WASHINGTON – Republican lawmakers and potential 2024 presidential candidates are rallying behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, days after U.S. President Joe Biden’s rebuke of the Israeli leader marked a new height for U.S.-Israeli tensions.
The various statements represent what has become an axiom in both the GOP and U.S. politics at large during Netanyahu’s career. The prime minister and his allies – notably Israel’s former ambassador in Washington, Ron Dermer – have stressed the importance of evangelical support as U.S. Jews have grown increasingly critical of Israel’s rightward shift.
This dynamic has fueled Israel’s emergence as a partisan issue where Republicans have adopted increasingly pro-Israel sentiments in both foreign and domestic politics.
This development was best embodied when Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress in March 2015, coordinated by Dermer, then-House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The planning and speech itself upended domestic and international protocol, leading 58 Democratic lawmakers to boycott Netanyahu’s address, in support of the Obama administration.
Supporters of Israel have long worried that Netanyahu’s political strategy has expedited the process of Israel, long a beneficiary of bipartisan support, becoming a divisive issue. A recent Gallup poll noted that Democrats are more sympathetic to Palestinians than Israelis. It also found for the first time that Republican totals on the matter are largely static, with 78 percent supporting Israel and 11 percent supporting Palestinians or having no opinion.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is an Israeli patriot, statesman, and most importantly, a great friend of the United States of America. Free societies have vigorous and open debate. Israel is no exception,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said in a statement.
“I support Prime Minister Netanyahu, and America’s support for Israel’s strong, vibrant democracy is unwavering. Now is an important time for Americans to stand together in support of our long, mutually respectful, and important friendship with Israel.”
McCarthy has not responded to questions about whether he is considering inviting Netanyahu to address the House despite Biden’s insistence that the Israeli leader will not be invited to Washington in the near term.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House Republican Conference chair, added: “Biden’s hostile comments toward our ally Israel are shameful. Democracies around the world have robust debates over policy issues, yet Israel is the only target of Biden’s hostility and condemnation. I am always proud to stand with Israel. It’s time for Joe Biden to do the same.”
The House speaker’s statement comes shortly after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis alluded to growing tensions. “At a time of unnecessarily strained relations between Jerusalem and Washington, Florida serves as a bridge between the American and Israeli people,” the Florida governor said in a statement announcing his visit to Israel in April.
DeSantis’ fellow Floridian, Sen. Marco Rubio, used the tensions to attack Biden, warning that “if during these already dangerous days Israel is attacked by Hezbollah, Hamas or Iran it will be because Joe Biden decided to involve himself in Israeli politics.” Rubio added that “when a country has a president that treats its rivals and enemies better than its allies and friends, you are going to have more rivals and enemies.”
He later added: “Biden was right to not interfere in the internal politics of France when despite massive protests Macron changed the pension system. Yet he was quick to interfere in the internal politics of Israel to appease the anti-Israel left.”
Rubio’s attacks on Biden, however, come after the senator expressed concern to Jewish Insider about “the military people refusing to show up to work and stuff,” adding: “I think it encourages Israel’s adversaries to potentially strike against them.”
Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, wrote: “It’s outrageous for Joe Biden to lecture Israel on a matter that is entirely their domestic concern. We would never want the Israeli government to push America on issues surrounding our Supreme Court, and they wouldn’t do it. We should let Israelis decide this themselves.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, amplified conspiracy theories spread by Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son and closest adviser. The younger Netanyahu has said the Biden administration has funded the protest against the judicial overhaul in the hope of triggering his father’s downfall.
In a tweet, the Texas senator described Biden’s rebuke as “Utterly disgraceful. Biden gleefully hosts anti-American radicals like Lula, while shunning close American allies like Netanyahu. It’s clear that Biden and his officials are high from funding what they believe to be successful anti-government protests in Israel.”
“These accusations are completely false,” a State Department spokesperson said about the theories, which first emerged on right-wing U.S. media outlets but were propagated by Netanyahu’s inner circle in briefings to journalists on trips abroad.
“[Israel’s Movement for Quality Government] received a modest grant from the State Department that was initiated during the previous administration,” the spokesperson noted, adding that “the last disbursal of funds came in September of 2022, well before the last Israeli election.”
