TEHRAN – On Thursday, the world looked on in shock as the U.S. Congress repeatedly stood for applause for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 Palestinians in the past ten months.

As House Speaker Mike Johnson invited “his excellency Benjamin Netanyahu” to take the podium and address the assembly, thousands of protesters gathered outside the domed edifice, displaying effigies of a blood-stained Netanyahu, waving Palestinian flags, and chanting "Free Palestine."

Inside the Congress, however, nobody dared disrupt the foreign leader. Perhaps because Speaker Johnson had warned senators, representatives, and guests in advance that any expressions of dissent would result in arrest. 

That allowed the Prime Minister to speak for an hour about how civilian casualties in Rafah were “practically none”, how “heroic” Israeli soldiers killing women and children in Gaza are, and how the International Criminal Court has no right to punish the regime and its authorities for crimes against humanity. 

Netanyahu then swiped at student protestors setting up encampments on U.S. university campuses to denounce the war in Gaza and demand divestment from Israel. He accused the students of being "useful idiots" for Iran, claiming they were being paid by the Iranian government to orchestrate the protests. 

The Israeli leader’s accusations sparked widespread outrage among American students and professors who saw Netanyahu’s remarks as an egregious attack on their right to free speech and protest, and maybe even intelligence. 

“American people don’t need a foreign government to tell them that Israel is committing war crimes, blocking the two-state solution, and preventing peace. They also don’t need foreign governments to tell them that the U.S. Government is complicit with Israel in these stark and brutal violations of international law,” Jeffrey Sachs, a professor at Columbia University, told the Tehran Times.

“Netanyahu made a typical lie and slur by insinuating that Iran is behind the American protests. Decent Americans, with ethical values against genocide, are the real protestors. They include Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others,” he added. 

Iran, Gaza, and Netanyahu’s wishful thinking

The only aspects of Netanyahu's speech that deviated from outright lies and attempts to portray Israel as the victim were his pronouncements about his plans for a post-war Gaza and his vision for the "broader Middle East."

After vowing “full victory” in Gaza, Netanyahu said that once Israel has defeated Hamas, it would be seizing full control over the enclave to “prevent the resurgence of terror” and to ensure that “Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.”

Analysts and observers are already questioning the feasibility of Netanyahu's plans, pointing out the impracticality of Israel maintaining a large military presence in Gaza.

“This is not a new proposal. Israel has previously attempted to maintain a military presence in Gaza, but eventually had to withdraw forces in 2005 because their vision was not attainable,” explained Ali Samadzadeh, an expert and researcher working on West Asian affairs. “The significant advancements in the capabilities of Resistance forces, coupled with the Israeli military's extreme fatigue after only 10 months of fighting in Gaza, drastically reduce the probability of a successful military re-occupation of the enclave.”

Samadzadeh added that any re-occupation of Gaza would only deepen crises inside the Israeli military and society instead of weakening Resistance factions. “Various reports show that over 15,000 Israeli soldiers have been wounded in Gaza. The regime’s military is so short-staffed that it’s had to draft Haredis. The economic and social woes of Israel would only exasperate as well if it were to re-establish a military presence in the enclave.”

Orthodox Haredi Jews, who Netanyahu relies on to maintain his government, have traditionally been exempt from military service. Israel’s supreme court ordered that Haredis be drafted in June, despite strong opposition from the ruling coalition. The decision came after a substantial number of Israeli reservists who said they had been called up multiple times in the past months protested the exemption of orthodox Jews from serving in the Israeli military. 

In his speech, Netanyahu outlined a second plan that he said would follow the re-occupation of Gaza: the formation of a regional alliance to tackle the “growing Iranian threat.”

“All countries that are at peace with Israel and all those countries who will make peace with Israel should be invited to join this alliance. We saw a glimpse of that potential alliance on April 14th. Led by the United States, more than half a dozen nations worked alongside Israel to help neutralize hundreds of missiles and drones launched by Iran against us,” he said. 

Netanyahu seemed to be speaking of a plan that’s already been discussed by regional forces. According to reports, the Israeli military’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi met with senior generals from several Arab countries in Bahrain, under the auspices of U.S. CENTCOM back in June. Military officials from Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt allegedly participated in the meeting. 

No official statements or announcements have been made about the agenda of the Manama session, but analysts believe Iran was most probably one of the topics brought up by Israel and the United States. 

“The idea of a regional alliance against Iran is not new either. Washington has been considering an 'Arab NATO' with Israeli participation for some time. However, both Israel and the U.S. should remember that Arab countries initially supported this pact because they saw Israel as the region's military powerhouse. Following the events of October 7 and Operation True Promise, their confidence in that notion has undoubtedly waned,” Samadzadeh noted. 

The expert predicted that even if a regional alliance against Iran is formed, Arab countries will demand more concessions and scale back their involvement. "Such an alliance will be unsustainable in the long term.”