It’s nice to see a. guest being welcomed, but there are some guests we should be more welcoming towards than others. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, got a huge and rousing reception yesterday when he addressed a joint gathering of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The temptation is to nuance his reception. To say that the Senators and Congressmen and women who clapped his every word, who jumped to their feet and cheered him again and again and again – that these American politicians were remembering a time when Israel was a small, out-numbered state in the Middle East , the Holocaust of the Second World War still a fresh memory.
It would be tempting, but I’m afraid it’s a temptation I resisted as I watched the tumultuous reception of Netanyahu’s every word. The Israeli PM is a good speaker, in that he knows how to pace a speech, where to pause, what to emphasise. He had, you might say, his audience in the palm of his hand.
How did I feel as I watched him? Disgusted. Sick. Outraged. This man Netanyahu is a criminal . And not just a criminal who might have stolen a sum of money or urinated in a public place. This man is responsible for the horrible deaths of literally tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians – men, women and children. This man has been declared a war criminal by the International Criminal Court. That means he should have been arrested by any country he visits which believes in international law.
There was no law on Capitol Hill yesterday. The criminal with blood on his hands was applauded from the moment he entered, cheered and clapped by his audience, given standing ovations like they were going out of style.
And the US sometimes wonders why there are people abroad who hate it? Yesterday it must have added immensely to that number.
I thought watching the evening pictures of the latest assault on Gaza and the grief of those bereaved – I thought that was as low as human beings could go. You could reasonably argue that last night, many American politicians went even lower.
Black is white, lies are truth, genocide is self-protection.
Unfortunately Jude, I feel compelled to agree with every word you said, I am still shocked at the reception this Middle East criminal got in DC.
Trump’s behaviour over the past 10 years has been despicable, and we wondered why so many American’s supported him, but to see Netanyahu getting a rousing welcome from those who ought to know better was unbelievable. I understand why Germany, carrying the burden of guilt for the Holocaust, feel obliged to support Israel, but America?
There’s no one in Germany today under the age of 90 who should bear any guilt whatsoever about the second world war. Germany should not at all feel obliged to support Israel. In fact, the very opposite is true: Of all nations, whenever a genocide is being perpetrated, Germany should be the very first to vociferously condemn it.
Israel has dined out on war guilt since its inception in 1948. It’s way past time that nonsense was put to bed once and for all.
On the money, John…
Every single one of them is bought and paid for….much like the Conservative and Labour friends of Israel groupings.. grifters