Dawn Images

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a landmark speech to the US Congress on Wednesday, seeking support at a time of tensions between his country and its main military backer over the former’s military offensive in Gaza reaches new, barbaric heights.

Washington has been increasingly critical of the mounting toll on civilians from more than nine months of onslaught in the narrow coastal territory, while protests in Israel by families of hostages taken by Hamas are also causing headaches for Netanyahu at home.

The Israeli premier’s speech was met with severe outrage from US lawmakers and citizens, as well as netizens. Thousands of demonstrators marched on the US Capitol, AFP reported. Inside the House of Representatives — half of the main Capitol building — six protesters were arrested before Netanyahu began speaking.

A group of protesters burned Netanyahu in effigy, along with American flags — a raucous end to a mostly peaceful march that also drew families, children and the elderly, as well as concerned citizens from thousands of miles away.

Crowds carrying Palestinian flags and signs ranging from left-wing slogans to Bible verses gathered near the Capitol calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the arrest of Netanyahu, as prosecutors seek a warrant for him at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“Seek peace and pursue it,” read one sign, quoting the Bible, while others were styled as criminal “wanted” signs, with photos of Netanyahu in place of a mugshot.

At a rally before the march, Palestinian and Jewish organisers stood on a stage and denounced both the US and the Israeli government for “genocide”, calling for a “citizen’s arrest” of Netanyahu.

US lawmakers skip Netanyahu’s speech

Dozens of Democrats skipped Netanyahu’s speech, expressing dismay over the tens of thousands of civilian deaths and the humanitarian crisis from Israel’s campaign, Reuters reported.

Congressional reporter Andrew Solender said that only about half of Democrat members of Congress attended Netanyahu’s speech.

“By my count, roughly 100 of the 212 House Democrats and 27 of 51 Senate Democrats (and Dem-caucusing independents) are in the chamber for Netanyahu’s speech,” Solander said in a social media post.

“That’s around half of each caucus absent.”

Those absent from the session included Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, as well as Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Sara Jacobs. Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, attended the session wearing a keffiyeh and holding a sign that read “war criminal” and “guilty of genocide”.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Tlaib stated that it was “utterly disgraceful” to have Netanyahu address Congress. “He should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court.”

Meanwhile, Sanders dubbed the Israeli prime minister a “liar” and a “war criminal”, adding that Israelis wanted him out of office “so he came to Congress to campaign”.

Ocasio-Cortez maintained that it was “a dark day in US history when an authoritarian with warrant requests from the International Criminal Court is allowed to address a joint session of Congress”.

A statement from Omar detailed that she would not attend the Congress session as it was “utterly immoral and cruel to the millions of lives impacted by his [Netanyahu’s] catastrophic actions to platform him, let alone give him the honour of addressing Congress”.

‘For whom are you clapping?’

The address drew criticism from several Palestinian journalists who risked their lives to deliver news from the Gaza Strip. Hind Khoudary questioned: “For who are you clapping? For what are you clapping”, after Netanyahu received a standing ovation from Congress.

Motaz Azaiza took to X to underscore that “a war criminal is speaking to the Congress and everyone is clapping for him”, whereas Azaiza “who showed the world what the criminal Netanyahu committed” is under investigation.

Bisan Owda asked about the ICC arrest warrants, adding that Netanyahu was “flying across the world as a happy butterfly”.

In another Instagram story, she dubbed US President Joe Biden the “genocidal partner and godfather” of Israel after Netanyahu thanked him for his efforts. “How can [you] deny [sending] billions of billions of dollars of weapons,” she questioned.

“Dear free people of the US, how [is] this evil in your what [is] supposed to be [the] house of justice and laws! How he is in your lands free, happy, safe and probably optimistic to have a new weapons deal!”

‘Shameful’

Social media users condemned the standing ovation Netanyahu received, calling it “the most disgusting, pathetic, stomach-wrenching thing”.

British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan highlighted that “Israel is literally bombing aid trucks including World Central Kitchen but Netanyahu [is] blaming [the] lack of aid in Gaza on Hamas. And Congress is applauding him”.

British journalist Owen Jones maintained that Netanyahu’s standing ovation in Congress would “haunt the US for generations”.

“The world has seen the US political elite applaud a mass murderer — a genocidal butcher — and they are not going to forget it, or forgive it.”

Jewish Voice for Peace, an advocacy organisation, stated that Netanyahu’s speech was racist, devoid of fact, and “filled with anti-Palestinian and Islamaphobic diatribes”. They added that he used the narrative of Israeli captives “as fodder for his own political survival and the slander of anti-war Americans”.

The organisation said that Netanyahu and US government leaders, “who are paying and cheering for these historic atrocities” should be held accountable.

‘Darkest days in human history’

Indian journalist Rana Ayyub detailed the crimes Netanyahu was responsible for and said his address before Congress was “one of the darkest days in human history”. Ayyub labelled Congress “enablers”

An X user highlighted that “there have always been cheerleaders for crimes against humanity, and always people who speak out. History remembers both.”

Another netizen stated that Netanyahu’s speech to Congress was “one of the most horrifying things” they had ever seen, adding that it was a “series of lies and an endless stream of genocidal propaganda”. They dubbed all the politicians who stood up and clapped “genocidal freaks”.

“Watching mass murderer war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu speak on the floor of US Congress and be cheered on by our representatives who ignore our needs while funding his genocide is actually the most embarrassed I’ve ever felt as an American,” one X user wrote.

An X user said the applause Netanyahu received from Congress was “worse than Nazi Germany — because the world legitimises this madness”.

Amid the outrage and condemnation, a tweet of hope stood out the most: “There are more people protesting Netanyahu than giving him a standing ovation. I’m holding on to that”.

The bleakness of the situation, of the leaders of the supposed ‘free world’ both literally and metaphorically applauding an individual who has unleashed nothing short of hell of an entire population is slightly offset by those with some humanity and by those protesting for the rights and livelihoods of Palestinians.

There is hope as long as there are people who protest against the celebration of Israeli actions, who resist the normalisation of this violence and who promise “never again”.