Netanyahu Turns Congressional Address into Campaign Ad

New Commercial Intersperses Speech With Pictures of Missiles

Israel’s election commission was very clear about not wanting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress to be political in nature. Just weeks before the vote, they made networks in Israel broadcast the DC speech on a five minute tape delay in case the PM did any illegal campaigning mid-speech.

He got through the speech, but fading in most recent polls, Netanyahu is now trying to politicize his visit to the US, making his new campaign ad center around his visit, and the approval he received from the US Congress.

The ad attacks his primary rival, Isaac Herzog, bragging about his own success in getting sanctions imposed on Iran, and claiming credit for the US bankrolling Israel’s missile defense.

That Netanyahu is using the speech as a campaign prop is unsurprising, as the polls are making him more desperate in the home stretch, but does seem to support President Obama’s refusal to meet with him on the grounds that he didn’t want the visit to turn into a campaigning opportunity, and risk skewing the Israeli vote.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.