Netanyahu Defends Israel in Speech to Congress

The symbolism of the speech by Israel’s leader was almost as notable as anything he said, as criticism of the country’s war in Gaza grows.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel addressed a joint meeting of Congress at the Capitol on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Wednesday issued a full-throated defense of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, during an address to Congress that laid bare deep divisions in Washington over a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

In a speech in which he angrily pushed back on criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war that has cleaved the Democratic Party and disrupted American college campuses, Mr. Netanyahu linked Israel’s security directly to that of the United States, insisting: “We’re not only protecting ourselves; we’re protecting you.”

“Our enemies are your enemies; our fight is your fight; and our victory will be your victory,” Mr. Netanyahu said, emphasizing the strategic role of Israel in countering Iran.

The fact of Mr. Netanyahu’s speech was almost as notable as anything he said. In the face of increasing international censure and dissent both in Israel and in the United States, Mr. Netanyahu was seeking to use Congress to lift his sagging political fortunes — and leaders in both parties obliged with a bipartisan invitation to receive him.

But in the House chamber as he spoke, there was clear evidence of how the longstanding bipartisan consensus to back Israel has eroded in Congress since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7 and the offensive in Gaza that followed. Dozens of Democratic members, including two top senators and Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker, boycotted the speech. Vice President Kamala Harris declined to preside, as is traditional for the vice president, citing a scheduling conflict.

And Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan and the first Palestinian American member of Congress, held up a sign as Mr. Netanyahu spoke that read “war criminal” on one side and “guilty of genocide” on the other.

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