The events of the past eight months have consistently triggered a sense of deja vu with regard to various individuals and groups. The deja vu I am currently feeling has to do with reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to attend a joint session of both houses of the US Congress.
The House of Representatives is currently led by Republicans in opposition to the current Democratic administration.
Netanyahu will no doubt intend to address some of the parts of the Biden administration’s current Middle East policy that differ from the Israeli government’s position.
These would likely include Israel’s continued fighting in the Gaza Strip and the Biden administration’s efforts to pressure Israel to accept the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu’s strategy as US elections approach
Netanyahu may also be harboring in the back of his mind the idea that it could improve former President Donald Trump’s chances of beating President Joe Biden in next November’s presidential election.
But if this is indeed what Netanyahu wants, the question is how the Biden administration can balance this with ensuring that the International Criminal Court in The Hague will punish him if it executes arrest warrants against him and Defense Minister Yoav Galant for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
The last time Netanyahu pulled such a tactic was in March 2015, when he was trying to block President Barack Obama from signing the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran as he was approaching the final year of his second term.
Netanyahu staged an unconventional performance, taking advantage of the fact that both houses of parliament are controlled by Republicans.
While he was unable to stop the US from signing the deal with Iran, he undoubtedly contributed to the Republicans’ success in retaking the White House less than two years later.
This time, the Republicans only control the House of Representatives and the Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, a Jewish Democrat, but Schumer was initially reluctant to invite Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Schumer, a vocal critic of Netanyahu, was persuaded by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to sign a bipartisan invitation for Netanyahu to appear before a joint session of Congress.
It remains to be seen whether Netanyahu will use the opportunity to embarrass his Democratic president in parliament for the second time in nine years.
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to parliament in 2015 deeply disturbed me for two reasons: I was opposed in principle to his attempts to stop the United States from signing a nuclear deal with Iran.
Furthermore, I teach international relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech in parliament falls into the category of “things not to do” in relations between democracies, especially between countries that have a special relationship.
But even if I wasn’t opposed in principle to our Prime Minister using the U.S. Congress as a forum for embarrassing the President, given Prime Minister Netanyahu’s generally lackluster public performance since returning to power in November 2022, it is depressing to think that he could give a lackluster performance in Congress, or even worse, embarrass himself.
Meanwhile, it was reassuring when Prime Minister Netanyahu said in an interview with CNN last Wednesday that Jewish resettlement in Gaza was “not on the agenda.”
The statement was in response to a question about recent comments by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir that Israel should conquer the Gaza Strip, rebuild Jewish settlements there and encourage Gaza residents to “voluntarily” relocate.
Unfortunately, Prime Minister Netanyahu has not typically responded loudly or clearly to the statements made by and actions encouraged or undertaken by both Mr. Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which are every bit as outrageous as the comments made by Mr. Ben Gvir last week.
This includes recent attacks by far-right activists on trucks transporting humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, which the police, controlled by Ben-Gbir, were unable to thwart.
Or Smotrich’s illegal decision not to pass on to the Palestinian Authority the taxes that Israeli authorities collect in Israel on its behalf.
It is no secret that Prime Minister Netanyahu is held captive by the choice of his two far-right coalition partners, and without their support (14 Knesset seats), the far-right government would be lost and perhaps his political career would be over.
Even Netanyahu’s biggest critics do not believe that he necessarily supports the extreme positions of Ben Gvir and Smotrich, although Netanyahu is certainly aware that their words and actions are the cause of many of Israel’s legal problems abroad.
Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu will voluntarily declare “enough is enough” and that, in the interest of Israel’s welfare, or even its survival, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich should be removed from their ministerial positions or expelled from the government and sent to the opposition benches.
Does Prime Minister Netanyahu even realize that if things continue as they are, he will go down in history as the most controversial and disastrous leader Israel has ever seen?
Does he realise that the vaunted autobiography he published just before the last election is fast turning into a sad joke?
One gets the impression that he truly believes he bears no responsibility, even for the horrific events of October 7th – rather, everyone else is.
Every Friday morning, I walk from my neighborhood in Nayot in Jerusalem to Gaza Street to do my weekend shopping.
The Netanyahu’s private home faces Gaza Road and serves as their temporary official residence (until the state-run prime minister’s residence nearby on Balfour Street is finally renovated).
The Netanyahu’s are away most Fridays for the weekend at their second private residence, a villa in Caesarea, and apart from one or two bored-looking security guards standing around their empty Jerusalem mansion, life along Gaza Street continues as usual.
The Netanyahu couple appeared to be in Jerusalem for some reason over the past few weekends, with at least a dozen security guards pacing nervously around the compound and large parts of Gaza Street closed to traffic, leaving only pedestrians on the normally bustling thoroughfare.
Why am I telling you this mundane reality? Because it seems to stand in stark contrast to everything else in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s life these days, and the utter chaos the country has found itself in.
The author has worked in the Knesset as a researcher for many years. She has published numerous journalism and academic articles on current affairs and Israeli politics. Her latest book, “Israeli Knesset Members – A Comparative Study of an Undefined Job,” was published by Routledge.
