Netanyahu’s Theater of the Grotesque

There is no humanity in politics. Benjamin Netanyahu, a mass killer, was honored yesterday with the “privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States,” as Nancy Pelosi put it. He was there at the behest of the leaders of both parties in both houses—Democrats Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, who joined with their Republican colleagues, Mike Johnson and Mitch McConnell, to issue the invitation. And while a number of prominent Democrats boycotted the speech (including Pelosi), enough members of Congress attended to make the affair—with its endless thwacking and more than 50 standing ovations—a bipartisan one. Joe Biden, Netanyahu’s ignominious arms dealer, and Kamala Harris, the woman who would replace him in that role, both skipped the presentation. But they’re meeting with Netanyahu today, behind closed doors.

That the Israeli prime minister is here now, free to travel and conduct his business, is an abomination. The man is orchestrating a genocide in Palestine; the International Criminal Court is preparing a warrant for his arrest. His triumphant return to the halls of Congress should be a source of abject shame for Democrats and Republicans alike. Instead, it was left to Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only human being in the chamber yesterday, to carry on a solitary protest. She held a small black-and-white sign that proclaimed “Guilty of Genocide” on one side and “War Criminal” on the other.

For observers of the US relationship with Israel, the speech carried few surprises. A showman, Netanyahu spoke for an hour, leaning heavily into the State of the Union–style spectacle. He brought an Israeli soldier, wounded in the course of committing genocide; he brought a young woman, formerly a captive in Gaza—whose extraction manifested as the Nuseirat massacre, in which 274 Palestinians were killed—to show off for propaganda purposes.

Netanyahu, who is not known for his depth, nonetheless, surprised me with the pettiness of his grievances. He took aim at American college students and others who have been protesting against Israel’s genocide, calling them “useful idiots.” He accused them of standing with “murderers and rapists,” and “evil.” He claimed that Iran is funding their efforts. The Democratic Party leaders, Schumer and Jeffries, who have themselves vilified the anti-war students, sat morosely for once, perhaps aware that their fortunes are linked to the voting behavior and energy of many of those young people.

As he took the country’s largest stage, Netanyahu offered praise to the handful of MAGA frat boys at the University of North Carolina who “protected the American flag” during a Palestine demonstration. Chants of “USA, USA” broke out in the chamber in response.

“Our enemy is your enemy,” Netanyahu said, in an effort to polish the rusty chains that tether the people of this country to his own. He described the genocide in Palestine as a “clash between barbarism and civilization; those who glorify death and those who sanctify life,” a rare moment of perfect truth—told accidentally, in an inversion.

Mostly, though, the speech was notable for its lies. Netanyahu lied openly about his army’s ethics and conduct. He lied about starving civilians. He lied about the number of people he has killed. He lied about the antisemitism of American protesters. His only moment of deliberate truth-telling came when he declared his debt to his literal partner in crime, Joe Biden.

I could go on. I could continue to parse Netanyahu’s performance, and to speculate on what he did and did not “achieve” with his speech. But to speak of politics in the midst of a people’s annihilation is nauseating.

What I thought about most during Netanyahu’s harangue was the 2 million Palestinians trapped in the latest Israeli horrorshow.

I thought of the 16,000 children who have been killed by Israeli men and women these last nine months, and of the 4,000 others who are decomposing under the rubble. I thought of those who were crushed to death under masses of concrete, and of those who were trapped there, forced to endure death by starvation. I thought of the survivors, who have reported hearing plaintive cries for help or rescue in the aftermath of an air strike… and then, after several days, nothing at all.