Netanyahu shouldn’t address Congress without bipartisan support

In 2015, I stood right behind Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu — both literally and morally — just before he walked through the doors of the House to address a joint session of Congress. His visit was controversial. Speaker John Boehner had extended the invitation to Netanyahu, bypassing President Barack Obama in a flagrant violation of congressional norms. The aim was not to strengthen the bipartisan alliance between Israel and the U.S. but to drive a wedge through it — to give Netanyahu a bully pulpit to criticize Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.

I believed the speech to be ill-advised and ill-timed. Yet I also believed that the substantive relationship between Washington and Jerusalem had to transcend the petty attempt to politicize the alliance. And so I stood with the official escort committee behind Netanyahu when the sergeant at arms proclaimed, “Mr. Speaker, the prime minister of Israel.”

Now, nine years later, another GOP Speaker has invited Netanyahu for a reprise of that “Made for TV” moment. Only this time, it seems more like “The Twilight Zone.”

Try to follow the plot twists. The prime minister of Israel seems to be rewarding the House Republicans whose political infighting is delaying a critical funding package for Israel. Then Netanyahu doubles down by inviting Speaker Mike Johnson, who’s been unable to pass the funding package, to address the Knesset. Now the Speaker is planning his trip to Jerusalem, even though he might not be the Speaker when he lands, after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) filed a motion to vacate on Friday.

Say what you want about Israel, but its leaders have historically always understood the distinction between supporters and thwarters. Now Netanyahu appears unbothered by the optics of poking the eye of the president who flew to Israel days after Oct. 7 and wrapped his arms around the prime minister’s back. This repeat of Netanyahu’s first speech to Congress nine years ago would have the same damaging results on a much larger scale — polarizing support for Israel at a time when it desperately needs all the help it can get.

There’s a lot at stake. Israel needs funding to end this war and build toward a peaceful future. Gaza’s civilians need humanitarian assistance, as a famine looms in the north and over 1 million people find themselves homeless. Yet Netanyahu leaves too many with the impression that a focused military strategy to oust Hamas in Gaza is impaired by a political strategy to squeeze Democrats in Washington.

Several years ago, an Israeli diplomat close to Netanyahu told me that Netanyahu believes that Jewish State can get along fine without American Jewish Democrats. More important to him, the diplomat suggested, are evangelical Republicans, who are greater in number and won’t saddle Israel with demands for a two-state solution or reduced settlements. Maybe Donald Trump was channeling Netanyahu when he said recently, “Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion.”

This offensive political reductionism is dangerous to Israel. Reducing the ancient and permanent homeland of the Jewish people to a political football to be kicked around the halls of Congress is a reckless abandonment of the bedrock values that have created an enduring, productive alliance between the U.S. and Israel since the state’s founding. Turning the relationship between Washington and Jerusalem into another partisan game is an unforced forfeiture of Israel’s greatest advantage in American politics: consensus. It’s simply a mistake.

A tragic lesson of Oct. 7 is that political distractions — such as polarizing judicial reforms in Israel — allow real enemies to plan, conspire and attack. Great leaders focus on getting the big battles right, not being consumed by skirmishes and egos.

After the 2015 speech, I could not bring myself to vote for the Iran Deal. Even now I remain comfortable with that vote. What makes me and others increasingly uncomfortable is the possibility that Netanyahu will repeat the mistake, dividing and polarizing Americans. Netanyahu’s fight is not with Democrats in Washington. It’s with Hamas, as it continues to wage war and hold 130 hostages captive.

If Netanyahu accepts Speaker Johnson’s invitation to speak to Congress without consent and support from both parties and the president, thus tacitly supporting the party whose congressional dysfunction delays crucial funding, he’ll find fewer Democrats willing to walk with him as he enters the chamber for the second time in 10 years. Perhaps he’ll use that to win an argument that most will forget, but he will lose the unforgettable essence of the U.S.-Israeli relationship: bipartisanship.

Steve Israel represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives over eight terms and was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from 2011 to 2015. Follow him @RepSteveIsrael.