First reactions: What Netanyahu said (and didn’t say) about the U.S. and Israel — and what it all means

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of the United States Congress in 2015. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

By Jodi Rudoren, Nora Berman, Dan Perry, Gedalia GuttentagJuly 24, 2024

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress today wasn’t his first Congressional rodeo, but the stakes have never been higher. So we covered it it live, to help you make sense of one of the most-scrutinized Capitol Hill appearances in recent memory.

With the speech, Netanyahu became the world leader who has addressed Congress the most times: four. Yet his 1996, 2011 and 2015 speeches were not given while Israel was at war or facing such intense international isolation. Nor while Israelis were in captivity: more than 100 of the 240 taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 terror attack remain in Gaza, many of them dead.

Netanyahu arrived in Washington Monday as a new poll showed 72% of Israelis think he should quit because of his government’s failures on and since Oct. 7. His unpopularity is hardly confined to Israel. Washington filled with protesters ahead of his speech, with around 200 Jewish Voice for Peace activists arrested Tuesday after demonstrating inside a congressional building. 

Democrats including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal, and Sens. Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley, Dick Durbin, Chris Van Hollen and Patty Murray boycotted Netanyahu’s address. Plus, Vice President Kamala Harris — now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president — didn’t preside over the session as she has for every other address by a foreign leader, instead campaigning at a Black sorority event.

Netanyahu said before leaving for Washington that his speech to Congress will mark an effort to seek “bipartisan support that is so important for Israel.” Our analyst today: Jodi Rudoren, editor-in-chief of the Forward and a former Jerusalem bureau chief of The New York Times; Dan Perry, our Israel-based columnist, was as longtime Middle East and Europe bureau chief for Associated Press; Gedalia Guttentag, deputy editor at Mishpacha Magazine; and Nora Berman, deputy opinion editor of the Forward.

What do you expect or hope to hear?

Jodi Rudoren: Expect: A lot about Hezbollah and Iran, the axis of evil and Oct. 7 atrocities, Jews’ right to be safe in their historic homeland. Hope? That’s a different story. I was thinking it’d be interesting if members of Congress started chanting “Bring Them Home.” Because of course many in the chamber believe that Netanyahu could be doing much more than he is to bring the remaining hostages home.

Dan Perry: What I hope to hear is an indication that he has learned something from the unmitigated catastrophe of his term — that he understands Israel needs to find either accommodation with or separation from the Palestinians, is ready to prioritize the release of the hostages, and will embrace President Joe Biden’s proposal for a Western-backed regional strategic alliance against Iran and its criminal proxies. 

I’d also like to win the lottery, which seems more likely. So what I expect to hear is the usual self-serving propaganda.

Gedalia Guttentag: I hope to hear the sound of standing ovations — from both sides of the aisle. Netanyahu travels as the representative of an Israel that feels more beleaguered than at any time in generations, one that’s desperate to hear that the U.S. has its back. A bipartisan welcome for Bibi will be read by Israelis as support for Israel as a whole.

Netanyahu views American voters as a supremely important audience. So, I expect to hear him attempt to rise above the political turmoil to explain to Americans how he sees the endgame in Gaza, and why the United States needs to up its game in confronting Iran.

Nora Berman: I don’t expect this to be the case, but I deeply hope that Netanyahu begins his speech with an announcement that Israel has reached a hostage deal to bring all the remaining hostages home. Jon Polin, the Israeli-American father of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, said yesterday at a press briefing in Washington, D.C. that: “We view any speech that is not the announcement of the signing and closing of a hostage deal to be a total failure,” and I’m inclined to agree. 

Jodi: That would be truly amazing. But it seems about as likely as Dan’s hope for a mea culpa — or, as a column I read yesterday imagined, Netanyahu taking a cue from Biden and announcing he is stepping aside. I am just hoping to hear something, anything, different from his misbegotten insistence on “destroying” Hamas, which is an impossible goal to achieve. 

I would love to hear a little humility, a little empathy for the thousands of non-combatants killed, injured and displaced, a little acknowledgment of the complicated feelings that Americans, including American Jews, have around this war. Which is to say, I’d love for Netanyahu to be a different person, or for Israel to have a different leader right now.

Who is (and isn’t) attending Netanyahu’s address to Congress — and why?

Nora: Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who was rumored to be boycotting the speech, is in fact in attendance and is wearing a kaffiyeh. 

