Perhaps the greatest lesson to emerge from the saga of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the United States Congress last week is that, by and large, the general public in both the United States and Israel is rational. It is truly fortunate that the majority of both nations have chosen to view the events in Washington, and those of the wider diplomatic standoff between the two nuclear-armed allies and Iran, with a healthy dose of pragmatism. Simply put, Netanyahu sought to heist the reasonable people of Israel and the United States with one of the greatest works of political fraud and fear mongering concocted in recent political history. Thankfully, it is evident that he has failed spectacularly.
Amazingly, the Prime Minister was able to inject misleading, cherry-picked biblical references, exaggerations of reality, misplaced and tragically manipulative Holocaust references, disgusting patronization of Americans and even Iranians, and flat-out mistruths into 40 minutes of passionate rhetoric. Anyone who reads the transcript of Netanyahu’s address, scrolling down slowly, can identify his lies one by one.
He spoke of Iranians as a “talented” people whose “great civilization” was “hijacked” by the Islamic Revolution, ignoring the important role of destructive Cold War-era American foreign policy in bringing Iran to the point of such popular fervor. He spoke of Iran’s supposed attempts to avoid the oversight of the IAEA to protect a secret “break-out” capacity, ignoring the fact that Iran has stood by its commitment to oversight, and that while Iran is a signatory of international treaties on nuclear regulation, Israel has denied the certain existence of its own nuclear technology for years.
He spoke of an emboldened Iran equipped with nuclear weapons and the threat of a regional arms race, ignoring the most basic international relations theory about the deterrent effects of what would be two armed nations, and the lack of incentive that would exist for other regional powers to pursue their own capabilities. He spoke of Iran and the Islamic State “competing for the crown of militant Islam,” ignoring the extraordinary divergence of ideals and interests of those two actors, and the fact that Iran has never condoned such wanton religious extremism.
If such discrepancies were so plentiful in Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, why did he say what he did? His coalition is certainly looking for a boost as elections approach. Ultimately, though, his strategy revolves around the fact that a deal with Iran is damaging to the Israeli right. By fomenting the fears of the Israeli public about the threat Iran poses, and distracting from Israel’s true security risk that stems from the continued state of affairs with the people of Palestine, Netanyahu essentially attempts to build a throne of legitimacy on which to govern. The Iranian threat, he and his allies say, requires a strong hand at the tiller that only he — the tough, hawkish, all-mighty leader of Israel — is equipped to handle.
On a single point in his rhetoric, Netanyahu was closer to the truth. He spoke of America’s special relationship with Israel, and it is indeed a reality that Washington treasures Israel as a productive ally. No matter what their opinions on regional policy, all Americans should desire long-term stability and the means to exist peacefully for Israel. Netanyahu, though, managed to play this relationship for a political purpose rather than acknowledging the certainty with which a deal, and a rapprochement with Iran, is the most intelligent thing Israel and the United States could do towards stability.
Iran’s perceived aggressive moves throughout the region are a classic neorealist play for security — Hezbollah buffers it against threatening radical extremism in Syria and Lebanon, Shiite actors do the same in Iraq, Bahraini activists fight a Saudi proxy monarchy in their country, and Yemeni Houthi militants check Saudi authority on the Arabian peninsula as well. Reaching an agreement with Iran that removes its status as a pariah state and allows it to exist among its surrounding community of nations safely neutralizes the security risk it sees from all sides. There is no indication that a more secure Iran would hesitate to work within the international system, because the regime’s foreign policy is conducted in the name of security. Thus, a deal with Iran makes Israel more secure as well, debunking Netanyahu’s appeal to the security concerns of America’s major ally in the Middle East.
In the wake of the speech, no indication exists of a change in the fact that a large majority of Americans favor dialogue with Iran over the nuclear issue. Similarly, support for cooperation with the Islamic Republic to continue the necessary battle against the Islamic State seems to have survived.
The Israeli people have also shown a refusal to be swayed by Netanyahu’s manipulations. In a recently conducted poll, more than 90 percent of Israelis said the speech failed to change their anticipated vote. There scarcely seems to exist a constituency for which the speech had any notable impact. In Israel, media publications on both sides of the aisle joined forces in condemning Netanyahu’s speech for exactly what it was: a horribly cynical political power play that attempted to embarrass the Obama administration, garner a few more votes for the Likud coalition at the polls and derail a promising initiative for a deal with Iran.
In fact, the Netanyahu speech has become an optimistic tale of the American and Israeli people resisting ignorance. Talks with Iran will hopefully continue unimpeded, ideally culminating in a deal that will make both Iran and Israel safer while improving the strategic stance of the United States in the region.
The people of the United States and Israel have decided to stand tall in the face of a powerful world leader who attempted to blindfold and disorient them; they have proven that they are rational indeed. A final question, then: Can we say the same about Netanyahu? He deluded himself into thinking his political pandering could truly change minds the world over, becoming convinced that his people would fall prey to his desperate attempt to stay in power. The next time Netanyahu labels Iran an irrational actor, perhaps someone should hold up a mirror.
This is gold.