Netanyahu’s Visit to Washington Is Already a Debacle (2024)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington all week, and so far, the trip has been a debacle.

No U.S. official met him at the airport when his plane landed. A meeting with President Joe Biden, which had been loosely scheduled for Tuesday, has been postponed till Thursday or Friday, if then. An address to a joint session of Congress is still on for Wednesday, but Vice President Kamala Harris won’t be presiding, citing an out-of-town commitment. Many lawmakers, from both parties, will boycott the session.

Outside the Capitol, thousands of protesters will gather—some pro-Palestinian, some Israelis who think Netanyahu shouldn’t be going anywhere before striking a cease-fire and getting the hostages released. Thus the visit will highlight hostility toward Israel and strife within Israel—when the original point of the trip was to dampen both.

Having more free time on his hands than he’d anticipated, Netanyahu may meet in the meantime with former (and possibly future) President Donald Trump—which would bolster many Democrats’ suspicions that the whole trip has been a partisan ploy all along.

In short: The whole framework of this trip has slipped wildly out of joint since it was planned two months ago. Someone, in Washington or Jerusalem, should have canceled it.

It was back in May that House Speaker Mike Johnson, working with Israeli officials, cooked up the idea of a Netanyahu address to Congress. The Senate’s ranking Republican, Mitch McConnell, joined in. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had criticized the prime minister, even called for his resignation, but he remained ardently pro-Israel, so he, along with ranking House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, felt obliged to co-sign the invitation rather than be outflanked.

At the time, the war in Gaza was large-font headline news. Tensions were building over whether the Israeli army should expand its offensive to the southern Gazan town of Rafah, where the last remnants of Hamas leaders were believed to be hiding—but also where more than 1 million civilians had fled from the north.

Now, Netanyahu’s speech and, to a large extent, the war have been pushed off the front pages by two weeks of head-spinning domestic news—Trump’s attempted assassination, Biden’s decision not to run for reelection, Harris’ rapid rise as his would-be successor, and the rejiggering of the American political landscape. If Netanyahu came to exert leverage in Washington, it’s no longer clear where, how, or with whom he needs to do the exerting.

Nor does he come to the States with as strong a hand as he thought he might have by now. The war is far from over. Biden’s top officials claim that they and other powers in the region are nearing a peace deal with Hamas, but even if it’s true (unlike the previous umpteen times they’ve said so), Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners back in Jerusalem are warning him not to take any dramatic steps in that direction.

The prime minister’s trip comes amid great danger. Storm clouds are rumbling from the north (Hezbollah in Lebanon), east (Palestinian militancy intensifying in the West Bank), and the south (where a Houthi-fired drone broke through defenses to damage Tel Aviv). Not the greatest time for Netanyahu to leave home for a trip that amounts to a salve to his ego, and an ineffectual one.

Some Republicans are berating Biden and Harris for dissing America’s top Middle Eastern ally, even going so far as to accuse Harris in particular of fueling antisemitism. (Tell that to her husband and watch them both laugh.) But this is lame criticism.

Yes, nobody from the Biden administration met Netanyahu at the airport, but why should they? This is not a state visit—it was not coordinated with the White House or the State Department. (Even the meeting with Biden was tentative; no time was set, and there was certainly no ceremony.)

Memories are also far from dim. The last time Netanyahu arranged to be invited to address a joint session of Congress was in 2015, when he used the occasion to blast President Barack Obama (and, by association, Vice President Biden) for negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, calling it “a very bad deal” (both impolitic and incorrect, especially since he did so without consulting the White House ahead of time).

He has been a terrible ally to Obama and Biden, criticizing them for alleged acts of betrayal, when in fact they have bountifully supplied Israel with military aid, intelligence assistance, and diplomatic support—more so, especially now, than nearly any other country on the planet.

Officials say Biden does intend to meet with Netanyahu anyway, but he couldn’t do it on Tuesday because Biden remains in quarantine from COVID. Harris also plans to meet with the prime minister, but it would send the wrong message—at a time when some say Biden should not only pull out of the November race but step down from the White House—to have such a pow-wow without the president.

Harris’ absence from Wednesday’s address, to attend a campaign rally, also seems reasonable. Sitting in the dais, next to Speaker Johnson, she would be on camera throughout the speech, which would no doubt contain lines designed to make her seem—in the eyes of some viewers—obsequious to Israel if she applauded and hostile if she did not. (It is worth noting that Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, will also be missing the speech to attend a campaign event.)

Only one thing might save Netanyahu’s speech, at least for his U.S. audience—an announcement of a cease-fire and a hostage-exchange deal. That would be quite the surprise—and an achievement that he could share with Biden, since Biden and his team have laid the groundworks for such a deal in negotiations with Israel, Egypt, and Qatar.

But Netanyahu is aiming his Wednesday talk primarily for his viewers at home. (It’s scheduled for 2 p.m. East Coast time, which is 9 p.m., TV prime time, in Israel.) There, opinion is still divided on the key questions of war and peace. The best thing he might hope for, at this point, is that the visit will not have done him too much damage.