BICOM

What’s happened: Prime Minister Netanyahu last night addressed a joint session of the US Congress for the fourth time.

• In a speech which drew regular and effusive applause from those in attendance, Netanyahu praised both Presidents Biden and Trump and positioned Israel’s fight against Iran as a fight on behalf of the US and western liberal democracy.
• “We meet today at a crossroads of history,” Netanyahu said, in opening. “Our world is in upheaval. In the Middle East, Iran’s axis of terror confronts America, Israel and our Arab friends. This is not a clash of civilisations. It’s a clash between barbarism and civilisation. It’s a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life.”
• Stressing the close relationship and shared interests of Israel and the US, the prime minister said “for the forces of civilisation to triumph, America and Israel must stand together. Because when we stand together, something very simple happens. We win. They lose.”
• Recalling the horror of October 7th and the ongoing anguish of hostage families and hostages no longer in captivity, Netanyahu pointed to both Noa Argamani, freed from captivity in an IDF operation in June, and Eliyahu Bibas, grandfather of Ariel and Kfir, kidnapped on October 7th and who remain hostage.
• Netanyahu paid tribute to President Biden, “for his tireless efforts on behalf of the hostages and for his efforts to the hostage families as well. I thank President Biden for his heartful support for Israel after the savage attack on October 7th. He rightly called Hamas ‘sheer evil.’ He dispatched two aircraft carriers to the Middle East to deter a wider war. And he came to Israel to stand with us during our darkest hour, a visit that will never be forgotten.”
• “President Biden and I have known each other for over forty years. I want to thank him for half a century of friendship to Israel and for being, as he says, a proud Zionist.”
• Netanyahu also saluted the courage of four Israeli soldiers present:
  • Lieutenant Avichail Reuven, whose “family immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia. In the early hours of October 7th, Avichail heard the news of Hamas’ bloody rampage. He put on his uniform, grabbed his rifle, but he didn’t have a car. So he ran eight miles to the frontlines of Gaza to defend his people… came to the frontlines, killed many terrorists and saved many, many lives. Avichail, we all honour your remarkable heroism.”
  • Master Sergeant Ashraf al Bahiri, “a Bedouin soldier from the Israeli Muslim community of Rahat. On October 7th, Ashraf too killed many terrorists. First, he defended his comrades in the military base, and he then rushed to defend the neighbouring communities, including the devastated community of Kibbutz Be’eri. Like Ashraf, the Muslim soldiers of the IDF fought alongside their Jewish, Druze, Christian and other comrades in arms with tremendous bravery.”
  • Lieutenant Asa Sofer,  who fought as an officer in the tank corps, and “was wounded in battle while protecting his fellow soldiers from a grenade. He lost his right arm and the vision in his left eye. He’s recovering, and incredibly, within a short time, Asa will soon return to active duty as a commander of a tank company.”
  • Lieutenant Yonatan, Jonathan Ben Hamo, “who lost a leg in Gaza and continued to fight.”
• Netanyahu also hit out at anti-Israel protesters in the US – those who, he said, “refuse to make the simple distinction between those who target terrorists and those who target civilians.”
• Iran, he said, was funding some of the protests. “I have a message for these protesters: When the tyrants of Tehran, who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair, are praising, promoting and funding you, you have officially become Iran’s useful idiots.”
• Netanyahu then criticised the International Criminal Court, claiming that, contrary to its allegations, Israel has sought to protect the Gazan population as much as possible within the confines of urban warfare. “For Israel, every civilian death is a tragedy,” he said. “For Hamas, it’s a strategy. They actually want Palestinian civilians to die, so that Israel will be smeared in the international media and be pressured to end the war before it’s won.”
• Netanyahu also pointed to what he said was an unprecedentedly low ratio of civilians to combatants killed in Rafah during Israel’s recent operations there.
• The prime minister then turned to Iran, positioning the Islamic Republic as an enemy of the US to an even greater extent than it is an enemy of Israel. “Ask yourself,” he said, “which country ultimately stands in the way of Iran’s maniacal plans to impose radical Islam on the world? And the answer is clear: It’s America, the guardian of Western civilisation and the world’s greatest power. That’s why Iran sees America as its greatest enemy.”
• Against such a threat, Netanyahu championed an alliance he saw as emerging on April 14th this year, when Israel, the US, and the UK, along with regional Arab partners, joined forces in thwarting direct Iranian attacks on Israel.
• Post-war, he said, Israel would have to retain security control of the Strip, while “Gaza should have a civilian administration run by Palestinians who do not seek to destroy Israel… It’s a fundamental thing that we have a right to demand and to receive.”
• He pointed to a potential deepening of the Abraham Accords, a process for which he thanked former President Trump.
• In parallel, last night the IDF announced the recovery of the bodies of five Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7th:
  • Maya Goren, a 56-year-old mother of four from Nir Oz,  who was murdered in the kindergarten where she worked as a teacher. Her husband, Avner, was also murdered.
  • Ravid Katz, a resident of Nir Oz, who first made sure his wife and four-month-old were safe with neighbours, before joining the kibbutz security team in the fight.
  • Oren Goldin, a 33-year-old father of two, who was murdered while fighting in his capacity as a member of the security squad in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak.
  • Staff Sgt. Tomer Yaakov Ahimas and Sgt. Kiril Brodski, who were both killed on October 7th in the battle for Kibbutz Nirim.

