Why are Democrats blindly embracing Netanyahu? | Jo-Ann Mort

During a previous US administration, Dermer was the one who worked with the then Republican House speaker, John Boehner, to have his boss address a joint session of Congress, infuriating Barack Obama and his then vice-president, Joe Biden, by going behind their backs. That time it was to try to derail the Obama-initiated Iran nuclear agreement.

This time, Dermer has schemed with the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, to invite Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress before the end of this summer session. Once Johnson accepted this idea, both Chuck Schumer, Senate majority leader, and Hakeem Jeffries, House minority leader, felt obliged to fall in line, even after Schumer gave a well-publicized speech on the Senate floor calling for new elections in Israel. Their agreeing to the Republican ploy was a mistake, but it can be rectified.

Netanyahu is a profoundly weak leader right now. Every Israeli poll since the 7 October attack against Israel and the ensuing war between Israel and Hamas has shown the Netanyahu government losing its governing majority and Netanyahu without majority support for his own leadership. And Israelis poll all the time, usually one or more polls a week.

There are growing calls inside Israel for a ceasefire and an agreement with Hamas that will stop the war and bring home the remaining hostages. No current member of the governing coalition can appear in good faith before an Israeli hostage family. Nor have most of them even reached out to the hostage families. Meanwhile, Biden, the White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and numerous other Biden officials have met multiple times with hostage family members.

Ideally, liberal or progressive members of Congress who do support Israel can find plenty of ways to show their support without being part of a staged show produced by Netanyahu, Dermer and Johnson. Those members of Congress who truly care about Israel, at the very least, must agree that before Netanyahu speaks at Congress, he has to wholeheartedly accepted the Biden-announced proposal for an agreement with Hamas, that was, after all, already endorsed by the Netanyahu government.

Blind embrace of a leader who is profoundly unpopular in his own country and who has repeatedly attacked the current US government and US foreign policy is a cynical use of the congressional stage. It must not be rewarded.