How Netanyahu’s Speech Before Congress Paved the Way for Regional Conflict

After failing to achieve his military objectives in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces war crime charges from the International Criminal Court, traveled to the United States to incite war against Iran and prolong the genocide campaign in Gaza.

Shortly after his speech before the U.S. Congress, assassination campaigns unfolded in Beirut and Tehran. The assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah’s senior leader Fouad Shukr are expected to escalate the situation in the Middle East, with America playing a role in this escalation.

How did Netanyahu’s speech in Washington set the stage for a regional war?

Palestinian academic and professor at American universities for nearly four decades, Dr. Sami Al-Arian, wrote in an article for the British website MEE that the first American response to the dual assassinations that occurred this week in Beirut and Tehran came from U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on July 31, 2024. Following the assassination of Hamas’ political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and Hezbollah’s top military commander Fouad Shukr in Lebanon, Austin reiterated the “steadfast U.S. support for Israel and its commitment to defend it if attacked.”

As Israel escalates its military provocations, it is now clearer than ever that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aggressive speech to Congress last week was the opening salvo of a broader regional war, cheered on by American legislators, according to Al-Arian.

Indeed, in the days leading up to and following Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, the Israeli regime attacked and killed dozens of civilians in Hodeidah port in Yemen, Majdal Shams in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, and the southern suburbs of Beirut in Lebanon. The escalation reached a new threshold with the assassination of Haniyeh in the heart of Tehran.

This escalation coincides with Palestinians marking 300 days of the Israeli genocide campaign in Gaza, which has resulted in at least 50,000 deaths or people buried under rubble and more than 100,000 injured.

Over the past week, many observers have speculated that Netanyahu’s speech before Congress and his subsequent meetings with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, and other U.S. officials gave him the green light to continue Israel’s relentless aggression.

But regardless of what was discussed behind closed doors, Netanyahu clearly announced his objectives for the comprehensive war, according to Al-Arian. The war criminal, who failed to achieve his military goals in Gaza, came to Washington to rally for war against Iran and prolong his genocidal campaign against the Palestinians.

If Netanyahu used his visit to expand the war, which the world has already witnessed its catastrophic results this week, why was he invited to Washington in the first place? What lies did he peddle to Congress to sell his twisted plans, and how did he evade accountability?

Lies and War Declaration from the Congressional Platform

Al-Arian notes that Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on July 24 was his first international trip since launching the genocide campaign in Gaza last October. Despite facing multiple corruption charges domestically and the threat of arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity from the International Criminal Court, U.S. Congressional leaders invited him nonetheless.

Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress for the fourth time, an unprecedented honor not even afforded to the British imperial statesman and World War II leader Winston Churchill, who spoke to Congress three times during his tenure (in 1941, 1943, and 1952).

Al-Arian finds it striking that all invitations to the Israeli Prime Minister came from Republican Speakers of the House during Democratic presidencies—Bill Clinton in 1996, Barack Obama in 2011 and 2015, and Joe Biden in 2024. Each occasion was seen as an underhanded attempt by Republicans to show loyalty to Israel for political gain against their Democratic rivals.

In his recent speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2023, Netanyahu boasted about Israel’s invincible strength and its central role as a bulwark for regional security, stability, and economic prosperity. During his UN speech, Netanyahu completely erased the Palestinians and their plight from the map, displaying a map that showed Israel encompassing all of historical Palestine.

Netanyahu drew a line from India through the Persian Gulf, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan to Haifa Port in Israel and from there to Europe, calling it the economic corridor between India, the Middle East, and Europe, boasting that Israel would play a central role in this new geopolitical structure. However, the entire plan could unravel following Hamas attacks in October.

Having failed to achieve any of his military and political goals after launching a comprehensive genocide in Gaza, Netanyahu finds himself in trouble both domestically and internationally due to his conduct in the war. The world can no longer ignore it. With the death toll reaching unprecedented numbers, some estimates suggest that the total number of casualties in Gaza could reach 186,000, roughly eight percent of Gaza’s population, with over seventy percent of the victims being women and children.

In his 55-minute speech, some members of Congress applauded Netanyahu nearly 80 times, appearing to cling to every word he said, surpassing the previous record of 58 applauses set in 2015.

