The Israeli PM called for the US to fast-track more weapons to his country, as police use pepper spray on protesters outside the Capitol.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered an unapologetic defence of Israel’s war against Hamas in a fiery speech to Congress, inserting himself into a supercharged moment of American politics and brooking no criticism about the mounting death toll in the Gaza Strip.
Urging the US to stand with Israel in its fight, he said protesters demonstrating against his speech were choosing to “stand with evil”. He called for the US to fast-track more weapons to his armed forces and said the war would end if Hamas surrenders and returns all its hostages.
“The hands of the Jewish state will never be shackled,” Netanyahu told the joint meeting. “Israel will always defend itself.”
While Netanyahu praised the current US administration, the speech – his fourth before Congress – amounted to a defiant response to US President Joe Biden’s repeated demand that Israel agree to a ceasefire with Hamas.
It bore echoes of the last time he appeared at the rostrum in 2015, when he lambasted then US President Barack Obama’s bid to seal a deal limiting Iran’s nuclear programme.
