Thousands protest as Netanyahu addresses US Congress

Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US lawmakers “our enemies are your enemies” in a defining speech to Congress that was intended to build support for the fight in Gaza against Hamas in Gaza and was followed by protests from Palestinians both in and around the Capitol.

“When we fight Iran, we’re fighting the most radical and murderous enemy of the United States of America,” Netanyahu said. Netanyahu stated.

“Our fight is your fight, and our victory will be your victory,” said the president.

The Israeli leader was greeted with a loud reception from the majority of Republican lawmakers as he gave an address to the joint session of Congress the fourth time he has spoken to Congress.

However, Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat and previous Speaker of the US House of Representatives, critiqued this address on X in a blog post on X.

“Benjamin Netanyahu’s presentation in the House Chamber today was by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States,” she stated.

Ms Pelosi was not present at the speech, but instead met with Israelis who were affected by the 7th of Oct. Hamas attack, as per an official statement from her office.

She expressed her hope that the prime minister will spend time working on the “ceasefire deal that will bring the hostages home”.

The growing political divides surrounding the conflict in Gaza were highlighted by the scores of Democratic members of Congress intentionally absent, as well as the tens of thousands of protesters in the streets in front of.

A staging in Capitol Hill decked with banners that included one that declared the Israeli leader to be a “wanted war criminal,” in reference the warrant to be arrested requested from the attorney of the International Criminal Court.

Five people were detained inside the Capitol building after they tried to disrupt Netanyahu’s speech According to police.

Speaking to protesters, Netanyahu declared: “You have officially become Iran’s useful idiots.”

In one of the numerous mentions of Iran The Israeli prime minister declared that the existence of an “axis of terror” threatened the US, Israel and the Arab world, describing the threat as an “clash of barbarism against civilisations”.

The phrase riffed off the concept that Iran calls”the “axis of resistance,” an alliance in all of the Middle East including the Palestinian Hamas, an armed group Hamas and The Lebanese organization Hezbollah along with the Houthis which control parts of Yemen.

He informed Congress it was true that Iranian proxy forces had repelled attacks on American targets and said to the effect that Iran is of the opinion it is necessary “to truly challenge America it must first conquer the Middle East”.

“But in the heart of the Middle East, standing in Iran’s way, is one proud pro-American democracy: my country, the state of Israel.”

In a speech lasting more than an hour, Netanyahu did not respond to criticisms of Israel and described the conflict in Gaza as his country’s struggle to survive, making an appeal for more US military assistance.

He expressed gratitude to the US for giving Israel with “generous military assistance” for many years, and said that in exchange, Israel has given the US with vital intelligence that “saved many lives”.

However, he also called for an approach to “fast-tracking” US military aid in hopes of speeding up the resolution of the conflict in Gaza and prevent the spread of a regional war.

Quoted from British Prime Winston Churchill’s appeal to American citizens American population in World War Two, he declared: “Give us the tools and we’ll finish the job.”

Mr. Netanyahu did not address the humanitarian crises in Gaza in depth, with the exception of to say that Israel supplies sufficient food assistance to supply every person with three thousand calories. If Gaza’s residents weren’t receiving food, he claimed that the reason was that “Hamas steals it”.

The vision he outlined of The Gaza Strip after the war the Palestinian leader requested “a demilitarised and deradicalised” Enclave that is with Israeli security forces.

“Gaza should have a civil administration that is run by Palestinians who aren’t seeking to eliminate Israel. It’s not enough to ask,” he said.

There was no mention of the possibility of a two-state solution, which the president Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris – who is expected to succeed him in the race to be Democratic Party nominee – want.

Dozens of lawmakers keep their distance

Many standing ovations are not enough to conceal the fact that at most 39 lawmakers were not present at the speech.

Nearly all were Democrats including an influential ex-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who claimed it was “inappropriate” for Mr Netanyahu to make a visit.

Ms. Harris was not present as a result of an unplanned conflict.

Throughout the entire speech, Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American to be a member of Congress was seen with an unveiled sign that was ascribed to “guilty of genocide” and “war criminal”.

Believing of the possibility that Donald Trump could return to the White House, Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his gratitude to Trump for transferring the American Embassy to Jerusalem and also for recognizing Israeli authority over Golan Heights, which is now occupied by Israel. Golan Heights, which is a territory Israel has taken from Syria in 1967.

Two men are scheduled to be meeting in Florida later in the week.

In Israel families of hostages who are still in Gaza were gathered to denounce the speech, which was broadcast silently onto the central zone called Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

After hearing an anthem for the nation, the audience was dispersed while Mr. Netanyahu continued his speech on screen.

The audio was silenced, however, His English speech was displayed along with subtitles that were with subtitles in Hebrew translation.

After the speech, shortly after the speech following the speech, shortly after, the Israeli army announced that they had recovered 2 hostages’ bodies, Maya Goren and Oren Goldin in Gaza.

The latest news highlighted the growing anxiety that hostage families have in the hope of seeing loved ones back in their lives after months of negotiations with Hamas for a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in limbo.

The speech of the prime minister to Congress was delivered nine months into Israel’s war in Gaza which has claimed the lives of nearly 39,000 Gazans in the hands of Hamas’s health department.

The Israeli military began a war to take down Hamas following an unprecedented attack in the southern part of Israel on the 7th of October where around 1200 people were killed, and 251 people were also taken hostage.