Netanyahu risks harming Israeli-American relations in potential Congressional address - opinion

If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cares about the future of the Israeli-American alliance, he will decline House Speaker Mike Johnson’s invitation to address Congress. But maybe he’s a compulsive destroyer and just can’t help himself.

That’s another step on the path of destruction he has paved. He launched his present term with a full-frontal assault on the nation’s democracy by trying to replace the nation’s independent judiciary with political cronies. That led to 10 months of massive protests around the country that were interrupted only by the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, another massive Netanyahu failure.

The demonstrators are back, but this time demanding he do more to free the hostages held by Hamas and its allies. He has largely avoided the hostage families, insisting that his first priority is destroying Hamas. Many Israelis are convinced his real priority is protecting his own hide.

Along the way, he has left a trail of destruction that has turned so much of Gaza into a rubble heap. According to Hamas’s Health Ministry, an estimated 35,000 or more Gazans are dead – mostly women, children, and the elderly. Tens of thousands more are homeless, hungry, and injured.

Most Israelis support the war against Hamas but question Netanyahu’s leadership. His approval ratings have hit rock bottom, and if elections were held today, he’d be out of a job and left to face his three criminal corruption trials suspended during the war.

That explains why he and close aides have been pressing Speaker Johnson for an invitation to Washington. Even if that comes through, it is questionable he will get an invitation from the White House, where he’s been virtual persona non grata for his anti-democratic judicial coup.

Netanyahu's congressional debacle revisited

IT’S DÉJÀ VU all over again. The last time Republicans invited Netanyahu to speak to Congress, it was a disaster. Speaker John Boehner went behind the back of President Barack Obama, a severe breach of protocol, to bring the prime minister to Washington to lead the Republican lobbying campaign against the US president’s 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.

It backfired. Netanyahu did irreparable damage to his already tumultuous relationship with the president of the United States. Dozens of Democrats boycotted the speech, doubtful Democrats rallied behind Obama, many Jewish lawmakers were alienated, and Republicans lost the vote. Netanyahu did lasting damage to bipartisan support for Israel, and it is coming back to haunt him.

Netanyahu was able to press Donald Trump to abrogate the agreement, which led to Iran accelerating its nuclear program and moving it closer to having a nuclear weapon.

During the Obama years, Vice President Biden was Israel’s strongest advocate inside the administration, holding the relationship together as the two at the top clashed. Unlike the president, he felt it in his kishkes.

Netanyahu has been unwelcome at the Biden White House since launching his judicial coup 18 months ago. Administration officials suspect the prime minister has been angling for Johnson’s invitation for months to go over Biden’s head and take his case to the American public. This would smack down the administration’s policies of delaying offensive weapons and pressing for Palestinian statehood, something Netanyahu and his right-wing government vehemently oppose.

If Bibi hopes his Washington trip will force a Biden invitation, he should recall that Obama was conveniently unavailable the last time he tried that.

If there is an Oval Office meeting, and if Netanyahu’s past performances are any indication, Bibi can be expected to lecture the young, inexperienced, and naïve Biden on the history and realities of the Middle East, just as he did to Obama.

This trip, if and when it comes, is really about everyone’s domestic politics.

Bibi will treat a speech to the Congress like a political rally. He relishes pitting the parties against each other to prove which is more pro-Israel. He can expect more no-shows and protests than when he attacked Obama’s nuclear deal. He’ll also be booking appearances on the Sunday talk shows and media events to garner badly needed attention back home, where his political fortunes keep falling.

Netanyahu’s conduct of the Gaza war has left Israel deeply divided at home and isolated internationally while bolstering support for Palestinian statehood. Washington is one of the few world capitals where he can hope to get a platform to strike back at the ICC chief prosecutor’s call to indict him on war crimes charges. Netanyahu also wants a forum to strike back at the ICC chief prosecutor’s call for Netanyahu’s arrest on charges of war crimes. There are few other world capitals where he can hope to get a platform for his rebuttal.

As of this writing, no date has been set for a Congressional appearance, nor will Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) – who has called his friend Bibi an obstacle to peace who has “lost his way” – formally join the invitation. Or whether there will be a presidential meeting.

Republicans have worked for years to make Israel a wedge issue, and Bibi has been a willing collaborator by taking a deep plunge into partisan politics.

He may not be invited to the Biden White House and might not be welcome even if Donald Trump gets back in.While Biden and Bibi talk regularly – and bluntly – the Israeli leader and the former president reportedly haven’t spoken for years. Trump still resents Netanyahu calling Biden to congratulate him on his election and for reneging on participating in the assassination in 2000 of Iran’s Qasem Soleimani, the IRGC Quds Force major-general. Trump is no fan of the Gaza war, either, saying it is a PR disaster and “get it over with.”

Israel’s friends in America and many of its citizens and leaders have said it is time for new elections and new leadership. As for Bibi’s plans for a trip to Washington, one word of advice: Unpack.

The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and former American Israel Public Affairs Committee legislative director.