As the pissing match between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden over the future of the Gaza war picks up steam, a new tributary is flowing that threatens to cement Israel’s status in the US as a partisan political issue.
Less than a week after Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called him an obstacle to peace and urged new elections in Israel, Netanyahu stretched out his middle finger out on Wednesday by delivering a virtual address to an audience who will never call him such things - US Republican senators in Washington.
Schumer’s office confirmed that he had declined a request by Netanyahu to speak at the Senate Democratic Caucus about the war in Gaza, citing that Israel – and such a conversation – should not be a partisan issue in the US.
“I care deeply about Israel and its long-term future,” Schumer told reporters. “When you make the issue partisan, you hurt the cause of helping Israel.”
We’re already in scary partisan territory, but the growing dispute between Washington and Jerusalem could deteriorate further. US House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed on Wednesday that the Senate’s Republican caucus is considering inviting Netanyahu to address Congress.
“It’s one of the things that we have in mind, and we may try to arrange for that,” Johnson told reporters. “I think it’s very important for us to show solidarity and support for Israel right now in their time of great struggle, and we certainly stand for that position and we’ll try to advance that in every way that we can.”
Netanyahu needs to muster self control
Despite being at odds with Biden and Schumer, and with liberal America, over the price that the war against Hamas is having on Gaza - and how a campaign in Rafah might make what’s happened until now appear to be a walk in the park - Netanyahu needs to muster all the self-control he has and go against the grain of his instincts, and politely tell Johnson, ‘I appreciate it, but no thanks.’
Everyone knows how well it went down the last time that invitation was proffered. Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress in 2015 to lobby against the Iran nuclear deal being advanced by then-president Barack Obama was an end-around that wreaked havoc with Israel’s ties with non-Republican Americans.
The Republicans – and their presumptive candidate for president, Donald Trump, are already making hay over the Schumer-Netanyahu tiff.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters that he said to Netanyahu that , “it’s not the business of the United States to be giving a democratic ally advice about when to have an election or what kind of military campaign they may be conducting.”
And Trump being Trump could only drag the matter further into the gutter by saying, “Every Jewish person who votes for the Democrats hates their religion. They hate Israel, and they should be ashamed of themselves.”
The temptation for Netanyahu is to run to his natural alliance with the rightwing conservative cult that pledges allegiance to Trump. After all, with the prime minister standing firm against Biden in his belief that only a campaign into Rafah will eradicate Hamas, it’s clear that the Democrats have less use for him today than the little bit they ever did.
Netanyahu could put up the house and bet on a handy Trump victory, beg his forgiveness for congratulating Biden back in 2020, and suck up to the narcissist leader to get in his good graces once again.
But if he takes that avenue and accepts an invitation, if it comes, to speak before Congress, Netanyahu will in essence surrender Israel’s bipartisan status and align himself and the country with the narrow interests of conservative America.
And if he loses the bet, and Biden wins a second term, all the other bets about where the Israel-US relationship will head are off.