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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. Alabama’s entire Congressional delegation was in attendance.
In what Alabama Congressman Gary Palmer called a “great speech,” Netanyahu maintained that “Israel does not seek to resettle Gaza.” But immediately after stating this, he declared that “for the foreseeable future, we must retain overriding security control.”
Netanyahu has also tacitly and explicitly supported illegal settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as prime minister.
In his speech, the Israeli Prime Minister called pro-Palestinian protestors “Iran’s useful idiots” and accused them of “[standing] with evil.” Around two hundred people associated with Jewish Voice for Peace, reportedly including over a dozen rabbis, had been arrested before Netanyahu spoke for peacefully protesting the prime minister’s visit to the U.S. in a Congressional office building.
During the speech, as quickly went viral on social media, some protestors replaced American flags at Union Station with Palestinian flags, burning the American flags and an effigy of Netanyahu in the process. Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville called this form of protest “absolutely SHAMEFUL.”
In addition, roughly half of the Democrats in the House and in the Senate opted not to attend the joint session, largely citing Netanyahu’s lack of regard for Israeli hostages and the civilian casualties in Gaza.
Vice President Kamala Harris attended a previously scheduled event in Indianapolis instead of presiding over the joint session. She will, however, be meeting directly with Netanyahu later this week. Alabama Senator Katie Britt called it “a shame” that Harris was not present and said the vice president “fails to do her job.”
After the joint session, Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, explained his choice not to attend the speech by discussing how former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak called members of Netanyahu’s current government “racist, messianic fanatics.”
Van Hollen also talked about his recent trip to Israel, where the families of people murdered by Hamas and of those currently held hostage told him about their “deep, deep disappointment in the fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu has not prioritized the safe and swift return of the remaining hostages.”
The only Palestinian-American currently in Congress, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, attended the speech but held up a sign reading “Guilty of Genocide” and “War Criminal.” Jewish Congressman Jerry Nadler, D-New York, also attended despite calling Netanyahu the “worst leader in Jewish history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2100 years ago” beforehand.
In May, a prosecutor with the International Criminal Court applied for arrest warrants against Netanyahu on charges of committing various war crimes, a decision which both of Alabama’s senators openly criticized. Since the war began, tens of thousands of Gazans have died while food and medical aid have been intermittently kept out of the territory.
Alabama’s only Democratic member of Congress, Terri Sewell, chose to attend Netanyahu’s address despite her personal qualms with his leadership of Israel. Christopher Kosteva, a spokesman for Rep. Sewell, told APR the Congresswoman has “serious concerns about Prime Minister Netanyahu’s handling of the conflict and the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza.”
But, according to Kosteva, Sewell still attended the joint session because she “believes that if we are going to achieve a ceasefire and the release of the hostages held by Hamas, Members of Congress must continue to be engaged on this issue.”
After the joint session, Alabama Republicans’ praise for the Israeli prime minister was effusive. Tuberville posted a picture of Netanyahu speaking to Congress with the caption that it was “what leadership looks like.” He also seemingly called Netanyahu a “STRONG, pro-America world leader.”
Palmer tweeted “America must always #StandWithIsrael” with a picture of him shaking hands with Netanyahu attached. Congressman Robert Aderholt posted that “Israel will always have a friend and ally in the United States” as long as he has a say.
It seems likely that most if not all of Alabama’s Congressional delegation will try to heed Netanyahu’s plea—“give us the tools faster and we’ll finish the job faster”—despite the charges that he’s overseeing war crimes in Gaza and his support of illegal settlements.
