Netanyahu, you need to refuse the invitation to address US Congress - opinion

Prime Minister Netanyahu, as a concerned Israeli citizen I urge you not to accept the invitation from US House Speaker Mike Johnson to address a joint session of Congress in Washington. I believe that it is not in the best interests of Israel to have our prime minister speak to a polarized Congress during the run-up to a presidential election.

You will recall, I am sure, that you did this once before during the Obama administration. In March 2015, you traveled to Washington to tell the US Congress why the United States should not go forward with the Iran deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) which the Obama government was about to sign with the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). 

During that session you laid out in accurate detail – as only you could have done at the time – all of the pros and cons of the deal and why the US and the world would be badly served if it were to be put into effect. 

US speech will do no good

It was a convincing argument and you were right on all points but, in the end, it did no good at all. 

In addition to the fact that the US went ahead with the deal anyway, Israel made a number of enemies in Washington as a result. 

As you recall, a number of influential Democratic members of Congress chose to boycott the session to show solidarity with their president. At the time then-president Obama himself was none too happy that the head of a foreign ally took to the podium of the US Congress to criticize him and critique a plan his people had negotiated.

He was as unhappy at that time as we were when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took the podium of the Senate a few weeks ago, to tell the world that in his opinion you are an obstacle to peace in the Middle East and need to be replaced.  I am sure that did not make you happy at all. You called it “chutzpah” and it was, but your going to the US to do this again would be no less an act of chutzpah.

You must know that the US today is significantly more polarized than it was nine years ago when last you strolled down the red carpet as the sergeant of arms of the House welcomed you by announcing to those assembled: “Mr. Speaker, the prime minister of the State of Israel.”

In today’s world, you will be walking into a cauldron of continuous angst where the majority party does not have enough of its own votes to pass legislation without the support of the opposition. You have been invited by the third majority speaker of this session, an unheard-of situation in the history of the United States Congress. And you will, of course, be seen by President Joe Biden – and many democrats – as ungrateful for the solid military supply support that the US has given us, and continues to give, since October 7, which has allowed us to pursue the war regardless of the differences of opinion that have cropped up from time to time.

No doubt, if you do accept the invitation, you will spend a fair amount of time trying to convince the US that the current demonstrations are not against Israel at all but are designed to destroy Western democratic values. You will emphasize that Israel is just the excuse for the unrest, that we are the ultimate canary in the coal mine, and simply a convenient excuse for what the enemies of democracy have been planning for some years.

You will be correct of course. 

But do you really believe that the powers that be don’t already understand that? Of course they do and, to their credit, the Christian Evangelical Community has been hammering this home relentlessly for months. Frankly, that community is in a better position to make this argument than we are, so let them do that while we stay out of the domestic policy fray.

Finally, if you should decide to go, you will be seen by Republicans and Democrats alike as attempting to shore up the campaign of ex-president Trump. That may be your intention because you believe he will return to office and you want him to forgive you for the sin of congratulating President Biden on his win in 2020. 

But what if Biden wins? What are you going to do then? And how much additional damage will have been done to the relationship between our two countries?

I know how tempting it is to accept the invitation, to walk that red carpet, and to receive standing ovation after standing ovation. It will do your ego good, for sure. But it has the capacity to do serious damage to Israel – and we who will bear the brunt of a deterioration in the relationship, should it occur, do not need to help that process along.

My suggestion? Stay home where you are needed, keep your eye on the objectives you outlined on October 8 but have not yet achieved, and stay out of America’s domestic policies.

Our record of self-government is not so good that we should arrogate to ourselves the task of lecturing an ally on how to run its government. A bit of humility replacing our hubris would be appreciated.

The writer is CEO of Atid EDI Ltd., an international business development consultancy. He is also the founder and chair of the American State Offices Association (ASOA), former national president of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI), and a past chairperson of the board of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies.