CNN News
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A group of senior Israeli figures including former national security officials, academics and business leaders have sent a scathing letter to US congressional leaders accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will speak before Congress on Wednesday, of threatening Israeli and American national security.
The letter calls Netanyahu an “existential threat” and portrays him as self-interested in his political survival and to blame for failing to defeat Hamas in the current war in Gaza. The letter also highlights Netanyahu’s ongoing legal troubles, including the fact that he has been charged with bribery and fraud.
Among the more than 30 signatories are five former senior officials from the Mossad intelligence service, including retired director Tamir Pardo, two former Israeli military chiefs and a long list of other former military, security, diplomatic, legal and business officials.
Nobel Prize winner in chemistry Aaron Ciechanover is among them, as are two former presidents of Ben Gurion University, Avishay Braverman and Rivka Carmi. Billionaire entrepreneur Morris Kahn joins former pharmaceutical CEO Jeremy Levin among the business leaders.
“For decades, [Netanyahu] “It has incited Israelis to hostility, damaged our national social order, drastically damaged our defense capabilities, eroded our economy, and destroyed our international reputation,” the letter said.
“Netanyahu is seriously harming US national security interests through his approach to this war, which is having a detrimental impact on American policy in the Middle East and beyond and is further endangering Israel,” he continued.
The letter was sent Tuesday morning to House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Pardo, a former Mossad director, last month asked Congress to rescind the invitation to Netanyahu, calling the invitation a “huge mistake.”
Another signatory, Alon Pinkas, who served as Israel’s consul general in New York in the early 2000s, wrote that Netanyahu was visiting Washington and speaking to Congress to “hurt Biden and turn Israel into a divisive party issue ahead of the November 5 U.S. presidential election.”
A similar letter – also signed by Pardo, Pinkas and others on Tuesday’s letter – was sent in January to Israel’s president and parliament speaker demanding that Netanyahu be removed from office.
Netanyahu’s visit this week is a highly political affair: The Israeli prime minister was invited to speak before Congress by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, while a large group of Democrats threatened to boycott the speech.
“Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal,” independent Sen. Bernie Sanders said in a statement. “He should not be invited to address a joint session of Congress. I certainly will not be attending.”
In March, Schumer, one of Israel’s staunchest allies in Congress and the first Jewish majority leader, called on Netanyahu to resign and hold new elections in Israel.
There were initial questions about whether Netanyahu would get a White House meeting during the trip, as his relationship with President Joe Biden has grown increasingly strained over the war, now entering its tenth month.
The leaders are now expected to meet, but the timing could change due to Biden’s Covid-19 diagnosis.
Details of Netanyahu’s speech remain under wraps and many are waiting to see if it will echo his 2015 speech to Congress, in which he denounced the Obama administration-brokered Iran deal.
The Obama White House was surprised by Netanyahu’s decision to address Congress after receiving another invitation from Republican House Speaker John Boehner. Dozens of Democrats skipped the speech, as did Vice President Biden, who was traveling at the time.
Typically, a vice president, in his role as president of the Senate, will be present and sit at the podium.
However, Vice President Kamala Harris will also miss Netanyahu’s speech Wednesday because of travel, which Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Friday he did not expect to see a repeat of 2015.
“They [Netanyahu’s team] “said he intended to reinforce a set of themes and arguments that are not inconsistent or contradictory to our policies, American policies, but they will continue to run that speech until the very last minute, as we did on our side,” Sullivan said at the Aspen Security Forum.
He added that the White House expects Netanyahu to preview “in fairly specific terms” to Biden “what he wants to say.”
The visit also comes at a critical time in negotiations for a ceasefire and a hostage settlement in Gaza. Senior U.S. officials said Netanyahu had agreed to a framework proposed by Biden in May, but the prime minister’s critics accused him of adding specifics that could derail the deal.
“Netanyahu is obstructing their war strategy [the hostages’] releases, preventing important discussions on National Strategic Objectives for the war, and abandoning kidnap victims in Gaza,” the letter to Congress said.
Netanyahu is well-known to Americans, having first become prime minister in 1996. Only 35% of Americans view him favorably, according to a Gallup poll this month, while his disapproval has risen sharply in the past five years. More Americans disapprove of Israel’s military action in Gaza than approve, according to the same poll.
As Israel becomes an increasingly partisan issue in U.S. politics, the signatories to Tuesday’s letter warned about the impact of Netanyahu’s visit on relations between the two countries.
“We thank you for your continued support and urge you to remain a steadfast ally of Israel,” they concluded, “and encourage Prime Minister Netanyahu to put the safety, security, and future of Israel and the Israel-US strategic relationship above his own political and personal interests.”