Gedalia: Plus, is that Jerry Nadler studying the Daf Yomi?

Jodi: I think it’s The Netanyahu Years, a political biography by the Israeli journalist Ben Caspit. Nadler has called Netanyahu “the worst leader in Jewish history” since Maccabean times.

Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Kelly, apparently on Kamala Veepstakes shortlist, is in the chamber, although Kamala is not. 

Nora: Interesting to see Elon Musk sitting behind Sara Netanyahu. He recently posted that he has activated Starlink, a satellite-guided internet service, in a hospital in Gaza. 

Gedalia: Also seated in the visitors’ gallery are Noa Argamani and her father, Yaakov. Noa, who was rescued from captivity in Gaza a few weeks ago, has come in for some horrifying vilification on social media for distancing herself from the anti-Netanyahu politicized elements of the hostage release campaign

Nora: First sighting of protest: someone in the gallery with a yellow shirt reading “SEAL THE DEAL NOW” is standing and not clapping. (There were apparently five such protesters, and they were arrested, according to the Associated Press.) 

Netanyahu targets Iran, and delivers a harrowing account of Oct. 7

Nora: Netanyahu mentioned Iran right away — no gentle easing in to what is sure to be one of his main focuses.

Dan: Netanyahu wants the world to focus on Iran, not without reason. Iran has encircled Israel with proxy militias dedicated to causing it terrible harm, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq, the Houthis to the south, and Hamas. Plus, Iran also oppresses its own people terribly. Regime change in Iran is a necessary goal for the world.

However, Iran is currently a nuclear threshold state, which gives it a lot of deterrence. The party most responsible for this horror is, in fact, Netanyahu, who in his last appearance before Congress, in 2015, argued against the nuclear deal with Iran, and a few years later goaded Trump into pulling out of it entirely, which immediately enabled Iran to resume its program. This is typical of Netanyahu: Ideas that sound good after going through his eloquence machine are, in fact, moronic. 

Jodi: Starting off with Oct. 7 — and grouping it with Dec. 7, 1941 and Sept. 11, 2001 — is Netanyahu’s attempt to bring us back to that (brief) moment when the world really was in solidarity with Israel. 

But Congress, the world, and American Jews are not living in Oct. 8, as so much of Israel still is. We are balancing that awful day with the 291 awful days since, balancing the almost 1,200 people slaughtered that day with the 39,000 Palestinians killed and the many Israeli soldiers killed and injured in Gaza. We want to hear about what is happening today, and tomorrow, about how we can make this end. 

Nora: It’s interesting to hear the parallels between 9/11 and Oct. 7. Considering what a debacle ensued from 9/11 and the Iraq War, it’s interesting that Netanyahu raised it in this way, especially given that many have argued that the war in Gaza could become a long, bloody, intransigent conflict similar to what the U.S. experienced in Iraq. 

Dan: He’s made a savvy move in opening with a long reflection on the horrors of Oct. 7. Israel needs the world to focus on that barbaric outrage, and not on the calamity that has followed in Gaza. And I’m not surprised he didn’t work in any nuance on the catasrophes that followed in the wars sparked by both Oct. 7 and 9/11. 

It’s also not surprising he used the first person in claiming “I authorized” the mission to save Noa Argamani. With Netanyahu, this use of first person attaches only to successes, never failures. It’s practically become a meme in Israel.

Jodi: Good leaders never use the first-person singular. It’s always about the team you lead, or in this case, the country. 

Dan: Here’s the thing though: much as certain people — the educated elites, for sure — despise and mock this tactic as uncouth, he calculates it works, and I think that he’s been right about that. That he succeeds in holding on to power despite his astonishing failures is evidence, perhaps, that these chicaneries are effective.

Netanyahu thanks Biden, and celebrates Israeli heroes

Gedalia: Netanyahu’s commendation of Joe Biden for his early support of Israel after Oct. 7 is not just smart politics, but, I think, truly heartfelt. Despite wobbling in recent months as he sought to keep progressives on his side, Biden has expressed a visceral commitment to Israel — one that is out of step with the rising generation of Democrats

Jodi: It’s interesting that the soldiers whose heroism Netanyahu highlighted are Bedouin and Black — and Netanyahu listed off the range of ethnicities and religions in the military. Do you think that will have any impact on the “Israel is a white colonizer country” narrative that is so prevalent on the activist left? Israeli soldiers come from “every ethnicity, every color, every creed,” he said, “left and right, religious and secular.”

