Will Netanyahu Get to Address Congress?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering avoiding a stopover in Europe on his way to the US over fears that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is readying to issue an arrest warrant against him over the Israeli army’s crimes in Gaza according to Anadolu.

Netanyahu is to travel to the US and deliver a speech before the US Congress on July 24. He is also expected to possibly meet US President Joe Biden.

But there is much speculation about his coming trip with many on the social media woundering how he will get to Washington amidst the logistics involved in flying non-stop.

On 20 May, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip. Khan also requested warrants for three of the Hamas group’s top leaders including its chief Ismail Haniyeh.

Everyone is waiting for the arrest warrants to become effective and many think they could be any time soon.

Israeli KAN public broadcaster said Netanyahu’s office reviewed the matter of stopping in Europe on his way to Washington as his plane is unable to make a transatlantic flight while carrying a full load of passengers.

His office reviewed the option of a stopover in the Czech Republic or Hungary; these two countries are seen as Israeli friends and called ICC arrest requests “unacceptable.”

KAN, however, noted Netanyahu in the end decided to go for a direct flight to Washington with a limited number of passengers on board.

While the US is not an ICC member, receiving Netanyahu despite an international arrest warrant could expose it to much criticism.

Israel also is not an ICC member, whereas Palestine was accepted as an affiliate in 2015.

Set up in 2002, the ICC is an independent international body not affiliated with the UN or any other international organization, and its decisions are binding.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

Nearly 38,200 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 87,900 others injured, according to local health authorities the Turkish News agency reported.

Nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the ICC, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6 according to the Turkish news agency.

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Americans Are Not Happy With Netanyahu But…

The video of Benjamin Netanyahu, especially made by the Israeli Prime Minister calling on US President Joe Biden to resume the supplies of 2000-pound bombs to Israel has been getting mixed receptions from those on the social media and US politicians.

One sees Netanyahu as “begging” for the re-supply of the destructive MK86 buster bombs, initially and willingly provided by the United States, so that Israel can drop on different parts of Gaza.

Back in May Biden said he would put a “pause” on the supply of these bombs because Netanyahu was in the process of ordering his troops to enter Gaza and to give him these kinds of bombs would literally obliterate the southern city as he did elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.

Another blogger sees Netanyahu as a “genocidal monster” who is accusing Biden of withholding the mass weapons and quoting him in the video as “I say: Give us the tools and we will finish the job a lot faster.”  

Netanyahu is definitely ungracious in his approach, he overlooks the fact that if it wasn’t for the United States the war on Gaza would have long finished. Despite this however, many argue the Israeli army is in a state of “lethargy” because of the high number of deaths among its ranks and the destruction of its military hardware with tank and convoy losses.  

The blogger says Israel has used 70,000 tons of bombs to drop on Gaza in the past eight months. These are more than the combined total of bombs dropped on Dresden, Hamburg and London in World War II. And it is thanks to American air- and sea-supplies of planes bombs and missiles that maintained the slaughter on Gaza going.

Another blogger says Netanyahu is upset because Biden “temporarily” held up one shipment of these massive bombs. “He needs them because there are still some civilians left in Gaza that he hasn’t slaughtered yet.”

The video has appeared to upset many Americans as well. One former US Ambassador to Israel says two things must be done now: Congressional leaders must cancel their invitation to Netanyahu to speak in front of the US Congress; and this invitation must be conditional on an apology he must make to the Biden administration.

Yet another American doctor says “I really don’t know why Biden puts up with Netanyahu at all. He’s a thug who did his best to undermine Obama and is doing the same to Biden. A pity the Israeli lobby is so strong in the US.”

Another blast however comes from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who says “this man should not be addressing Congress. He is a war criminal. And he certainly has no regard for US law, which is explicitly designed to prevent US weapons from facilitating human rights abuses. He is invitation should be revoked. It should’ve never been sent in the first place.

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