Background Briefing: July 24, 2024
A Former State Department Official Who Just Quit Over Gaza on Netanyahu’s 4th Address to a Joint Session of Congress
We begin with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s 4th address today to a joint session of Congress and speak with a former State Department official who recently quit over the war in Gaza and President Biden’s apparent inability to influence Israel’s massively destructive response to the brutal Hamas attack on Israeli civilians. Joining us to discuss Biden’s one-sided loyalty to Netanyahu who clearly wants Trump reelected is Annelle Sheline, a Research Fellow at The Quincy Institute For Responsible Statecraft and an expert on religious and political authority in the Middle East and North Africa. She has worked as a journalist in Egypt and Yemen and was recently a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. She served for a year as a foreign affairs officer at the Office of Near Eastern Affairs in the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor until recently resigning over US policy on the war in Gaza, and we discuss her article at Responsible Statecraft, “Bibi’s bullying visits to Congress never end well.”
Demonstrations Against Netanyahu Outside Congress Today and the Boycott of His Speech Inside
Then we speak with Sarah Leah Whitson, the executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) who was formerly the executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division, where she oversaw operations in 19 countries, with staff located in 10 countries. DAWN released a letter yesterday urging Congress to boycott and protest Netanyahu’s speech and we will discuss both today’s boycott inside Congress and the demonstrations outside.
Netanyahu’s Speech Was Aimed at His Domestic Audience Where His Coalition Could Collapse Before the Knesset Adjourns
Then finally we examine how much Netayahu’s address was aimed at his domestic audience in Israel where his frail coalition will collapse if he announces a ceasefire deal before the Knesset adjourns. Joining us is Dr. Guy Ziv, a professor at the Department of Foreign Policy at American University’s School of International Service and Associate Director of the Meltzer Schwartzberg Center for Israel Studies where he teaches courses on U.S.-Israel relations, and Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. He has worked in the U.S. Department of State, on Capitol Hill, and for leading non-profit organizations that promote American involvement in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and is the author of Why Hawks Become Doves: Shimon Peres and Foreign Policy Change in Israel and his latest book is Netanyahu Versus the Generals: The Battle for Israel’s Future.