold nothing but contempt for him and his war tactics.
The invitation comes after massive Spring protests across colleges and universities of students demanding an end to the war and divestment of university funds and business relations with Israel.
The invitation also comes as President Joe Biden recently has called for a ceasefire saying Hamas is no longer capable of another Oct 7 attack, but Netanyahu is not letting up. Netanyahu also continues to reject the U.S. longstanding policy of a two-state solution recognizing both Israel and Palestine as separate independent governing entities.
Netanyahu at this point is going against the wishes of our current U.S. President or a policy that presidents since Bill Clinton has supported. And still, Netanyahu is given a high privilege to speak before Congress to propagandize his unpopular war.
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2-ranking Senate Democratic leader who broke with the top four congressional leaders — Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said “I’ve been waiting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to embrace a two-state solution, which I believe is the only way to go forward in Israel. I would not have sent the letter of invitation. Until he embraces a two-state solution, I don’t think we can realistically expect this conflict to end.”
Some progressives like Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont have already promised to boycott the speech, calling Netanyahu a “war criminal.” Some Democrats have called on Biden to condition or sever military aid to Israel. The list of politicians who plan to boycott the address is growing.
In March, Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S., called Netanyahu a “major obstacle to peace” and said he “lost his way by allowing his political survival to take the precedence over the best interests of Israel.” Still, Schumer invited Netanyahu to address Congress.
The power of AIPAC
It makes no sense politically for Netanyahu to be addressing Congress. The question begs: “Why is Congress doing it, and at such an untimely manner?”
Putting ideology as motivation aside as stated by politicians – support Israel against terrorism – the leaders of Congress is likely doing this at the behest of the powerful lobby group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and their billionaire supporters. Since President Jimmy Carter, as Carter said himself, the Israeli lobby (different names then) has tremendous influence over Congress.
AIPAC is considered the number two most powerful lobby in D.C. (behind AARP). They spend millions to either support candidates of their choice or pour millions into defeating candidates they deem insufficiently supportive of Israel. AIPAC employs their tactics in bipartisan fashion. That’s real power.
Congressman Republican Thomas Massie (Ky) recently described in an interview the pressure politicians face at the Hill. “Everybody has an AIPAC person. It’s like your babysitter, your AIPAC babysitter, who is always talking to you for AIPAC. I don’t know how it works on the Democrats side. But that’s how it works on the Republican side. And when you come to D.C. you have lunch with them. And they’ve got your cell number, and you have conversations with them.”
To give you an idea of how deep AIPAC’s coffers are, all four of the leaders who approved Netanyahu’s invitation — Johnson, Schumer, Jeffries and McConnell — have received multi-millions of dollars each from AIPAC.
And this is not the first time Congress invited Netanyahu to basically undermine the wishes of a U.S. president. Remember in 2015 in his speech before Congress, Netanyahu called on America to reject President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. This, as Obama, was working to gain consensus for such a deal. Before that in 1996, he lectured Clinton on Israeli. It shocked Clinton which drew the now famous rebuttal, “Who the F- does he [Netanyahu] think he is? Who’s the F superpower here?”
AIPAC has vowed to spend $100 million to defeat progressive candidates in primary races. They’ve already been successful in some and failed in others.
Nevertheless, Americans should be asking why a lobby such as AIPAC whose main interest is that of a foreign government, is permitted to have so much influence on our government. Clearly, this wouldn’t be allowed for any other foreign country such as China, Russia or even our ally countries. What makes Israel the exception? AIPAC is no friend to the American people. It undermines the democratic process and puts a foreign government’s interests over the American people.
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