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Netanyahu's lies to Congress
In this letter, Girish Modi expressed his views on Israeli Prime Minister's Netanyahu's address to the U.S. Congress.
Dear Editor,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel turned an address to Congress into a forceful defense of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and platform to lift his sagging political fortunes. Leaders in both parties obliged with a bipartisan invitation.
The address laid bare deep divisions in Washington over the nine-month war, whose toll on civilians has outraged many Democrats and drawn international condemnation. Dozens of Democrats did not show up, with some openly boycotting the speech.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee declined to preside in her capacity as president of the Senate alongside Speaker Mike Johnson, a break with tradition. Even President Biden met Netanyahu privately and Media reports of his speech were scarcely reported.
Netanyahu cast it as a battle for survival of the Jewish state while making almost no mention of the destruction of Gaza infrastructure with constant bombing that killed 38,000 Palestinian civilians and displaced a million people in its drive to destroy Hamas.
Thousands of protestors had gathered outside the Capitol to jeer Mr. Netanyahu and police officers tried to push them back. Demonstrators Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and the first Palestinian American member of Congress brandished a sign that read “war criminal” on one side and “guilty of genocide” on the other. As more than 5,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators massed on streets near the Capitol held signs calling him a war criminal, burned an effigy of him and an American flag and vandalized statues with anti-Israel slogans. Mr. Netanyahu dismissed those who have built encampments on college campuses around the country as “Tehran’s useful idiots.”
Netanyahu spoke these lies: This is not a clash of civilizations. It’s war against barbarians and murderers. Our enemies are your enemies. Our fight is your fight, and our victory will be your victory. Give us the tools faster and we’ll finish the job faster. Critics of the war are dupes aligning themselves with the world’s most dangerous terrorists. A proxy fight with Iran that must be won at all costs to protect both Israel and the United States. When we fight Iran, we are fighting the most radical and murderous enemy of the United States. Ironically, Israel has 150 nuclear bombs while Iran has not yet made even one bomb. So how can it be a clash between barbarism and civilization?
He did, however, hint at some flexibility in negotiations for a cease-fire and prisoner-release deal. However, he will not agree to two-state solution to make peace permanently.
Girish Modi
Decatur, GA
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