Should Biden worry about Netanyahu's address to Congress? | Inside Story

Israel's prime minister will

address

a joint session of the US Congress next month. Benjamin Nethaniah will be his first trip to Washington since he launched his devastating war on Gaza. His speech could have big political implications for President Joe Biden and for Israel. So what could happen? is Inside Story Hello and welcome to the program I'm Elizabeth Panum next month Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will

address

the US Congress he will make hi

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, he is the only world leader to do so for the fourth time, underscoring the Scope of Israeli power and influence in American politics for Joe Biden presents a complicated political challenge in the middle of a presidential campaign for Netanyahu it is an opportunity to tighten the screws and show Israel's influence in Washington The United States has been the main supplier of weapons of Israel for its devastating war in Gaza White House It has developed as the war progresses and the elections approach.

Netanyahu has moved on despite ignoring our statements, so what will be the impact of this trip both on the US and for Netanyahu and Israel? We'll explore all of this and much more with our guests in a few moments first, this report from Laura Khan on the United States and Mr. A diplomatic row appears to be driving a wedge between the leaders of the US and Israel. It comes as Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of the US Congress next month. Netanyahu has already expressed his anger that the United States stopped an armed shipment of 900 kg bombs.

I said it is inconceivable that in recent months the Administration has been withholding weapons and ammunition from Israel Israel, the United States' closest ally, fighting for its life, fighting against Iran and our other common enemies, the spokesman for the The White House responded that those comments were deeply disappointing and certainly irritating to us, given the amount of support we have and will continue to provide to Prime Minister Netanyahu, the move is putting Biden in an awkward position that no one in Washington seems to know. what Netanyahu will say in his speech and some

worry

he could use it to pressure Biden for more military aid In a 2015 speech to Congress, while Barack Obama was in power, he harshly criticized a nuclear deal that the Obama administration was Obama refused to meet with Netanyahu at the time, as did then-Vice President Biden, this time Netanyahu is likely to address the Israeli public showing that he is getting our support while facing growing public pressure from hundreds of thousands of people protesting.

Contrary to its handling of the war in Gaza, the United States provides Israel with $3.5 billion in military aid each year, including those 900 kg bombs. Some supporters say they will boycott the speech, but Bernie Sanders has called Netanyahu a war criminal and Elizabeth Warren says she will skip the speech. but he has allies. Senior Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress invited Netanyahu to highlight our solidarity with Israel, but Israel's war in Gaza has already divided American public opinion. Hundreds of thousands of people have protested in the streets and universities across the United States to express their anger. free free free palese and now many are waiting to see if Netanyahu will use this high-profile speech to promote his stated goals in Gaza and perhaps gain even more support from the US.

Lura Khan for Inside Story Al Jazer, well, let's bring to our guest who all join us from the United States in Washington DC Akbar Shahid Akmed Senior Diplomatic Correspondent at Huff Poost in Sh Wyoming is Yosi Meckelberg Associate Fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chattam House and in Boston Ramy Ki distinguished fellow of public policy at the American University of Beirut a very warm welcome to all of you, let's start with our DC Insider akba how eager do you think the White House is for nethan yah's speech to Congress thank you Elizabeth, it's a really challenging time for the White House, I mean, we are now at a point where there is a presidential debate coming up between President Biden and his rival Donald Trump and he has to deal with this just a few weeks later, the problem here for the White House It's actually not even that much about politics or even Gaza. or even Netanyahu, it is his own coalition.

What we know about Democratic voters is that 75% of them now oppose Israel's actions in Gaza. We know that Prime Minister Inia is deeply controversial with them, at the same time we know that many Democratic legislators are going to feel it. How can we boycott Netanyahu? I mean, this is our oldest ally. He is someone who is going to cascade us. So there is a lot of anxiety in the White House. I would say there is also a lot of anxiety on Capitol Hill, where Democratic politicians want to signal. I support President Biden, but they also want to distance themselves from this prime minister.

