Netanyahu: Time for a Mideast NATO?

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the House rostrum Wednesday afternoon in his fourth address to Congress. 

Netanyahu’s speech laid out his vision not only for Israel and Gaza after the war but the broader Middle East, in which he sees a conflict between “barbarism and civilization,” the former epitomized by the Iranian regime. Netanyahu beat the drums of war against the Iranian regime from the start—first mentioning Hamas, Israel’s actual battlefield enemy, more than 20 minutes into his speech—and proposed a NATO-like alliance to counter Iran.

Netanyahu’s entrance was met with a standing ovation. Minutes of applause prevented House Speaker Mike Johnson from calling the chamber to order as members of Congress ignored the gavel. When Johnson introduced the prime minister, another minute of applause broke out.

“We meet today at a crossroads of history,” Netanyahu told Congress shortly after his speech began. “Our world is in upheaval. In the Middle East, Iran’s axis of terror confronts America, Israel and our Arab friends.”

“For the forces of civilization to triumph, America and Israel must stand together,” Netanyahu later continued, then seemed to borrow a stump-speech line from former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley: “Because when we stand together, something very simple happens: We win, they lose.”

Netanyahu then spent a substantial part of the first half of his speech recounting the brutal and savage October 7 attacks. Accounting for differences in population size, the devastation of October 7—more than 1,200 dead—was “20 9/11’s in one day,” Netanyahu said. 

“These monsters, they raped women, they beheaded men, they burnt babies alive,” the Israeli prime minister added. “They killed parents in front of their children and children in front of their parents. They dragged 255 people, both living and dead, into the dark dungeons of Gaza.”

Throughout his description of the October 7 attack and its fallout, Netanyahu affirmed Israel’s resolve to get remaining hostages back to their country of origin. Israel, according to the prime minister, is “actively engaged in intensive efforts to secure their release.”

In comments that might sow discord among Democrats amid the pivot from a Biden to Harris campaign for president, Netanyahu thanked Biden for his continued support. 

“President Biden and I have known each other for over 40 years. I want to thank him for half a century of friendship to Israel and being, as he says, a proud Zionist. Actually he says, a proud Irish American zionist,” Netanyahu told lawmakers. “I thank President Biden for his heart-felt support for Israel. After the savage attack on October 7, he rightly called Hamas ‘sheer evil.’ He dispatched two aircraft carriers to the Middle East to deter a wider war, and he came to Israel to stand with us during our darkest hour, a visit that will never be forgotten.”

But many in Biden’s party do not share the president’s views on the war in Gaza—including, perhaps, his preferred successor, Vice President Kamala Harris. Throughout the speech, some members remained seated, refused to clap, or engaged in silent protests (such as Rep. Rashida Talib (D-MI) who held up a small fan-like sign that read “WAR CRIMINAL”), the inside of the chamber seemed to portray a united front for supporting Israel in the ongoing Gaza war. 

Nevertheless, that united front was predicated on a substantial boycott from Congressional Democrats and other high profile absences. Harris was on the campaign trail, so Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) took the vice president’s seat behind the rostrum. More than 50 members of Congress announced they would be boycotting Netanyahu’s speech—around the same number that boycotted Netanyahu’s speech in 2015. Prominent boycotters from the Senate included Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Tim Kaine (D-VA). From the House, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Jim Clyburn (D-SC) were among the ranks of prominent boycotters.

There was one Republican boycotter, too. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) announced he’d boycott the speech on X. “Today Congress will undertake political theater on behalf of the State Department” Massie posted. “I don’t feel like being a prop so I won’t be attending.”

Outside the Capitol complex, large groups of protestors gathered to call for Netanyahu’s arrest and accused the prime minister and the Israeli government of war crimes. As the speech neared, some of the protests became increasingly tense and violent in some cases. 

Netanyahu’s visit to the United States this week has been met with frequent protests. Since Monday, protestors have gathered outside the Watergate Hotel where the Israeli delegation is staying. Protests there also became violent, and pro-Palestine infiltrators allegedly managed to get into the hotel and release maggots, crickets, and other bugs in Israeli delegation meeting rooms. Others dyed fountains red.

Capitol police on Tuesday reportedly arrested about 200 protestors from Jewish Voice for Peace. Their sit-in took over the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building for hours. The group itself claimed that actually 400 people, including 12 rabbis, were arrested.

Netanyahu had harsh words for the protestors in DC, on college campuses, and beyond, as well as their supporters on Capitol Hill. “Anti-Israel” protestors “should be ashamed of themselves,” the prime minister claimed. “Clarity begins by knowing the difference between good and evil. Yet incredibly, many anti-Israel protesters, many choose to stand with evil.”

And the prime minister seems to believe Iran is funding this “evil” movement. “For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protests that are going on right now outside this building,” Netanyahu claimed. “Not that many, but they’re there and throughout the city.” 

These protestors, said Netanyahu, are “Iran’s useful idiots.” Republicans in the chamber cheered loudly.

The prime minister also seems to believe that Israel is currently at war with Iran. “Iran understands that to truly challenge America, it must first conquer the Middle East—and for this it uses its many proxies, including the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas. Yet in the heart of the Middle East, standing in Iran’s way, is one proud pro-American democracy, my country the state of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “For Iran, Israel is first, America is next. So, when Israel fights Hamas, we’re fighting Iran. When we fight Hezbollah we’re fighting Iran. When we fight the Houthis, we’re fighting Iran.”

Nevertheless, the front lines remain in Gaza. The big question for Netanyahu and his government is what happens to the small strip of land on the Mediterranean coast after the war is over. “My vision for that day is of a demilitarized and de-radicalized Gaza,” Netanyahu told Congress. “Israel does not seek to resettle Gaza, but for the foreseeable future, we must retain overriding security control there to prevent the resurgence of terror, to ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.”

To make that vision a reality, Netanyahu called on more fast-tracked U.S. aid. “Fast-tracking US military aid can dramatically expedite an end to the war in Gaza and help prevent a broader war in the Middle East,” Netanyahu claimed. “Today, as Israel fights on the front line of civilization, I, too, appeal to America: Give us the tools faster, and we’ll finish the job faster,” he reiterated.

Netanyahu also suggested NATO-like regional security, of course led by the United States and then Israel, for the entire region. “America forged a security alliance in Europe to counter the growing Soviet threat,” Netanyahu claimed. “Likewise, America and Israel today can forge a security alliance in the Middle East to counter the growing Iranian threat.” 

The prime minister seemed to walk back the intensity of this prospective alliance, however, by claiming it would be a natural extension of the Abraham Accords signed under President Donald Trump, which were primarily diplomatic and economic, not defense-oriented.

Nevertheless, Netanyahu proposed that this Middle-East NATO be called the “Abraham Alliance.”

While Americans have long sought a way out of the Middle East, Netanyahu seems keen on keeping America in.

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