Context: Netanyahu’s speech was primarily aimed at rebuilding bipartisan support for the Israel-US relationship. He was careful to give equal thanks and credit to both President Biden and former President Trump.

• At a time when relations with the Biden administration have become strained over the conduct of the war in Gaza, Netanyahu sought to position Israel as being on the frontline of a wider conflict between Iran and the forces of Islamist extremism and the US and its regional allies.
• A significant number of Democrats boycotted or otherwise did not attend the speech, including Vice-President and presumptive presidential nominee Kamal Harris, who cited a previous engagement.
• Protests also accompanied Netanyahu in the streets of Washington, both from pro-Palestinian activists and from those allies of the hostages and their families who argue that Netanyahu has not done enough to prioritise the hostages safe return. Several hostage family members were removed from Congress for protesting Netanyahu.
• Many had hoped that the prime minister would use his speech to announce that a hostage deal had been secured. In contrast, the Israeli delegation to the latest negotiations was ordered to delay its departure for Qatar until Netanyahu had been able to meet with President Biden, scheduled for today.
• In Israel, reaction was predictably divided, with many noting that speeches like this present Netanyahu at his best: addressing a western audience, in English, and presenting the case for Israel’s fight with the Iranian axis – which includes Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis – as a fight for western liberal democracy. Others, however, criticised the prime minister for failing to take responsibility for the failures which led to October 7th, and for not placing a higher priority on a hostage deal.
• Netanyahu laid out his vision for “the demilitarisation and deradicalisation of Gaza,” which “can also lead to a future of security, prosperity and peace. That’s my vision for Gaza.”
• This post-war vision was criticised by opposition leader Yair Lapid for not being more precise. Lapid said “he had an opportunity to present a ‘day-after’ plan that has some sort of connection to reality. He didn’t do that. He had an opportunity to gain all of Congress’s support for the residents of the north and against Hezbollah. He didn’t do that.”
• Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is captive in Gaza, also criticised Netanyahu for not having “placed the hostages as the highest priority, proving what Zionism and love for Israel is.”
• Zangauker said Netanyahu should have said, “I announce on this stage that I will work to promote a deal that will return all the hostages, even if the price is ending the war. I will work in full cooperation with the mediators, I will dismiss any minister who speaks out against the deal.”
• The retrieval of the bodies of the five hostages leaves 115 hostages remaining in captivity for 292 days. The official Israeli count is 42 of the 115 are no longer alive. According to former member of the inner war cabinet Benny Gantz, speaking yesterday, a quarter of the dead have been killed during the last two months, after the failure of the last hostage proposal.

Looking ahead: Netanyahu will remain in the US for meetings with President Biden, former President Trump, and Vice-President Harris.

• In his private meeting with Biden, Netanyahu is expected to firm up support for Israel’s negotiating positions, with the hope that US influence will in turn help persuade Qatar and Egypt to exert further pressure on Hamas.