I mean, this is a person right now for whom the international criminal court is potentially seeking arrest warrants, so they're also thinking about the historical legacy well beyond this. visit, there is a real kind of drift that characterizes this whole moment for the Biden Administration in Gaza and Israel, friend, yes, there is a lot to pick up from what you have said, let me come back to you, you know that abar is talking about deviations in the own democratic party and its support for Israel the republicans there is not so much drift within the republican party for its support for Israel so the republicans have invited nanyu yes, the democrats had to accept that nethan yahu addressed both houses of Congress but What do you think Netanyahu is trying to do with the division within the Democrats and the more unified support he has from the Republicans?

What will you do about the dynamics in the US right now? Yes, thank you, I think. What Netanyahu is doing is actually playing with both political systems at the same time in Israel, consolidating the base in case the war does not end the way he has done for the last eight months, almost N9, of eliminating to Hamas. He can tell if he doesn't blame the opposition in Israel, if he doesn't blame Israel's military or other security organizations, now he can actually blame the Biden administration, he says if he only had all the ammunition. the weapons of our best ally, the closest ally, then we would have won the war, on the other hand, he actually comes in, which I think is a very dangerous area of ​​intervention, especially during the election year, the election year presidential elections in American politics, it's not like he's a stranger to doing so, he did it mentioned above in 2015, trying to derail the jcpoa deal, so that's what he's trying to do and one argument could be that he's actually trying to help Donald Trump to win the elections and, on the other hand, he is playing, he is playing.

Congress says, look, you know, that's it, it's American politics' fault if we don't win the war, so in the election year you

should

support Israel and Ramy, how do you see this upcoming Netanyahu visit and what do you think of it? everything you've heard so far, do you think Netanyahu would use this speech to criticize President Biden, as we've heard he has used a speech to the US Congress to criticize the US administration before of President Barack Obama's nuclear initiative in Iran? The deal that Joe, as you know, skipped, will do everything he has always done as prime minister and that most Israeli prime ministers have done before him for decades, which is improve his political standing at home and in Israel. and promote the litany of Israeli Zionist propaganda themes. who have successfully for a century made the United States a very close supporter of Israel and the closest supporter in the United States for Israel has always been Congress, presidents come and go, but Congress has consistently, uh It's been very, very pro-Israel and cracks are starting to appear in Congress.

There are probably 80 90 100 members of Congress who will oppose Israeli wishes, perhaps not attend the Nyah speech, so this is a totally unprecedented situation and Netanyahu is going to use the previous propaganda techniques and political advantages. He is looking primarily at a domestic audience in Israel. In the United States he has become very divisive, but more important than that. The Palestine question has become a serious domestic American political force in an election year. Well, and us. I've seen the way, so this is a really very unusual but very dynamic situation. Yeah, that's a really interesting point. You tell Amy that you are predicting that Netanyahu will use unprecedented methods in what is an unprecedented time.

We have a United States Congress. Can you help our international audience understand why the US Congress has overwhelmingly supported Israel for so many decades and how it is increasingly out of step with what the American public wants, especially in an election year? I absolutely believe that there is a historic bipartisan push to support Israel is right and saying that the relationship between the United States and Israel is the foundation of our foreign policy that is something created by political pressures in elections. I mean donors are a factor. Lawmakers are coming out and saying this correctly in APAC, which is a big pro-Israel lobby here in the United States, but there are other factors there, like specific billionaire donors that could be relevant to many members of Congress and, increasingly , what we have seen in recent years is actually legislators who do not follow that line, who come out and say that we are questioning Israel's policy.

