The speech I wish Netanyahu could give, but can't - opinion

Those of us who cautioned against visiting a deeply divided Washington during a polarizing campaign, nevertheless hope that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip succeeds. The stakes are high for Israel – and the world. Netanyahu must sidestep the partisan minefields scattered throughout Capitol Hill and make Israel’s case.

Netanyahu should start by honoring the hostages, emphasizing the forgotten Americans. Then, he should commemorate the civilians and soldiers killed on October 7 and since, including Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23. Remembering those three American soldiers killed in Jordan in a jihadist January drone attack would implicitly rebuke both presidential nominees – who in their debate overlooked these heroes. 

President Joe Biden insisted: “I’m the only president this century that… doesn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the world, like he did.” Donald Trump mentioned the 13 soldiers killed during Biden’s chaotic Afghanistan retreat. That left both candidates neglecting the three killed by an Islamic resistance militia in the drone attack on Tower 22, America’s outpost in Rukban, Jordan. Forty-seven soldiers sustained injuries – extending the already-too-long list of American casualties from over 180 Iranian-based proxy attacks.

Those three American martyrs highlight what must be Netanyahu’s primary argument. In a world that has lost its moral compass, to an America that enjoys burying its head in the sand, we cannot afford to be neutral, isolationist, or morally incoherent. 

Threats from Iran and proxies

October 7 was an attack on us all – not only because Palestinians’ unspeakable crimes crossed every civilizational line, but because Hamas and Iran, then Hezbollah and the Houthis, assaulted the West. That the victims hailed from 25 countries showed how interconnected we are. 

Additionally, the Houthi threat to shipping must be explained economically. With 12% of global shipping passing through the region, with each voyage one million dollars more expensive, insurance rates soaring, and shipping times lengthening, Middle East violence harms every American’s bankbook.

The Iranian threat, while less quantifiable, is far greater. Even before Iran goes nuclear, the ongoing manipulations by a crafty, proxy-deploying, genocide-threatening mullahocracy have already destabilized the world.

Then, conscious of addressing a Congress wherein only 20% of legislators served militarily, Netanyahu should explain Israel’s tremendous war successes, despite the difficult urban warfare conditions – and the moral dilemmas involved. 

IDF statistics note that in 263 days of war, Israel eliminated over 14,000 terrorists, and struck more than 37,000 targets from the air within Gaza, and “more than 25,000 terrorist infrastructure and launch sites.” 

Bibi should stop and say: “Imagine those numbers… 37,000… 25,000… with more to go. This mass of weaponry, including over 450 miles of tunnels, mocks those claims that Israel still occupied Gaza or suffocated the population. Hamas became dangerous because Israel withdrew in 2005.”

While acknowledging the ongoing horrors the hostages endure every day – and telling stories to personalize them – Bibi should also describe Hezbollah’s unprovoked attack on the North. I wish he could detail the plight of evacuees whose dream houses have been destroyed – or lost value; whose farms were incinerated; whose shops went bankrupt. Alas, at home, he’s shown no indication of acknowledging northern suffering, so he might not be able to start in DC. 

Regardless, Netanyahu must justify Israel’s counter-attacking Hezbollah as soon as possible, aggressively, so its citizens can return home.

Of course, throughout, Netanyahu must keep thanking the American people, both parties, both candidates – who continue a longstanding bipartisan American competition, as nominee after nominee, insists “I’m more pro-Israel than my rival.” And refuting the media manipulators who keep boosting the Bash-Israel-Firsters, he should thank the 80% of Americans who support Israel over Hamas.

Finally, he should end poetically, celebrating shared values, our soldiers’ grit, and how Israel today reflects so much of what we used to appreciate as the American dream. He could echo the great line from The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World, by Dan Senor and Saul Singer, that Israelis host “Thanksgiving Every Week” – i.e. Sabbath dinner. Then add: “Since October 7, we have July 4th every day – with too many fireworks, but so much patriotism, idealism, and a fierce love of liberty.”

The speech we wished he'd give

There’s also the speech I wish Netanyahu could give. Wouldn’t it be great if he could tell the Democrats: “My friends, you can’t call yourselves ‘pro-Israel’ when you accept harsh anti-Zionists like the Squad members. Stand for principle – expel them!” 

Wouldn’t it be great if he told Joe Biden: “Thanks for your support, but don’t you see you hurt your own campaign by prolonging this war when you forced us to dilly dally for three months before entering Rafah, and you undermine yourself by worrying about anti-America anti-Zionists who won’t vote for you – rather than the ‘silenced majority’ who want to see their president standing for Israel unequivocally, and against Iran formidably, intimidatingly.”

And wouldn’t it be great if he could tell the Republicans: “My friends, you can’t call yourselves pro-Israel when you accept harsh antisemites and other white-power lunatics. Stand for principle – expel them!” 

And wouldn’t it be great if he told Donald Trump: “Thanks for your support, but don’t you see you hurt your own campaign by disdaining fellow citizens and democratic values? Why don’t we both repent, and start acting like patriots for our own countries, advancing shared values?”

Actually, wouldn’t it be great, if whenever politicians spoke, they released a document detailing what we know they’re really thinking – and should have said?

The writer, a senior fellow in Zionist thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute, is an American presidential historian. His next book, To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream, will be published this fall.