Congress Hosts a War Criminal
Netanyahu has at a minimum the blood of tens of thousands of innocent people on his hands.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint session of Congress tomorrow. He is reportedly going to return to his favorite theme of fearmongering about Iran, and we can already guess that he will have a receptive audience for his usual song and dance. No doubt he is preparing his misleading and distorted references to the Book of Esther as we speak. Netanyahu would like nothing more than to distract from the horrific conditions in Gaza that he and his allies have created, but he can’t be allowed to get away with that. The prime minister is a war criminal, and he should be treated accordingly.
Netanyahu has spoken before Congress before, but the timing and circumstances of this visit make the decision to host him truly inexcusable. The prime minister is responsible for waging a brutal and atrocious war against the Palestinians of Gaza for more than nine months. He will be facing an ICC arrest warrant soon for the war crime of starvation. He has at a minimum the blood of tens of thousands of innocent people on his hands, and when there is a full reckoning the number of his victims will be much larger.
The Israeli government stands credibly accused of breaching the Genocide Convention under Netanyahu’s leadership. Netanyahu’s government has defied the order of the International Court of Justice to halt its military campaign for the past two months. I can’t recall another occasion when the United States Congress welcomed the head of a foreign government responsible for an ongoing genocide. Hosting a foreign leader when his government faces such serious and credible charges of committing the worst crimes is indefensible, and welcoming Netanyahu is a dark stain on the reputation of the United States.
Hawks are whining that the vice president will not be present for Netanyahu’s disgraceful appearance, but Harris is smart not to be involved. To the extent that Harris refuses to imitate Biden’s ridiculous overindulgence of Netanyahu, she is on the right track. We shouldn’t read too much into Harris’ absence from the speech, but it is somewhat encouraging that she won’t take part in the farce.
Hosting a war criminal while he is in the midst of committing more crimes sends a clear message to the rest of the world. The world can see once again that the U.S. doesn’t punish its clients for their wrongdoing, but instead it rewards the client leaders and celebrates them. The Congressional leadership has disgraced our country by inviting Netanyahu, and we will be living with the consequences for a long time to come.