We have seen millions of dollars invested to try to defeat them, so this is an electoral issue. It is also personally important from a philosophical point of view for many legislators and it is important to remember that Congress holds the first strings to prevent that $3.5 billion from being given to Israel each year. what we were talking about before without Congress passing it without Congress pushing for arms sales, the reason we're in such a strange position now is that the Biden Administration has tried to do two things at once, it has tried to say that we are putting pressure on Israel. on civilians in Gaza, where they are pressuring Israel to end the war and a ceasefire at the same time that the Administration has been aggressive with Congress recently, they have pressured Congress to deliver more fighter jets to Israel, this is something the top Democrats didn't want If you do, there's a real dynamic here where the Biden administration and the top Democrats in Congress are together and on the other hand, you know the specter of Donald Trump is relevant because Netanyahu is not going to say directly: I am trying to help re-elect.

Donald Trump, but by creating this impression that the Democrats don't know where they are in Israel and Palestine they have nothing to offer, you are also reinforcing this argument that Donald Trump and the Republicans have made, that maybe the Democrats are just abandoning Israel and to American Jews. and that could be a relevant argument and ENT that many Democrats are afraid of Gand, yes, and again you'll see you know this is similar to the previous question, but how much can Netanyahu take advantage of when the Democrats don't seem united? Does the Republican side, not just the Republicans, but the far right in their own coalition, you know, have anything to gain at home by criticizing the Biden administration in front of the US Congress?

Yes, I think that's where Netan feels comfortable playing the statesman where no one really believes him anymore and I think what the ear said is very important because there is real power and the United States wants to support Israel but it doesn't want to support Netan, for example, chck Schumer already Senator chck Schumer recently said that Israel

should

have elections he wants again to guarantee Israel's security, but he does not support the way Israel conducts the war in Gaza and how squaring up is very difficult for the United States United and at this time the Biden Administration cannot do a very good job with that for Netanyahu, it is all a matter of his political survival.

I think it's worth remembering that he is facing trial for corruption in Israel and one of the reasons he tried so desperately to stay in power and formed the far right. The government is due to this corruption trial, so he tried to play with his base in Israel and then play the statesman and it is always very popular in Israel if they see you taking on everyone, enemies and friends alike, and you think that he will win. Some points there, but at the same time what is the game that he is playing and I think that is where the danger is that he could completely alienate the nearest island that Israel so desperately needs in times of crisis.

Well, you mentioned the really interesting thing. point about Senate Majority Leader Chu Schumer Ramy, why did Chu Schumer agree to invite Netanyahu? I think it was him who accepted this visit. You know, Netanyahu addressed both Houses whenin March he said that Netanyahu was an obstacle to peace and like Yosi. He said that he called elections in Israel because Chuck Schumer like Biden like Netanyahu like most of these characters in the executive and legislative branches of both governments are two-faced liars, they don't know how to maintain a commitment, they only know how to act in they are in service of its own permanent mandate and for the Israelis, in service of full American support for Israel, you know, the Americans, uh, are, the government is making some criticisms of Netanyahu here and there and things about the war, but the United States.

He has been an enthusiastic and consistent supporter of the Israeli genocide. This is an extraordinary situation in which the United States and Israel together are being brought before courts in the United States and elsewhere for genocide, complicity and genocide, so the US government is not an impartial actor. The American government and the Israeli government are one party, the American Congress is one element in this dynamic and support for Israel is still strong, but it is not as strong as it used to be, and this is the big

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in America: everyone The traditional foundations of government support for Israel are fraying at the edges, not collapsed, but yes.

We are all frayed at the edges Public opinion Students Intellectuals Media Unions Church groups Political parties Even members of Congress are criticizing Israel, so Chuck Schumer is proving that he is, above all, a typical two-faced successful American politician who says one thing and then changes it. next month because it's more beneficial for him to change it these guys and some girls don't have any sense of consistency uh principles are political animals whose goal is incumbency and we're watching this, we'll see how it plays out In many many ways, in the next month the difference is the big difference, as I said briefly before, is that the question of friends has become for the first time in the 100 years of this conflict the domestic American political factor, the electoral political factor, and Netanyahu is coming. to Congress is nothing new, but support for Palestine throughout the US is new, we don't know how it will develop, but this is an unprecedented situation and Netanyahu's presence is trying to return it to its old ways, where Congress is supporting the Israelis, the Jewish people, but they don't understand to the Israelis that the tremendous support that they had from the 1940s until a few years ago is fading, it is wearing down and fading away and they have not been able to make a real interesting to see how it plays out before the election and, more importantly, on election day.

