Israel’s “Useful Idiots” are the U.S Congress and the Biden Administration

Colonel (ret) Ann Wright

Netanyahu addressing Israel's useful idiots - The US Congress Photo by AP

Israeli Prime Minister’s invitation to speak at the U.S. Congress as his government conducts a genocide on Palestinians in Gaza and the brutality of illegal settlers toward Palestinian land owners in the West Bank is incredibly outrageous.

The remark by Netanyahu in his address to Congress on July 24 that those who challenge the genocide and protest U.S. complicity in the murder of 39,000 Palestinians in the past nine months and tens of thousands still buried underneath the rubble of destroyed homes and apartment buildings, in schools, hospitals and tents are “useful idiots” of Iran was particularly ironic.

Who are the “Useful Idiots?”  Not the Protesters, but the U.S. Congress and the Biden Administration

The “useful idiots” are not those who protest the murder of innocent civilians but those who give impunity for Israel to conduct the genocide of Gaza—the U.S. Congress that invited Netanyahu to speak and gave him standing ovations during his talk and the Biden administration that continues to send aircraft, missile systems and ammunition to Israel to kill Palestinians.

Netanyahu Lies About Civilian Murders and Starvation to the Israeli “useful idiots” in the U.S. Congress—and gets Standing Ovations.

The U.S. Congressional “useful idiots” had the gall to give Netanyahu standing ovations when he blatantly lied that there have been few civilian deaths from Israeli military actions. Another standing ovation from the Congressional Israeli “useful idiots” when Netanyahu said another monstrous lie that the reason people in Gaza are starving is because Hamas stole the food.  The miles upon miles of trucks filled with food and medicines waiting for Israeli permission to enter Gaza have been seen by the world.  It is only the U.S. Congress that is blind to what our own eyes have seen.

Half of the Democratic Members of Congress did NOT attend Netanyahu’s speech; Rashida Tlaib was the only person in Congress to protest inside the Congress.

Rashida Tlaib holding a "Guilty of Genocide" placard Photo by Tlaib's X post

It is estimated that half of the Democratic members of the U.S. Congress did not attend Netanyahu’s speech, including Vice President Harris and Republican Party nominee for Vice President J.D. Vance, both citing previous speaking engagements. According to Axios, about 100 House Democrats and 28 Senate Democrats were present in the chamber, meaning around half of both caucuses were absent. The 2024 boycott was significantly larger than the 58 Democrats who skipped Netanyahu's 2015 speech to Congress.

Rashida Tlaib was the only member of Congress to stay for the address and protest inside the joint session of Congress.  As the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, wearing a keffiyeh, Tlaib prominently held a sign that read “War Criminal” on one side and “Guilty of Genocide” on the other side. She wrote on X,  “I will never back down in speaking truth to power. The apartheid government of Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians. Palestinians will not be erased. Solidarity with all those outside these walls in the streets protesting and exercising their right to dissent.”

Six family members of hostages who are either currently held by Hamas or died in captivity were arrested in the Congressional galley for disrupting Congress as they wore t-shirts that said “SEAL THE DEAL NOW" t-shirts demanding that Netanyahu agree to a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas.

Two Paint Spray Cans and Match Cause Vice President Kamala Harris to condemn Protesters instead of Genocide of 186,000 Palestinians

Vice President Kamala Harris did not attend Netanyahu’s address to the joint session of the U.S. Congress citing a commitment to speak at her university sorority’s national conference.

But, In a blow to the hopes of many that Harris would comment on the U.S. citizen outrage that resulted in the massive peaceful July 24 rally and protest on the genocide of over 186,000 Palestinians in Gaza, instead the probable presidential nominee of the Democratic Party focused on two paint spray cans used to write mini-phrases of outrage on the statue of Christopher Columbus at Union Station and two matches that caused the burning of an effigy of Netanyahu and an American flag. The graffiti had been removed within two hours.

In a statement on July 25, the same day she and President Biden met with Netanyahu in the White House, without mentioning the largely peaceful rally and march against Netanyahu’s presence in Washington, Harris called the incidents  “despicable acts” and “dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric.”

She added, “I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate the State of Israel and kill Jews. Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent and we must not tolerate it in our nation…I condemn the burning of the American flag. That flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America. It should never be desecrated in that way. I support the right to protest peacefully, but let’s be clear: Anti-semitism, hate and violence of any kind have no place in our nation,” she said.

But, in a press conference following a meeting with Netanyahu, Harris gave an extensive statement on Gaza: I will NOT be silent

Photo from video of the press conference 

However, in her press conference after meeting with Netanyahu on July 25 and without Netanyahu at the press conference, Harris gave the traditional comment that Israel has a right to self-defense, but then made her most extensive statement yet on Gaza, which gives one hope that as President, Harris would distinguish her policies on Gaza from Biden’s:

“I also expressed with the prime minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians.  And I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there, with over 2 million people facing high levels of food insecurity and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity.

What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating — the images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third, or fourth time.  We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies.  We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering.  And I will not be silent.

Thanks to the leadership of our president, Joe Biden, there is a deal on the table for a ceasefire and a hostage deal.  And we must recall what the deal involves.

The first phase of the deal would bring about a full ceasefire, including a withdrawal of the Israeli military from population centers in Gaza.  In the second phase, the Israeli military would withdraw from Gaza entirely, and it would lead to a permanent end to the hostilities.

It is time for this war to end and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity, and self-determination.

There has been hopeful movement in the talks to secure an agreement on this deal.  And as I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done.

So, to everyone who has been calling for a ceasefire and to everyone who yearns for peace, I see you and I hear you.

Let’s get the deal done so we can get a ceasefire to end the war.  Let’s bring the hostages home.  And let’s provide much-needed relief to the Palestinian people.

And ultimately, I remain committed to a path forward that can lead to a two-state solution.  And I know right now it is hard to conceive of that prospect, but a two-state solution is the only path that ensures Israel remains a secure, Jewish, and democratic state and one that ensures Palestinians can finally realize the freedom, security, and prosperity that they rightly deserve.

And I will close with this, then.  The American people need to remember the war in Gaza is not a binary issue.  However, too often the conversation is binary, when the reality is anything but.

So, I ask my fellow Americans to help encourage efforts to acknowledge the complexity, the nuance, and the history of the region.

Let us all condemn terrorism and violence.  Let us all do what we can to prevent the suffering of innocent civilians.  And let us condemn antisemitism, Islamophobia, and hate of any kind.  And let us work to unite our country.”

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About the Author: Ann Wright served 29 years in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel.  She was a U.S. diplomat for 16 years and resigned in 2003 in opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq.  She is the co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.”