US politics updates: Israel’s Netanyahu addresses joint session of Congress

That’s a wrap for our live coverage of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fourth speech before the US Congress.

To learn more about the protest movement, check out on on-the-ground coverage of Tuesday’s surprise demonstration in the halls of Congress here.

We also have five key takeaways to help you navigate today’s speech here.

And check out a video about how Netanyahu’s visit underscored Democratic divides here.

Our live page is soon coming to a close. Here is a look back at some of the highlights from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before the US Congress.

• A tense scene unfolded outside the Capitol as Netanyahu geared up to speak, as thousands of protesters came out to denounce Israel’s continuing war in Gaza.
• Police fired tear gas at protesters deemed “violent”. Inside the Capitol, Netanyahu blasted the protesters as “useful idiots” for Israel’s adversary, Iran.
• Netanyahu also used the podium as a bully pulpit to blast efforts at the International Criminal Court to seek an arrest warrant against him for war crimes.
• Faced with calls to end the conflict, Netanyahu stopped short of announcing a deal to free Israeli captives, generating outrage among their relatives.
• Instead, he once again called for “total victory” against the Palestinian group Hamas and mapped a future for Gaza where Israel maintains “overriding security control” to prevent further conflict.
• He also called for an extension of the Abraham Accords, an effort in 2020 and 2021 to normalise relations between Israel and nearby Arab states.

Andrew Solander, a congressional reporter for the US news outlet Axios, has said that only about half of Democratic members of Congress attended Netanyahu’s speech, underscoring party divisions over support for Israel and its destructive war in Gaza.

“By my count, roughly 100 of the 212 House Democrats and 27 of 51 Senate Democrats (and Dem-caucusing independents) are in the chamber for Netanyahu’s speech,” Solander said in a social media post.

“That’s around half of each caucus absent.”

Netanyahu will continue his trip across the US this week, meeting with President Joe Biden tomorrow.

Then, on Friday, the Israeli prime minister will travel to Florida to meet with former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The Israeli leader praised both Biden and Trump in his speech, trying to coax further support from both major US parties in the run-up to the 2024 election in November.

Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuhri has told the US news outlet Reuters that any alliance with Netanyahu, who called for an expansion of the so-called Abraham Accords during his speech, represents a “treason to the blood of the martyrs”.

Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, said in a social media post following Netanyahu’s speech that Palestinians will never be erased.

“I will never back down in speaking truth to power,” she said.

“The apartheid government of Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians. Palestinians will not be erased. Solidarity with all those outside of these walls in the streets protesting and exercising their right to dissent.”

Irene Ippolito, a protester draped in a red keffiyeh, told Al Jazeera outside the US Capitol that the mass atrocities in Gaza are known to the world.

“We need to be out here. We need to say, ‘Not in our name’,” Ippolito told Al Jazeera. “As American citizens, we have to realise that this could not be taking place without our taxpayer dollars sending tonnes of weapons to Israel as it slaughters men, women and children in Gaza.”

She described top US lawmakers as a “bunch of sycophants” for inviting Netanyahu to Congress.

Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuhri has said that Netanyahu’s remarks demonstrate that he is not interested in ending the war, according to the US news outlet Reuters.

“Netanyahu’s speech was full of lies, and it will not succeed in covering up for the failure and defeat in the face of the resistance,” Abu Zuhri said in comments to the news agency.

He added that the address would also not “cover up for the crimes of the war of genocide his army is committing against the people of Gaza”.

In a statement, Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the Palestinian group’s political bureau, slammed the speech by “the criminal” Netanyahu as “a party of lies”.

Alaa Yousef, a 32-year-old Palestinian American, told Al Jazeera that she travelled to Washington, DC, from New York to voice her concerns about Netanyahu’s address to Congress, calling the Israeli prime minister a “war criminal who should stand trial”.

“We just here to cause a disruption, shut it down [and] say, ‘Not in our names, not with our consent,” Yousef said.

