Now he will return home to gauge what impact, if any, his high-profile shot will have on the country’s many battles with angry voters, rebellious ruling partners and disgruntled military leaders.
Time and polls will be needed to determine the outcome, but local political, foreign policy and security experts see a mixed picture, one that strengthens Netanyahu’s base of support but leaves his overall public image unchanged. The visit also puts pressure on Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire deal at a critical juncture in the talks, something everyone from the hostages’ parents to Biden and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has urged him to do.
Domestic politics
The events in Washington and at Trump’s Palm Beach resort, Mar-a-Lago, accomplished what was likely Netanyahu’s top priority: reminding his core supporters that he can capture the attention of the president and the world.
“He got exactly what he wanted from this visit,” said Anshel Pfeffer, Netanyahu’s biographer and Israeli correspondent for The Economist. “He got the big show, the political spectacle that he thrives on.”
The visit comes as Israel’s position has been battered by months of military operations in the Gaza Strip, where more than 39,000 people have been killed since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children.
Netanyahu himself could face war crimes indictment after the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor announced in May that he was seeking an arrest warrant for him over alleged atrocities in Gaza.
His appearances in Washington and Florida, where massive protests attacked his motorcade, were a powerful counterpoint, and he was welcomed at the White House, an honor that Biden, who has made no secret of his unhappiness with Netanyahu, has denied for more than a year and a half.
The parliamentary speech, which was broadcast in Israel’s prime time slot and drew more than 50 standing ovations, may also stem some of the drain on his base and help combat brewing rebellion within the government and party.
“This marks a return of Netanyahu to his well-known role of speaking for Israel in clear English in authoritative forums,” said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute. “It will be well received by those inclined to support him.”
But Plesner said strengthening his base won’t help Netanyahu’s approval rating, which has plummeted among the electorate as a whole, with about two-thirds of Israelis consistently saying they want him to resign over the missteps that led to the Hamas attacks and his failure to negotiate the hostage release.
“45 minutes of speeches and applause do not erase one sad fact: the words ‘resolve this now!’ did not appear in the prime minister’s speech,” an umbrella group called the Forum of Families of Hostages and Missing People said after the event.
But in Israel’s divided parliamentary system, Netanyahu may be able to retain power by simply regaining his advantage among right-wing voters, who hold a slim four-seat majority in the Knesset.
“He doesn’t need a surge in support to stay in office,” Pfeffer said. “He just needs to move a few different metrics slightly to the right.”
Relations with Washington
An official close to the prime minister’s office, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitivity of the matter, said Netanyahu’s aides were largely pleased with the visit, which has forced him to confront a turbulent presidential election.
Netanyahu and Biden had a civil meeting, at least publicly, in which Biden began to mend long-standing rifts, and Trump warmly welcomed the prime minister and his wife and denied there had ever been any rift between them, contrary to some of his earlier, sometimes vulgar, comments.
But the team was surprised by Harris’ position as the Democratic front-runner, according to an Israeli official familiar with the discussions, and her actions and comments suggested she would be tougher on Netanyahu than her incumbent boss.
“Harris was a surprise,” the official said. “It was tougher than we expected.”
Harris missed Netanyahu’s parliamentary speech due to campaigning. In her public remarks after meeting with the prime minister on Thursday, she repeated Biden’s usual line about supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, but also highlighted her “grave concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the deaths of too many innocent civilians” and the “images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety.”
“We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent,” she said.
The remarks were a warning to Israel that while it was unclear whether Harris’ victory would change relations with the United States, the atmosphere would change.
“The message was pretty much the same, but the music was very different,” said Chuck Freilich, a former vice chairman of Israel’s National Security Council and a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. “She used the meeting to assert her differences.”
Prospects for a ceasefire
Talks on a deal to end the fighting and release the hostages still in Gaza have been a regular feature of Netanyahu’s visits. They are due to resume in Rome next week, with U.S. and Arab mediators saying an agreement is more likely than ever.
The prime minister was begged at every turn to get a deal done, with Israeli protesters travelling abroad chanting “Let’s get a deal done!”, at times standing right next to pro-Palestinian demonstrators chanting “Ceasefire now!”
Biden, along with Noah Al-Ghamani, a hostage who was rescued, and eight other family members of the rescued American hostages, brought them to the White House to plead with Netanyahu, as did Al-Ghamani, who was aboard Jet. Trump also said the time was right.
“It’s clear that everyone is pushing for the hostage deal,” the Israeli official said.
Netanyahu said he believes Israel’s latest military attack has brought Hamas closer to accepting agreeable terms, although there are important differences that need to be resolved.
But his political dilemma remains: His most radical coalition partners have threatened to topple his government if he accepts a ceasefire that would end the fighting in Gaza before “total victory” over Hamas.
Families of the hostages hope Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, and the possibility it will boost his support among right-wing voters, will give him more room to maneuver — or at least more confidence that he can survive new elections.
The prime minister’s trip also helped bring the end of the parliamentary session forward, with lawmakers going into a three-month recess on Monday, putting political maneuvering on hold until near the end of the year.
Whether all these factors combine to ultimately end the fighting will not be known for days, or even weeks, until the process in Rome is completed.