Nora: I have the feeling that the Israel Defense Forces are so deeply hated online that soldiers like these men will be dismissed as tokens. Many on the far left refer to it as the “IOF” for the Israel Occupation Force, so I’m not sure seeing this diversity is going to move the needle. But the choice to feature them is absolutely deliberate. 

Gedalia: There is nothing that can be said or done to convince the activist left of Israel’s morality. 

Jodi: Plus, the activist left is protesting the speech, not watching it. Maybe it’s more ammunition for pro-Israel groups fighting this narrative. 

Gedalia: This focus on the military is a good call for Netanyahu’s audience. America — like Israel, and unlike much of Europe — is a place where the military still matters. Highlighting martial valor taps into something that many Americans value. 

Criticizing the campus protests against the war in Gaza

Dan: Remember that Netanyahu isn’t just speaking to Congress: he’s also speaking to the people of Israel. When he rages against the ignorant protesters who don’t understand what Hamas did or the true context for it, basically all of Israel stands with him. That is not normal for Netanyahu. 

It will please almost everyone on Israel’s side to see him calling protesters “useful idiots” who are inadvertently serving Iran’s cause, and mocking the “gays for Gaza.” This is Bibi being a good politician and a great communicator. A sort of reminder of what he might have been before he so entirely lost the plot.

Nora: It’s wild that he gave a shout out the UNC students who protected the U.S. flag against the pro-Palestinian protesters. 

He absolutely did not win over any LGBTQ+ people by comparing those holding “gays for Gaza” signs to “chickens for KFC.” I know that many queer folks who are anti-Zionist really resent this rhetoric, as they argue that there are queer Palestinians and queer people in Gaza. 

Dan: Gotta say, when Israelis mock “gays for Gaza” it isn’t about denying there are gays in Gaza, or that gays have a right to be pro-Palestinian. Rather, it’s another representation of the claim that the protesters, including LGBTQ+ ones, understand nothing of Hamas — which is, of course, murderously anti-gay. 

Nora: On another note: Rep. Tlaib is now holding up a sign that says “War Criminal.”

Jodi: It’s interesting that there’s no one sitting on either side of her. I respect her for going; I think it’s always better to go and listen — or protest — than to boycott. But her colleagues do not want to be photographed next to her doing it. 

Trashing student protesters may be helpful to Netanyahu in Israel, but I don’t think it’s a great tactic to reach the hearts and minds of Americans. He says they burned the American flag on the Fourth of July —if this happened, it was certainly isolated. He says they “may” be financed by Iran; this is likely referring to a recent American intelligence report that some people tied to Iran may have posed as activists online, but that hardly means Iran is behind the grass-roots uprising against the war we saw on scores of college campuses this spring. And he’s parroting the Jewish establishment talking points about the protesters not knowing which river and which sea, which is based on a couple of gotcha video clips. I’m tired of this rhetoric. 

At the same time, he is completely right about the depth of Jewish and biblical history in the holy land, and I’m glad he brought it up. 

Gedalia: Never underestimate the importance of repeating basic truths about the morality of Israel’s case. Anti-Israel extremists are successful because they tirelessly repeat their lies, and what Netanyahu is doing here is restating that truth — in the most important political arena on earth.

A vigorous denial that Israel is targeting civilians in Gaza — and a pivot back to Iran

Nora: As Netanyahu says “it is complete nonsense Israel is starving Gaza,” Tlaib mouths: “No it’s not,” while flipping her sign to read “Guilty of Genocide.” 

Gedalia: By mentioning his recent visit to Israeli troops in Rafah, Netanyahu is issuing a rebuke to those in the chamber who sought to deprive Israel of vital weapons in a legitimate war by imposing conditions on the conduct of war that the U.S. itself has never fought under.

Dan: It was a good turn of phrase when Netanyahu said that Israel sees every civilian death (on its own side, of course) as a tragedy, whereas for Hamas, Palestinian civilian deaths are a strategy. That point is true, and is another thing many student protestors do not understand. So far, this speech is very good for Netanyahu’s purposes: Shoring up his backing by pro-Israel Americans and trying to claw back some support in Israel.

