By Yossi Mekelberg
Already, a week before taking off for a visit to Washington to address US lawmakers on July 24, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wings have been somewhat clipped.
Nearly a decade ago, in his boundless vanity and envy of state leaders who are flown by an aircraft specially designated for them, he ordered an aging Boeing 767 to be converted to the highest pampering demands of himself and his wife. Eight years on, and at an estimated cost of 1 billion shekels ($277 million), the “Wing of Zion” will leave the ground for one of the most controversial visits of an Israeli prime minister to the US.
Nevertheless, it was revealed that this expensive toy was unable to make a direct transatlantic flight while carrying the full load of the prime minister’s entourage and hence an interim stopover in the Czech Republic and Hungary was considered. Alas, according to Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, this plan was decided against, amid fears that the International Criminal Court was readying an arrest warrant against the Israeli PM as a result of the way he has conducted the war in Gaza.
What looks like a mere technical issue encapsulates Netanyahu’s reign of sheer hedonism and wastefulness when it comes to public money and the transformation of the Israeli prime minister into a pariah with an international arrest warrant hanging over his head after embroiling his country in its longest war since independence.
Those are all convincing reasons for the US Congress to have never thrown him the lifeline of inviting him to deliver a speech on one of the world’s more prestigious stages. To be sure, this invitation was more about domestic US politics, particularly during an election year, than a demonstration of friendship with Israel. But it will harm both US and Israeli interests, harm the prospects of an end to the war in Gaza and the return of the hostages any time soon, further endanger the cause of peace based on a two-state solution and only perpetuate the destructive role of Netanyahu in Israeli politics.
An invitation to a foreign leader to address a joint meeting of Congress is a rare occasion and is usually a recognition of the close relations between the US and this country. It appears to honor the personal contribution of the invitee to these relations or even for his or her exceptional contribution to world affairs.
But Netanyahu represents none of the above. As a matter of fact, he represents the exact opposite, especially at this delicate time, when he represents a major hurdle to reaching a ceasefire in Gaza and, with it, the release of hostages and a scaling down of the immense suffering of the Palestinians there. Allowing Netanyahu to play the statesman, which he is not, is an act of betrayal of all those who have been killed, maimed and/or lost everything they had since Oct. 7, as well as of those many hundreds of thousands of Israelis who took to the streets even before this wretched war to defend Israeli democracy against an unprecedented and utterly self-serving attack on it, led by the PM himself.
And what is the main aim of extending this prestigious invitation? It is a cheap and obvious attempt by the Republicans in Congress, in an election year, to gain some support among friends of Israel and to push the Democrats into a corner, trapped between their support for Israel and their opposition to Netanyahu as someone who is bringing calamity to his own country and endangering its relations with the US as its closest and most consequential ally.
For the Republicans, the invitation was immediately successful when Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to it, despite his recent comments about Netanyahu’s unsuitability for the job of prime minister. He had stated bluntly: “I believe that holding a new election once the war starts to wind down would give Israelis an opportunity to express their vision for the postwar future.” It was as good as a call to replace Netanyahu, as he and everyone else was aware of Israeli opinion polls that had for months been showing Netanyahu’s Likud party trailing way behind its rivals.
Along with Schumer’s volte-face, President Joe Biden is now slated to host a meeting with Netanyahu in the White House, a treat the American president has intentionally denied the publicity-craving prime minister since the latter formed his far-right government last year.
Giving Netanyahu a stage that is an international as well as an American one, while he has not made a single concession on any of the issues the US holds as important to ending the war in Gaza, bringing the hostages back and embarking on the enormous path of rebuilding the Gaza Strip, is providing a failed and discredited prime minister and his coalition of extremists with an undeserved tailwind for their efforts to cling to power.
Sadly, one is accustomed to some level of cynicism in politics, but this invitation is a total eclipse of judgment at the expense of the good of the people. In 2015, Netanyahu used a similar occasion in Congress to lobby against the Iran nuclear deal, which was a centerpiece diplomatic initiative by the Obama administration, and to unashamedly intervene in US domestic affairs in an attempt to derail it.
When Netanyahu eventually, through direct and indirect pressure on the Trump administration, persuaded the US to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it merely demonstrated his lack of strategic thinking, as it only brought Iran closer than ever to nuclear military capability. Why should he be listened to now? Moreover, joining his delegation will be a number of the hostages’ families, in another act of cynicism by Netanyahu, who will exploit their desperation to parade them in Washington, while behind the scenes he remains one of the chief reasons why their loved ones are still going through hell in captivity.
In 2015, 58 American lawmakers showed their integrity and good political judgment in skipping Netanyahu’s speech. This time, the number is expected to be higher and it will be a true test for those who are genuine friends of Israel, who care about human rights and who support peace, let alone doing what is best for US interests. They should vote with their feet by leaving the benches of Congress empty during that speech.
•Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Program at international affairs think tank Chatham House.
