Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, travelled to Washington this week for a series of high-level meetings. At the invitation of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, he addressed a joint session of the US Congress.
More than 90 Democratic Party politicians did not attend, including the vice-president – and likely Democratic Party presidential nominee – Kamala Harris, who would normally preside over the session, but pleaded a prior engagement.
The Conversation asked John Strawson, an expert in Israeli politics at the University of East London, about key issues arising from the speech, as well as his views on the situation in Gaza.
What were your principal takeaways from Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress last night?
This was vintage Netanyahu. It was a speech full of bluster and empty rhetoric which went through his favourite buzzwords. He invoked terrorism, Iran, good versus evil, the Hebrew Prophets and Winston Churchill, while using the pain of the hostage families and heroism of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for his own glory.
Netanyahu offered nothing concrete on a ceasefire or a post-war Gaza. His defence of democracy felt particularly hollow given his government’s policy to weaken the rule of law and press freedom in Israel. Ultimately, his day in Congress was upstaged by President Biden’s valedictory broadcast in the evening.
While in Washington, Netanyahu is due to have meetings with both Biden and Harris, as well as the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump. Which meeting will he consider the most important?
Netanyahu as always will be hedging his bets with all three. With Biden, he will be pressing for the US to allow delivery of the 2,000-pound bombs........