Nora: I think this is the least convincing part of the speech so far. Netanyahu’s claim that the civilian death count is “practically none” is really hard to square with the numbers of deaths reported — not to mention the imagery and testimonies from volunteer doctors who have returned from volunteering in Gaza. Netanyahu is a very compelling orator, and very confident, but these claims around civilian death ring hollow. 

Jodi: It’s worth noting how natural and poised Netanyahu is on this stage. It’s no accident that he is the world leader who has addressed Congress more than any other. Yes, because of Israel’s close relationship to the U.S. and Netanyahu’s longevity in office. But also because he is studied and expert in how to address American political audiences.

And now he takes us back to Iran. He wants the takeaway from this speech, from every speech, to be the threat of Iran, because he knows that threat is as scary to Americans as it is to Israelis. He wants us to think Israel-Hamas is just a sidebar to U.S.-Iran conflict. He campaigns in Israel on fear, and he needs us to be scared as well.

Gedalia: One thing that the next administration will confront is an Iran incredibly emboldened by the success of its proxies in Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Netanyahu is right that it’s a mistake to compartmentalize the Hamas war, because it’s only one branch of the aggression stemming from Tehran. Failure to deal with Iran itself guarantees ongoing conflict across the Middle East. 

Jodi: Here we go, this is the crux of the argument for Netanyahu: “For Iran, Israel is first, America is next. So when Israel fights Hamas, we’re fighting Iran,” he said, repeating the formula with Hezbollah and the Houthis. “And when we fight Iran, we’re fighting the most radical and murderous enemy of America.” 

This is his bumper-sticker talking point: “We’re not only protecting Israel, we’re protecting you … our fight is your fight, and our victory will be your victory.”

Gedalia: Here’s the pitch: give us the weapons to finish the job. What he really means is, give us the weapons, plus the legitimacy and backing to deploy them in the face of cynical claims of war crimes, and then we can finish the job.

Jodi: Netanyahu takes a dig at Biden for slowing some weapons transfers: “Give us the tools faster and we’ll finish the job faster.” I do also appreciate that he said “destroy Hamas’s military capabilities,” not “destroy Hamas.”

Dan: It’s interesting that Netanyahu is thanking “all sides of the aisle” for “generous military assistance” from Israel, and praising Biden. This is a wise contrast to the narrative — which is correct — that he’s expressed ingratitude toward Biden in recent months. 

In conclusion: a vision for Gaza’s future

Jodi: “Israel does not seek to resettle Gaza” — it’s important he said that. “Gaza should have a civilian administration that should not try to destroy Israel; that’s not too much to ask” — I agree. Demilitarization and de-radicalization, he says, is what was required of Germany and Japan, and should be required of Gaza. I’m on board with that, too. 

Gedalia: Now comes the difficult part, as Netanyahu asserts Israel needs to retain security control in Gaza. That means a version of what exists in the West Bank, with the Palestinian Authority running civil affairs, and Israel constantly acting against terror cells. Democrats really, really won’t like this. 

Nora: Netanyahu notably does not mention the Palestinian Authority, rather saying “a new generation of Palestinians” will be the civilian administration in charge of Gaza. It is difficult to imagine where this generation will come from, when so many children have been killed during this war. Plus, the mass suffering of the civilian population in Gaza under Israeli bombardment is, I imagine, not likely to create many “deradicalized” and “demilitarized” leaders. 

Dan: It’s smart that he’s comparing Gaza to Japan and Germany post-WWII. People equate his vision to an eternal military occupation. But Netanyahu, by Nazifying Hamas — not without some reason — presents a plausible defense.

Jodi: What do you all think about the way he brought in Trump — both the assassination attempt and his record recognizing Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights, facilitating Abraham Accords, and moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem? What audience is that for?

Gedalia: By mentioning the indivisibility of Jerusalem, he’s obviously playing to his own audience, but also laying down an unmistakable marker for American leaders that Israel, under the right, is further away from the agreement laid out by Oslo than anytime before — and that consensus on Jerusalem now includes much of the center left.

Nora: Netanyahu is nothing if not a master politician, and he knows that the election is going to be a close one. He thanked Biden for his decades of friendship and advocacy as an “Irish-American Zionist,” and now is thanking the other side of the aisle and the Republican nominee for president, Trump, for all that he did.

Jodi: No surprise he ends by asking God to bless both countries and their great alliance. Applause at the end is pretty robust — but what were those shouts from the gallery? Something about the days of the war or how many killed I think? And then someone seemed to be trying to drown it out by chanting “Am Yisrael Chai.”

