Bibi's bullying visits to Congress never end well

On September 12, 2002, Benjamin Netanyahu — then a private citizen — was invited to Congress to give “an Israeli perspective” in support of a U.S. invasion of Iraq. Netanyahu issued a confident prediction: “if you take out Saddam, Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region,” adding, “and I think that people sitting right next door in Iran, young people, and many others, will say the time of such regimes, of such despots is gone.”

In 2015, Netanyahu returned to Congress — this time as Israel’s prime minister — to undermine the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) negotiations led by the Obama administration along with key U.S. allies the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. After a tepid acknowledgement of President Obama’s support for Israel — Obama ultimately gave Israel $38 billion, the largest military aid package in history — Netanyahu spent the remainder of his speech attacking what would become one of the sitting president’s signature foreign policy achievements.

In both cases, Netanyahu’s advice was catastrophically wrong. America’s invasion of Iraq was a bloody disaster that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions more, creating massive instability in the region and paving the way for ISIS’s rise.

Meanwhile, Obama’s deal with Iran had succeeded in rolling Iran’s nuclear program back and blocking its pathways to a bomb — that is until the Trump administration followed Netanyahu’s advice and backed out of the deal in 2018, thus forfeiting our capability to contain Iran’s nuclear program while torpedoing prospects for productive engagement with Tehran on reducing regional tensions.

When Trump withdrew from the JCPOA, Iran was at least one year away from being able to produce enough enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon. Thanks to that withdrawal, Iran can produce a nuclear weapon in less than two weeks.

Tomorrow, Netanyahu is set to address Congress again — this time, as he prosecutes a campaign of mass carnage and destruction in Gaza that has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians — to ask for continued support for his efforts to “defeat Hamas.” Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Forces themselves call Netanyahu’s pursuit of “total victory” against Hamas impossible and “misleading to the public.”

By now, Netanyahu is used to coming to Washington, telling U.S. leaders what to do, and seeing them oblige. The consequences of abiding his arrogant approach have been nothing short of disastrous. So will Washington allow itself to be bullied by Bibi again? Will Congress and the administration put his selfish demands ahead of the American people’s interests in avoiding a regional war, and ending our complicity in the destruction of Gaza?

Unfortunately, U.S. leaders appear ready to do just that. Meanwhile, Netanyahu likely plans to repeat the same playbook from his last Washington visit: offering the Biden administration nominal praise for their nearly unconditional support of Israel’s war in Gaza before pivoting to put his thumb on the scale for hawkish U.S. politicians during an election year, in a bid to quash any criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

If the last nine months have taught us anything, a large, bipartisan majority in Washington will be happy to oblige Netanyahu’s request for silence on Gaza — even as scores of Americans descend on the Capitol complex to protest Netanyahu and continued U.S. support for this war.

To be clear, the problem neither starts nor ends with Netanyahu’s far-right government. The Knesset's recent overwhelming vote to reject a two-state solution underscores the major political challenges that remain to any Israeli role in securing Palestinian self-determination. There are systemic roadblocks throughout the Israeli government and military which consistently entangle the U.S. in regional conflicts and erode any prospects for a viable Palestinian state; however, by continuing to provide unconditional support, the U.S. only undermines the conditions necessary to resolve the conflict.

America must use its considerable leverage with Tel Aviv to push for both an end to this war and for security and peace for Israelis and Palestinians.

Instead, the Biden administration has aided and abetted Israel’s reckless behavior during this war at every turn, from approving more than 100 arms sales to Israel and vetoing various efforts to push for a ceasefire at the United Nations, to rejecting legitimate findings that Israel violated international law during its war in Gaza. This unconditional support for Israel — a public “bearhug” meant to open space for difficult conversation in private — has utterly failed to restrain Israel in its war, while making Americans a party to the slaughter of Palestinian civilians.

This approach has not just been a moral failure — it’s a serious strategic mistake. Netanyahu has repeatedly proven that he is not a reliable partner for the United States. He has been a major obstacle to a ceasefire with Hamas; he is deeply divisive and it is widely accepted, even within Israel, that Netanyahu needs the Gaza conflict for his political survival.

As Netanyahu prolongs the war in Gaza while ramping up conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, he has made it abundantly clear that he is willing to drag the U.S. into yet another unnecessary war in the Middle East: a war that would not serve American or even Israeli interests, but only his continued pursuit of power.

The prime minister’s visit offers the White House and Congress an opportunity to turn the page on this failed strategy, to press Israel to end its war, and to prevent a wider regional war that would put U.S. troops in the line of fire. U.S. leaders must use their time with Netanyahu to deliver a clear message: enough is enough. Reach a deal, bring the hostages home, and end the bloodshed before it spirals into a wider war.

Washington likes to talk a lot about America’s power and prestige on the world stage. It is well past time to bring these assets to bear to end the assault on Gaza and begin building a durable peace. Israel’s government should not be able to count on a blank check from Washington for more war.