She called Netanyahu’s invite to Congress “disgusting”. She also expressed astonishment that congressional leaders chose to bring the prime minister to the Capitol yet again.

“I don’t get how people get to a level where they detach themselves so much from their humanity that they can see what’s been happening in Gaza… and still continue to entertain him and invite him here,” Yousef said.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has bashed Netanyahu’s address in a social media post, saying that the Israeli leader went through his speech without endorsing a deal to bring remaining captives home.

“Disgrace!” Lapid said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Netanyahu praised the families of captives held in Gaza, a group that has expressed frustration the prime minister’s inability to secure their loved ones’ release.

Nevertheless, they figured prominently in Netanyahu’s message to Congress on Wednesday.

Several reporters who cover Israel reported that several relatives of captives were arrested for wearing T-shirts calling for a deal that would bring the remaining captives home.

Critics of Netanyahu have accused him of working to sabotage such an agreement.

Republican House Leader Mike Johnson had previously warned that anyone who attempted to disrupt Netanyahu’s speech could face arrest.

The Israeli leader praised Trump for his support for Israeli priorities during his time as president, such as moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that runs counter to international law.

“Like Americans, Israelis were relieved that President Trump emerged safe and sound from that dastardly attack on him, dastardly attack on American democracy. There is no room for political violence in democracies,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu has said that a regional alliance must be forged to counter the influence of Iran, thanking Biden for his efforts to that effect.

The prime minister described the alliance as an extension of the so-called Abraham Accords, a series of agreements in 2020 and 2021 to normalise relations between Israel and Arab states like Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

“I have a name for this new alliance. I think we should call it the Abraham Alliance,” Netanyahu said.

He also thanked Trump for his efforts promoting the normalisation efforts.

Following remarks about escalating attacks by the Yemen-based Houthi rebels, Netanyahu has thanked politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties for their consistent support.

“As we defend ourselves on all fronts, I know that America has our back. And I thank you for it, all sides of the aisle,” he said.

Netanyahu has turned his attention to Hezbollah, connecting the group to Iran’s influence throughout the region.

He warned that Israel could use military force if diplomacy fails to secure an agreement regarding tensions on the border with Lebanon.

The Israeli leader said that tens of thousands of Israelis who have evacuated their homes near the border with Lebanon have become “refugees in their own land”. Israel, he added, will do “whatever it must do” to restore security along the border.

Netanyahu, quoting a US military analyst, says that Israel has gone “beyond what international law requires” to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.

Numerous rights groups have alleged that Israel is flaunting international law and targeting civilians in Gaza, where it has systematically cut off supplies of food and water, displaced more than 90 percent of the population and wiped out entire neighbourhoods.

Media outlets have reported that Israeli forces in Gaza see large swaths of the Strip as “free fire zones”, and a US doctor who volunteered in Gaza recently accused Israeli snipers of targeting Palestinian children.

Netanyahu says that the majority of people in the US continue to support Israel and have not fallen for “Hamas’s lies”.

“The vast majority of Americans have not fallen for this Hamas propaganda. They continue to support Israel,” he said.

But a recent Gallup poll found that 48 percent of people in the US disapprove of Israel’s actions in Gaza, compared with 42 percent who are supportive.

A May poll by Data for Progress also found that about 70 percent of all voters support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, which Netanyahu has firmly rejected.

Netanyahu has leaned into attacks on student protesters who demonstrated against Israel’s war in Gaza.

He also blasted college administrators who resisted calls to crack down on the protests and mocked LGBTQ activists who support Palestinian rights by comparing them to chickens who support the restaurant Kentucky Fried Chicken.

“The outrageous slanders that paint Israel as racist and genocidal are meant to delegitimise Israel, to demonise the Jewish state, and to demonise Jews everywhere. And no wonder, no wonder we witnessed an appalling rise of anti-Semitism in America and around the world,” he said.

Representative Rashida Tlaib can be seen wearing a keffiyeh and holding aloft a sign that says “war criminal” as Netanyahu speaks.