Israeli Primer Minister Netanyahu to face US Congress amid Gaza tensions

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00:00And Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will deliver a landmark speech to the US Congress

00:06in Washington on Wednesday.

00:08In doing so, he will become the first foreign leader to address the full American Congress

00:13four times, just passing Winston Churchill.

00:16For more, let's speak to our foreign editor, Ketavan Gordisani.

00:18Hello to you, Ketavan.

00:21Depending on which American politician you speak to, there's a lot of mixed reactions

00:25about Netanyahu's visit, isn't there?

00:27Yes, and that starts pretty much at the White House, because we are expecting Benjamin Netanyahu

00:33to actually meet with Joe Biden, despite the upheaval in the Biden campaign and the fact

00:40that the US President is still recovering from COVID.

00:44And that is very important in the sense that there's been a lot of tension between the

00:48two men.

00:49Probably the most tense relationship between any US President and Israeli Prime Minister.

00:54There's a lot of criticism about Israel's handling of the war in Gaza, frustration about

01:00some of the comments coming out of the Prime Minister of Israel.

01:06But it is important in the sense that Joe Biden is in that way showing his support for

01:12Israel, even though there is tension with the Prime Minister himself.

01:17Then if you look at Congress, of course, among Republicans, there is widespread support for

01:24both Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu, and it is the Republicans who actually invited him

01:30to come and speak to Congress.

01:32When it comes to Democrats, things are much, much different.

01:36Long gone is the idea that support for Israel was a very strong bipartisan issue.

01:43Now there is a really growing group within the Democrats, specifically the more progressives,

01:50the younger democratic lawmakers who are increasingly opposed, not just to Benjamin

01:57Netanyahu, but also who have questions about the US's support, military support towards

02:06Israel.

02:07And there are dozens of Democrats who are expected to boycott the speech in Congress

02:13by Benjamin Netanyahu, and some of them are even planning on staging protests outside

02:18Congress.

02:19So you're really seeing those tensions there within the Democratic Party.

02:23And then there's the question of whether or not Benjamin Netanyahu is going to see or

02:28talk to Donald Trump while he's in the United States.

02:32It's not unheard of to have foreign leaders, when they're traveling in the US ahead of

02:36a big election, to actually go and meet with the opponent of the sitting president to sort

02:43of see who could be in the White House in the next few months.

02:48But so far, no confirmation there.

02:50And there is some tension between the two men.

02:53Donald Trump is, of course, a huge supporter of Israel, but he's still not completely over

02:58the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu in 2020 was very quick to recognize and congratulate Joe

03:04Biden on his victory at the presidential election, and that didn't really sit well with Donald

03:09Trump.

03:10But Benjamin Netanyahu has been working hard to amend those personal relations with the

03:16former US president, looking ahead, of course, to what could happen come November.

03:21Yeah.

03:22And depending on whether it's Joe Biden or Donald Trump in the White House, there is

03:25another looming foreign policy issue, which would be drastically different, depending

03:29on who is the president.

03:30But that's a war in Ukraine.

03:32Absolutely.

03:33And when I was talking about foreign leaders starting to discuss the possibility of having

03:39Donald Trump come back to the White House, Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine,

03:43was one of those.

03:44He had a call with the former US president on Friday, and it was interesting to see how

03:50the two men talked about that call after it happened.

03:53Donald Trump talked about the fact that he was going to do everything and he promised

03:58to end the war.

04:01This is something that Volodymyr Zelensky did not mention at all, this idea of ending

04:06the war, because they definitely don't agree on what is implied in the idea of ending that

04:13war.

04:14And the Donald Trump presidency, if you listen to what Donald Trump has said, would not be

04:19great for Ukraine.

04:20Donald Trump has been very critical of the US's support for Ukraine.

04:26He has also hinted at the fact that Ukraine might have to cede some territory to Russia

04:32in order to end the war.

04:34He said that if he had been president, Putin would never have invaded Ukraine.

04:40But he also, more broadly, you remember those comments about NATO allies who don't contribute

04:46their fair share and how he would tell Volodymyr Putin to do whatever the hell he wants with

04:51those NATO allies.

04:53And to add to that, you have the choice of his vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance, who

04:59is definitely not going to go against Donald Trump on any of these elements.

05:04He was one of the leading Republicans in the opposition to blocking that package of

05:12aid, a billion-dollar package of aid for Ukraine earlier this year.

05:17He has said things like, it's ridiculous that we're focused on that border in Ukraine when

05:24we should be focused on the one at home.

05:26He even said a couple of years ago at the start of the war, I got to be honest with

05:32you, I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.

05:37And even more recently, back in February, he said, I do not think that Putin is an existential

05:42threat to Europe.

05:44So yes, it's Donald Trump who sets foreign policy, but he's definitely not going to find

05:49in J.D. Vance someone who might talk to him and tell him to do things another way.

05:55This is someone with whom he's very much in line with when it comes to how to deal with

06:01Ukraine.

06:02All right.

06:03Ketivan, thank you very much.

06:04Ketivan Gorgastani, our foreign editor.

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