Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu casts Gaza action as war on evil

In his fourth address to congress, the veteran PM defends his nation’s war record in Gaza and blasts Iran’s ‘useful idiot’ pro-Palestine protesters.

Benjamin Netanyahu addresses congress on Wednesday. Picture: AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a powerful and eloquent defence his nation’s actions in Gaza before a largely rapt US congress on Wednesday (Thursday AEST), blasting the International Criminal Court, pro-Palestine protesters, and proposing a new NATO-like alliance to combat Iran.

Ahead of planned meetings with Vice-President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential candidate, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Mr Netanyahu cast the nine-month old bloody war, which Gazan authorities say has killed almost 40,000 people, as an existential battle between good and evil.

“In the Middle East, Iran and its axis of terror confront America, Israel and our Arab friends; this is not a clash of civilisations, it’s a clash between barbarism and civilisation,” he said.

“For the forces of civilisation to triumph America and Israel must stand together, because when we stand together something very simple happens, we win, they lose,” he added, in a one- hour address than began at 2pm (4am Thursday AEST).

In a packed congressional chamber that gave several standing ovations and rounds of applause, Mr Netanyahu den-ounced critics of the Gaza campaign as “useful idiots” of Iran who were in effect siding with “evil, rapists and murderers”.

“These protesters stand with them they should be ashamed of themselves,” he said, rattling off statistics to argue Israel was not starving Palestinians, and had produced the lowest ratio of combatants to non-combatants in the history of urban warfare.

Mr Netanyahu arrived in Washington two days earlier to a US polity in convulsions after President Joe Biden announced he would abandon his re-election campaign in favour of his deputy, Ms Harris, and a week after former president Donald Trump was almost killed in an assassination attempt.

Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of congress, makers her views known during Benjamin Netanyahu's address to the joint sitting. Picture: AFP

Dozens of Democrats were absent from the chamber, reflecting a deep rift within the ruling party over support for Israel, including Ms Harris, who pro-Israel forces worry would take a tougher line on the US military and financial support for Israel should she prevail in the November presidential election.

Mr Netanyahu’s widely anticipated speech, his fourth before what he called “the citadel of democracy”, included effusive praise for outgoing president Mr Biden and Mr Trump, whose successive administrations have provided critical financial support to Israel. “I know that America has our back … I thank you for it. All sides of the aisle. Thank you, my friends,” he said.

Pro-Palestinian protesters and police clash at Washington’s Union Station. Picture: AFP

During the address, Representative Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian American in congress, held up a sign labelling Mr Netanyahu a “war criminal” and accusing him of “genocide.”

Meanwhile, the atmosphere was charged outside the Capitol, with more than 5000 pro-Palestinian protesters making their presence felt.

Demonstrators clashed with police, who struggled to contain thousands of protesters.

The scene was marked by fiery displays, including signs branding Mr Netanyahu a war criminal, the burning of effigies, and the defacement of statues with anti-Israel slogans such as “Hamas is coming”.

Former House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, another notable absentee from the speech, later blasted the Israeli leader on social media for allegedly refusing to engage in good-faith ceasefire talks with the terrorist group Hamas, which with fellow militants Palestinian Islamic Jihad, killed nearly 1200 people, mostly civilians, on October 7 last year.

An effigy of Benjamin Netanyahu is torched near the US Capitol. Picture: AFP

“This was by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honoured with the privilege of addressing the congress of the United States,” she said.

Mr Netanyahu, 74, in casting Iran as the ultimate source of instability in the Middle East, proposed an “Abraham Alliance” between Israel, the Middle East and potentially other Arab nations along the lines of NATO, which emerged after World War II to counter the Soviet threat.

“If you remember one thing, one thing from this speech, remember this: Our enemies are your enemies,” Mr Netanyahu said. “Our fight is your fight. And our victory will be your victory.”

Amid growing criticism of how Israel has handled the war, Mr Netanyahu said Israel did not wish to resettle the Gaza Strip, hoping “a new Gaza could emerge” if Hamas were defeated and the currently Hamas-controlled strip “demilitarised and deradicalised”.

Wednesday’s address made Israel’s longest-serving prime minister the first foreign leader to address a joint meeting of congress four times – pulling ahead of Britain’s Winston Churchill.