Akba, you already know some of the figures that you yourself have mentioned. 64% of democratic voters believe that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza. 56.6% believe they are committing. genocide, according to data from the Progress Think Tank, are Democrats worried about what will happen to their support on the campaign trail and on Election Day? What are the calculations that you are doing right now? Yeah, I think you know, Ramy. There is a really interesting word: cheerleaders, Americans are enthusiastic cheerleaders. I would use another word that is quite common now in Washington and that allows people to be very aware that these are American-made fighter jets dropping American-made bombs on hospitals and children. a blockade backed by the United States, so there is a lot of concern on the part of legislators, who are the people who ultimately approve these arms sales and who approve the budgets. uh, and I just invite us to step away, there's a real desire to personalize this and say Benjamin nety, horrible man. opposed President Obama, but for many of these Democratic legislators, the uncomfortable reality that they have to face, as Ramy said again, when Palestine has been elevated to the four in this unprecedented way, these Democratic legislators are being asked why They didn't. something about this just before October 7, why have we come to this place of violence of the Hamas L attack that led to the death of many Israelis and the taking of hostages and now the death of 37,000 Palestinians?

So this is creating a broader conversation. I think that's where the Democrats are struggling in November, they have to offer a message that is not just we want a different Israeli government, we want someone other than Benjamin Netanyahu, it has to be, and you see some smart Democrats like Jim Kurn saying This now has to be about how can we achieve peace and stability? How does the fact that we are supporting this Middle Eastern ally not entangle us in wars and loom over this? It's not just the shadow of Donald Trump, but also the shadow of war, which is a real concern for American voters, when faced with economic challenges, climate change, other issues, people don't want to think about the risk of war in Lebanon, which is very real and extends beyond Netan Yahoo to much of the Israeli political and military establishment, that is something that Congress is doing.

I'm thinking about that too, so I think they're going to need these broader responses to the occupation, to accountability for Israeli actions in Gaza, and to broader long-term sustainable stability, and not just how we vote for Nyah C .No doubt that's what the Democrats say. What they want but their actions don't seem to match what they are saying Yosi, what do the Republicans want in all this? because they are the ones who extended the invitation to Netanyahu, yes, and I, I, they are playing politics with them. this war because they are trying to undermine the Biden administration.

They want to show that they know that it is not enough for Biden, as I said, to largely allow what is happening right now in Gaza. They believe that they can even allow what happens even more. in Gaza and I think that's why what we see now is so important and sometimes we have to go and see that in the historical context is the neglect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the United States by the international community for a long time. I thought there was a status quo there, everyone thought that either it couldn't get better or it couldn't get worse and it was obvious that at one point or another it would get worse and October 7th was the evidence and what happened since then and since then and when it starts to playing a role in domestic politics, whether obviously in Israel in the middle of the war or in the United States, is never good news because that is how it continues and if there is a change of administration in the United States, you would expect that that really happens.

Netanyahu complains that there is not enough ammunition in time, which, by the way, the administration denies is actually the case if correct, so the situation is becoming dangerous. Yes, in Gaza, in the West Bank, we do not pay enough attention to what is happening. on the bench because the violence is worsening the occupation is more entrenched than ever settler violence with the government the Israeli government and security forces are complicit in this at a time when the situation in Lebanon and the border there is is on the verge of a full-scale war Ramy Yosi mentioned the international community there, how does the US Congress know what it means for the world to invite a man and for whom the international criminal court is seeking warrants arrest for war crimes? for crimes against humanity uh, the leader of a country that the international court of justice is investigating for genocide yes, the answer to that is no, um, the United States Congress, especially the Republicans, have no idea what is happening in the world and especially what is happening in the Middle East, as I said, like all politicians, they just want to stay in power and exercise the benefits of power.

