Netanyahu vows ‘total victory’ in Gaza and denounces U.S. protesters in his speech to Congress

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged in a scathing speech to Congress on Wednesday to achieve “total victory” against Hamas and denounced American opponents of the war in Gaza as “idiots,” the Associated Press reports. Netanyahu used the high-profile address to a joint meeting of Congress to emphasize longstanding and close ties between the United States and Israel. According to the report, Netanyahu said the U.S. has a shared interest in his country’s fight against Hamas and other Iran-backed armed groups, adding that “America and Israel must stand together.”His remarks did not appear to close the door on a deal but showed no sign he was eager for one.“Israel will fight until we destroy Hamas’s military capabilities and its rule in Gaza and bring all our hostages home,” he said. “That’s what total victory means. And we will settle for nothing less.”According to the AP, dozens of Democratic lawmakers boycotted the address and thousands of protesters gathered outside the Capitol condemning the war and the humanitarian crisis created by it.Some of the protests near the Capitol turned chaotic. Some protesters spray-painted marble statuary and replaced American flags with Palestinian ones. Officers on streets surrounding the Capitol brawled with demonstrators, swinging batons and spraying tear gas, the report adds.In his speech Netanyahu accused American protesters of the war of standing with the militants who killed 1,200 people in Israel in the Oct. 7 attack that started the Israel-Hamas war, which has killed more than 39,000 in Gaza.