The outpouring harsh criticism from US society of his “inhumanity” and the Joe Biden administration’s enough-is-enough attitude clearly expressed after his Wednesday our-enemies-are-your-enemies speech at the Congress — in a bid to persuade US lawmakers to continue to support Israel in the Gaza conflict — should spur Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rethink his next step if his largest backer backs down.
In the showman address, the wheeler-dealer Israeli leader has left no stone unturned to whitewash his “war crimes” accusation by the International Criminal Court, attack his demonstrators, including US students, as “useful idiots” of Iran, and hijack the United States with Israel-made chains and shackles of “values”. He even felt no qualms about pushing the US to set up a Middle East “NATO” targeting Iran.
Despite the politically correct standing ovations he has received, which some say turned the Congress into “Netanyahu’s theater of grotesque”, seeing the large number of unoccupied seats in the hall — many lawmakers including Nancy Pelosi boycotted his speech which was also skipped by US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris — the Israeli leader must be aware the great lengths he had gone to in a bid to enable the tail to wag the dog are increasingly becoming a fool’s errand.
That was also proved by his respective meetings with Biden and Harris the following day. Instead of taking the opportunity to pledge stronger support to Israel, both Biden and Harris urged Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas as soon as possible according to a US-backed three-phase proposal that had been accepted as a binding United Nations Security Council resolution months ago.
Also, former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is set to host Netanyahu at his residence during his US visit later this week, posted a letter he received from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas not long ago, adding he is “looking forward” to bringing peace in the Middle East just days before .
That being said, Netanyahu, who has never ceased using the Gaza conflict to avail himself navigate his personal political tsunami at home, is facing a self-made dilemma. But he is in a better position than anyone else to know who should be held accountable for transforming backing Israel’s Gaza actions from a bipartisan support to a bipartisan opposition within several months.
After his US visit, the US people should be more convinced than before, at least in the battlefield of Gaza Strip, Netanyahu’s enemies are not their enemies, his fight is not their fight, and his victory will not be their victory.