The irony, the tremendous irony, the tragic, cruel irony of all of this is that both the American and Israeli strategies in Gaza have failed and in Lebanon they have failed and the secretary blinks, who is a cartoon character who appears every on Saturday mornings making another trip to the Middle East to try to create an anti-Iran coalition U um uh which they I've been trying to do since Alexander Heg was foreign secretary many decades ago. These characters have no idea how to effectively deal with the forces of power and the human feelings of people throughout the Middle East, they only understand the use of force and they only understand the use of sanctions and forcing people to follow their leadership imperial, but their strategies are failing.

The US and Israel are having a terrible time now in the Middle East and in the world, besides being accused and taken to court and all that. They are tremendously isolated in UN voting and other forums and they have very little respect and they are losing that respect within the United States and also within Israel, so this is an extraordinarily important historical moment, without a doubt, the most crucial of my career. and I've been doing this for 55 years since 1968. I started getting publicly involved in Middle East issues when I was in college in the US and this is the most dramatic moment that signals a serious change, a structural change within the The US, within Israel and the Middle East and within the Arab countries, if you look at Hisbah, Hamas, Saah and others, what they are doing, the only thing you know is that the Arab governments are taking vacations somewhere in the southern France, probably who knows what they are doing, but we are not doing much at all and the Israeli government strategy is not working, the American government strategy is not working, so there is a real free-for-all and, certainly, some would argue a complete failure of the international community with the The war in Gaza continues into its ninth month Akba.

Do you think this trip will have any impact on the war? I think there is real hope on the part of the Biden Administration that they can have this impact, but it all comes down to a question of our influence. right to shape Israel's decision making and what we have seen consistently from the administration is actually more rhetoric and theater than any kind of real pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu and the speech in many ways is the culmination of that right , the leadership of Israel. Not only do you feel entitled to unchecked American support, consistently irresponsible American support, but you feel like we can go to their capital and lecture them and that's the moment we're in now.

I think the biggest opportunities for improvement come from the region because there is a real sense of the strategic cost of this war. Saudi Arabia in particular, which the United States really wants to see sign this agreement with the United States and with Israel. The Saudis have said give us a solution that consistently addresses Palestinian concerns. I think those voices. Rejecting the Biden Administration may be the only possible wake-up call because we know that they have not been moved by humanitarian groups, they have not been moved by student protesters or people at the national level in the US, so perhaps at the level regional and international those actors may be pressured by Washington, we have less than a minute left in the program and I would like to give Yosi the last word, regardless of what happens with the speech.

Has Netanyahu already won by being invited to address the US Congress as we mentioned more times than anyone else? another world leader, I think so, and that's what's probably unfortunate that he got this invitation, that's what he wants. At a time in D stets in Israel, the protest is gaining momentum, it lost the most reasonable power of its The coalition two weeks ago, the living government of the United States and Congress is actually throwing it a lifeline that I think , in retrospect, the United States and Congress would regret it because, going back to CH Schumer again, they understand that he is an obstacle to peace and Israel desperately needs elections to start looking in a very different way, ending the war, to deescalate the situation and then look deeply into how to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

This will not happen later under Neto and no one. You should really watch it as Lifeline Mr. Meckelberg, thank you so much for your time, Yi Meckelberg on Shan, on B Shahid Ahmed in Washington DC and Rami Kurri in Boston, and thank you too for watching it. You can rewatch the show at any time by visiting our website. .com and for more discussion go to our Facebook page which is facebook.com AJ insidestory you can also join the conversation on X our handle is AJ insidestory from me Elizabeth panum and the entire team here bye for now