Anyhow: What are your takeaways? What kind of a grade would you give the speech? Did he surprise you at all? Did he accomplish his goals?

Dan: I think this was quite a good speech, maximizing Israel’s case for the war and persuasively presenting its enemies as demonic. It will please mainstream Americans and find agreement with almost all Jewish Israelis. Unfortunately, he gave nothing to those Israelis desperate for him to prioritize saving the hostages, even if it means ending the war (which it does).

He walks a tightrope. Netanyahu is very beleaguered: this trip was met with a good dose of skepticism and even opposition in Israel, including criticism of him staying abroad for nearly a week in the middle of a war, and claims that the visit is holding up the hostage negotiations and costing lives. Israeli news outlets have reported that Netanyahu asked to delay his meeting with Trump from Thursday to Friday, which means he’ll stay until the end of Shabbat — which is the modus operandi weekend-extension whenever his wildly unpopular wife accompanies him on trips, often to shop, and this time, presumably, to celebrate the birthday of his son Yair, a rightwing agitator who lives in Miami. Netanyahu has also faced comparisons to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose trips to speak abroad are quite short, sometimes lasting only several hours.

So there are two things here: the sweet elixir of a brilliant and eloquent politician on a top global stage; and an overpowering stench of corruption and megalomania.

Gedalia: To some extent, giving the speech was, itself, the point. The honor accorded to an Israeli leader demonstrates the extent to which Israel remains such a close ally of the U.S. That’s hard currency in terms of Israel’s international standing. 

Former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer told me that the contentious 2015 speech in which Netanyahu opposed the Iran Deal actually galvanized contacts with the Arab states in the process that led to the Abraham Accords, because Arab leaders saw that Israel was prepared to stand up to the Americans on a matter of security. 

Jodi: I’m thinking mostly about American politics here, and especially American Jews, most of whom are Democrats who support Israel but are extremely upset by the devastation in Gaza, and have, at best, deeply mixed feelings about Netanyahu. 

The focus on Iran should help Democratic politicians being attacked from the left over the war make their case. But the really insulting, dismissive language about the campus protesters feels short-sighted to me. Those protesters’ parents are mainstream Democratic voters. This does not help with Netanyahu’s stated commitment to keeping Israel a bipartisan issue. Kamala Harris needs those protesters — and their parents — to show up in November.

Dan: The applause was far less pronounced from the Democratic side of the room. That, too, seems to be a harbinger of Israel becoming a less bipartisan cause — although of course, some of the coolness may be a response not to Israel but to Netanyahu himself.

Gedalia: Dan, I wish I was as optimistic as you are. Those opposing Netanyahu today are only likely to approve of a very specific Israeli leader — one far to his left. But when it comes down to it, Israel and its leaders have moved right while the American left has moved in the opposite direction. 

Jodi: Netanyahu lost those Democrats — and their constituents — long before the war, through the attempted judicial coup of 2023, and his bedfellowship with the racist extremist ministers in his government.

Nora: Netanyahu is a fabulous orator, but I’m not really sure what this address accomplished, or that we learned anything new. I think that he was speaking to his current fans, and was not addressing American Jews, who, as Jodi mentioned, are quite upset about the devastation in Gaza. He certainly did not make any new friends among younger Americans, who tend to be more left-wing and vehemently anti-war. This was a missed opportunity, although admittedly a challenging one.

Dan: One last closing thought. Israel isn’t entirely being vilified without reason. It is not just a matter of campus protesters being clueless, which most of them probably are. Tens of thousands are dead in Gaza. A word of empathy for that horrendous loss of life would not have killed him, and might have gone a long way. But, alas, that is not his mode.

Gedalia: Would it have achieved anything, other than applying a salve to some American Jewish consciences? Netanyahu is no more callous than any American leader who presided over mass civilian casualties less than a decade ago in Iraq. Yet the truth remains that Israel is in the right here, and that Hamas didn’t just slaughter hundreds of Israelis — they also slaughtered the tens of thousands of their own civilians who were inevitably caught up in Israel’s response, 

Jodi: Yeah, Netanyahu is definitely an adherent to the “zero-sum empathy” approach that I believe threatens to doom the Middle East. Well, thank you all for such insightful responses — may God bless live journalism.