Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, one of the most powerful Democrats in the country, on Wednesday condemned a passionate speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the U.S. Congress as “by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States.”
Let’s examine exactly what Ms. Pelosi condemned:
- The Israeli Prime Minister educated the public about the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023:
“It was the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. It began as a perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky. Thousands of young Israelis were celebrating at an outdoor music festival. And suddenly, at 6:29 a.m., as children were still sleeping soundly in their beds in the towns and kibbutzim next to Gaza, suddenly heaven turned into hell. Three thousand Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel. They butchered 1,200 people from 41 countries, including 39 Americans. Proportionately, compared to our population size, that’s like 20 9/11s in one day. And these monsters, they raped women, they beheaded men, they burnt babies alive, they killed parents in front of their children and children in front of their parents. They dragged 255 people, both living and dead, into the dark dungeons of Gaza.”
- The Israeli Prime Minister introduced the world to a rescued Israeli hostage, families of hostages who were killed by Hamas, Israeli soldiers who were crippled fighting for their country, including a Muslim Israeli soldier, and the father of an Israeli soldier killed trying to rescue hostages from Hamas.
- The Israeli Prime Minister praised President Biden (of Pelosi’s own party) for his support for Israel after the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
- The Israeli Prime Minister called out American antisemites who have been standing in solidarity with Hamas and their atrocities and engaging in protests financed by America’s enemy Iran. These antisemites have been attacking Jews and Israel and burning the American flag across the country and even outside the Capitol building during the Prime Minister’s speech.
- The Israeli Prime Minister recited the 4,000-year history of the Jewish people’s link to our ancestral homeland in Israel, exposing the fallacy of the libelous claim that Israeli Jews are “colonialists.”
- The Israeli Prime Minister cited objective and verifiable facts to demonstrate how Israel has done more than any other country in history to minimize civilian casualties in its action in Gaza while Hamas has done more than anyone in history to maximize civilian casualties of their own people.
- The Israeli Prime Minister recited the work Israel has done in partnership with the United States to contain the threat presented by Iran’s Islamist expansionist agenda.
- The Israeli Prime Minister stated that “a new generation of Palestinians must no longer be taught to hate Jews but rather to live in peace with us,” and he expressed his vision of “demilitarization and deradicalization of Gaza [that] can also lead to a future of security, prosperity and peace” with “a civilian administration run by Palestinians who do not seek to destroy Israel.”
- The Israeli Prime Minister expressed his vision of a security alliance across the Middle East to contain the threat presented by Iran.
- The Israeli Prime Minister expressed his appreciation to President Trump for brokering the Abraham Accords in which four Arab countries entered into full diplomatic relations with Israel.
- The Israeli Prime Minister expressed Israel’s continued solidarity with America and his optimism about the future of that alliance.
That is a summary of the entirety of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech that Nancy Pelosi condemned as “by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States.”
So, we must ask, what exactly in this speech did she find objectionable?
Did she object to people learning the details of the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli Jews (and others) on October 7th?
Did she object to the world meeting the actual human beings affected and still being affected by the events of that day?
Did she object to the Israeli Prime Minister expressing his country’s appreciation to American presidents of both parties for their support for Israel?
Did she object to the Israeli Prime Minister’s outrage at the surge in antisemitism in America and across the world?
Did she object to his exposing and disposing of antisemitic tropes commonly spewed by those antisemites?
Did she object to the Israeli Prime Minister using objective and verifiable facts to demonstrate the humane way that Israel has been conducting its actions in Gaza – and the barbaric ways that Hamas has been treating its own people?
Did she object to his discussing the threat posed by Iran and the actions taken in partnership by America and Israel to contain that threat?
Did she object to the Israeli Prime Minister’s vision of peace and prosperity for the people of Gaza?
Did she object to his vision of a security alliance across the Middle East?
Did she object to his expressions of appreciation and support for the partnership between Israel and America?
In condemning this speech by the leader of the world’s only Jewish nation as the “worst” ever delivered by a foreign leader to Congress, Pelosi is condemning the principles that he expressed in support of Israel and America and against antisemites, Hamas, and Iran. Her complete and unequivocal condemnation of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech places her in solidarity with those antisemites, Hamas, and Iran.
