Bibi Netanyahu’s Triumphal Return to Washington?

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We’ve promised you that each week we will be lifting up the rocks in D.C. to see what is crawling around underneath and this week we won’t disappoint, as we lift up a very big rock – the dome of the U.S. Capitol - and see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swaggering around underneath.

Yes, the majority and minority leaders of both the House and Senate, meaning both parties, including Mitch McConnel, Chuck Shumer, Mike Johnson and Hakeem Jeffries, formally invited the Israeli PM to deliver a speech to joint chambers of Congress, an invitation typically bestowed as an honor, and usually to make some sort of unifying statement as a body. Ukrainian President Zelensky has made two such addresses in the last year.

It was announced late Thursday that Netanyahu will speak to Congress on July 24.

The invitation has drawn a swift rebuke considering that Israel has been accused in the ICC of genocide for the killing of thousands of Gazans, of withholding food and medicine, and for engaging in systematic attacks on civilian infrastructure like hospitals and places of sanctuary. Just two weeks ago, the Israelis struck civilian tent encampments in southern Gaza and then called it a “tragic mistake” when their missiles set off a fatal inferno. Senator Bernie Sanders, Democrat Rep. Jim McGovern, and supposedly other progressives have vowed to boycott the visit, the second by Netanyahu since 2015. Others like Democrat Rep. Mark Pocan argue that by boycotting, only staunch Bibi supporters will be left filling the seats.

Here with us to talk about the political motivations — and implications — of this and more are two of my favorite reporters, Matt Petti, who writes for Reason, and Connor Echols, who writes for Responsible Statecraft.