Former Israeli PM asks US Congress to cancel Netanyahu’s invitation

Prominent Israelis, including former prime minister and former Mossad director, pen New York Times op-ed blaming Netanyahu for failure to stop October 7th attacks, urge Congress to withdraw invitation.

By World Israel News Staff

A group of prominent Israeli personalities, including a former prime minister, are publicly calling on the United States Congress to withdraw its invitation to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu is slated to address a special joint session of Congress on July 24th, as the war between Israel and the Hamas terror organization continues, following a formal invitation issued by the two top leaders of both political parties in both the House and the Senate.

On Wednesday, however, The New York Times published an opinion piece penned by six prominent Israelis calling on American lawmakers to nix the invitation.

The authors include former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who defeated Netanyahu in the 1999 general election; former Mossad director Tamir Pardo; Talia Sasson, former director of the special tasks department for the State Attorney’s Office and author of an anti-settler report which shaped state policy in Judea and Samaria for years; president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities David Harel; novelist David Grossman; and Aaron Ciechanover, a Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry.

“Congress has made a terrible mistake,” the six wrote. “Netanyahu’s appearance in Washington will not represent the State of Israel and its citizens, and it will reward his scandalous and destructive conduct toward our country.”

The piece blamed Netanyahu for “the blunders that allowed the Hamas assault” on October 7th, while accusing the Israeli leader of moving forward with an “authoritarian remaking of Israel,” alluding to the Netanyahu government’s now-shelved judicial reform plans and attempts to reinstate the status quo on draft deferments for yeshiva students.

The six also excoriated Netanyahu for continuing the decades-long policy of funding ultra-Orthodox yeshivas – a policy maintained during the Barak government.

Furthermore, the article accused Netanyahu of torpedoing efforts to reach a second hostage deal with Hamas – despite the acknowledgement Tuesday by U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller that Hamas had ” rejected the proposal that was on the table.”

Netanyahu’s appearance before Congress, the authors fretted, will embolden the Israeli premier’s backers “to insist that the war continue.”

“American lawmakers should not let that happen. They should ask Mr. Netanyahu to stay home.”

Benjamin NetanyahuEhud BarakU.S. Congress