Fourth time around

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson invited Prime Minister Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress for the fourth time. Senate Majority Leader Schumer grudgingly joined in the invitation and grudgingly attended when Netanyahu spoke yesterday. Johnson and Netanyahu appeared publicly together for brief statements before the speech (video below). Thank you for your leadership, Speaker Johnson.

Roughly half of the Democrats in Congress boycotted the speech. Rashida Tlaib attended, but made her hatred of Israel and sympathies with Hamas evident. She wore a keffiyeh and held up a sign that read “guilty of genocide” on one side and “war criminal” on the other as Netanyahu spoke. The Hamas wing of the Democratic Party has grown to alarming proportions.

Democrats had to go deep in their lineup to find the Senator who would join Johnson in presiding over the joint session. Vice President Harris, the president of the Senate, was otherwise engaged. President Pro Tempore Patty Murray joined the boycott. Schumer himself declined the honor. Retiring Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Ben Cardin joined Johnson, who introduced Netanyahu.

Here let me borrow the brief summary provided in the New York Post Israel War Update email yesterday by deputy editor Adam Brodsky. Netanyahu made the case for a shared alliance to fight “terrorists and tyrants” in the Middle East. He properly characterized the state of the region, saying it’s “at a crossroads of history” — facing a clash “not of civilizations” but of “barbarism and civilization.”

“To triumph,” he said, “America and Israel must stand together.”

Iran, noted Netanyahu — correctly — is behind virtually “all the terrorism” and “all the killing” in the region as it seeks to export its Islamic theocracy to the entire world. And America, its “greatest enemy,” stands in the way. Yet first, he said, Iran must conquer the Middle East, and “standing in the way” there is “my country: the state of Israel.” “Our enemies are your enemies,” he told lawmakers. “Our fight is your fight. And our victory will by your victory.”

Netanyahu thanked America — including both President Biden as well as President Trump — for their support and promised that “Israel will always remain America’s indispensable ally.”

JNS has posted the text of Netanyahu’s speech here. JNS editor Jonathan Tobin comments here. John Podhoretz pays tribute to the speech in a New York Post column here. Don’t miss John’s stirring column.

The speech garnered 50 standing ovations. Here is one passage that could be chiseled in stone:

Defeating our brutal enemies requires both courage and clarity. Clarity begins by knowing the difference between good and evil. Yet incredibly many anti-Israel protesters, many choose to stand with evil. They stand with Hamas. They stand with rapists and murderers. They stand with people who came into the kibbutzim, into a home, the parents hid the children, the two babies, in the attic, in a secret attic. They murdered the family, the parents, they found the secret latch to the hidden attic and then they murdered the babies. These protesters stand with them. They should be ashamed of themselves.

They refuse to make the simple distinction between those who target terrorists and those who target civilians, between the democratic State of Israel and the terrorist thugs of Hamas.

We recently learned from the U.S. director of national intelligence, that Iran is funding and promoting anti-Israel protests in America. They want to disrupt America. So these protesters burned American flags even on the 4th of July. And I wish to salute the fraternity brothers at the University of North Carolina who protected the American flag, protected the American flag against these anti-Israel protesters.

For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protests that are going on right now outside this building—not that many, but they’re there—and throughout the city. Well, I have a message for these protesters: When the Tyrants of Tehran, who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair, are praising, promoting and funding you, you have officially become Iran’s useful idiots.

Netanyahu makes a convenient target for those who hate Israel, but it’s hard to miss the animus behind the hatred directed toward him. He stands in for the Jewish state. Protesters outside the Capitol illustrated how that animus extends to the United States.

The speech was a Churchillian tour de force. Netanyahu’s salute to the soldier heroes of Israel in the audience has to be seen. I have posted full video below.

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