Netanyahu’s performance was pathetic and filled with blatant lies and arrogance on many levels. It was evident that he was attempting to mimic what U.S. Presidents typically do during their annual State of the Union addresses. He bragged about numerous Israeli soldiers and former captives, sharing fabricated stories of bravery amid one of the most humiliating days in Zionist history.

Netanyahu claimed to have liberated or recovered 135 captives and bodies, masking the fact that only five of these captives were freed through military operations. In reality, many captives were killed either due to Israeli bombardments of Gaza or by Israeli soldiers during failed rescue attempts. Meanwhile, 110 captives were released in November through a negotiated deal offered by Palestinian resistance in the early days of the conflict.

It goes without saying that if Netanyahu were serious about securing a deal for the release of captives, he would not have proceeded with killing the chief Palestinian negotiator this week. Netanyahu did not acknowledge that no other deal had been reached for the release of remaining Israeli captives due to his continued refusal to end the war or withdraw from Gaza as demanded by Palestinians, as well as by UN Security Council Resolution 2728 in March and the UN General Assembly resolution in December.

Doing so might lead to accountability for the October 7 attacks, potentially resulting in new elections and his removal from office. Netanyahu has also vehemently rejected all the judgments issued by the International Court of Justice, which were released in January, March, and May, calling for an end to the genocide and the advisory opinion from July regarding the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, demanding its cessation.

Netanyahu, the Third-Rate Fraud

Al-Arian writes in his article for MEE that Netanyahu attempted to display strength and resolve by declaring that he would not halt the war until he achieved what he called “complete victory.” Netanyahu defined this term as “the total surrender and defeat of Hamas, replacing its rule in Gaza with collaborators or submissive Palestinians, and releasing all Israeli captives without any exchange of prisoners.”

These demands ignored the on-ground realities, where his army has woefully failed to achieve a military victory after ten months of wreaking havoc among Gaza’s civilian population and causing massive destruction in the enclave.

In reality, Netanyahu used enticing tactics before the intrigued members of Congress who acted like extra actors in a poorly scripted play where Netanyahu appeared as a third-rate fraud.

One of his most blatant lies was his claim that his invasion of Rafah in May, which resulted in the death of “1203” resistance fighters, “accidentally” caused a few civilian casualties. Ordinary observers would have to suspend their rational faculties or live in an alternate reality to believe such nonsense.

With images of thousands of women and children and parts of civilians’ bodies being displayed daily to the world, only puppets and actors masquerading as Congress members can enable a certified mad liar to make fools of them as they applaud him in unison, says Al-Arian. One of the most pathetic moments of this scene was when Netanyahu stopped them from applauding until he reached his joke, and they immediately complied.

Dragging America into a Regional War

Al-Arian states that Netanyahu’s speech before Congress was a brazen theatrical act prepared by the Israeli leader himself and his associates in the U.S., supported by Israeli lobbies, primarily the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The main goal was to project a strong and defiant leader to the skeptical and troubled Israeli public.

In the absence of any political or military achievements on his behalf in Gaza or any willingness to change course, Netanyahu instead sought to escalate the conflict and drag the U.S. into a regional war.

However, the U.S. has repeatedly claimed it is trying to avoid igniting this fire in the Middle East at all costs as it would disrupt its global responsibilities and derail its geopolitical strategies. It could also result in a devastating defeat for the Democrats in the November elections.

Netanyahu claimed that the U.S. needed to provide Israel with “the tools needed to complete the mission,” implying that the American administration was withholding the weapons Israel sought. Of course, this accusation is false and aims to shift the blame from Netanyahu for his lack of victory, let alone the “complete victory” he was calling for.

In any case, the devastation and hell wrought in Gaza over the past ten months would not have occurred without unprecedented American support. This aid provided by the U.S. and its Western allies to Israel in its war against the defenseless Palestinians included massive weaponry surpassing the destructive power of five Hiroshima-sized bombs—including “smart” bombs, artillery shells, missiles, and fighter jets—along with intelligence, training, and military logistics, all justified by the so-called “War on Terror” against Hamas.

Netanyahu’s speech was intended to use every tactic to disguise his failures in Gaza and blame the U.S. for holding back from supporting Israel more. This was clearly an attempt to invoke a regional war to distract the public and force the U.S. to take more direct action.