SATIRICAL NETANYAHU SPEECH HITS HARD

This AI-generated satirical take on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 24 July address to the US Congress, where he received 79 rounds of applause, with 58 of those being standing ovations, comes amidst growing criticism regarding escalating casualties in Gaza.

Rashida Tlaib, Michigan's pro-Palestine representative, was one of the few legislators who did not applaud. Instead, she held up a sign referring to Netanyahu as a war criminal.

By the time of his address, the relentless Israeli bombardment had k*lled approximately 39,000 individuals, predominantly women and children. Yet, by early July, the British medical journal The Lancet had estimated that the death toll was likely more than 186,000.

In his speech, Netanyahu took the opportunity to emphasise the unique partnership between the United States and Israel, often referred to in mainstream media as the ‘only democracy in the Middle East.’ Yet, this 'democracy' had displaced 1.9 million Palestinians out of a total population of 2.2 million as of October 2024, according to the UN.

Just two months into Israel’s military onslaught, Human Rights Watch reported in December 2023 that Israel had employed starvation as a tactic of war, blocking humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza and cutting off essential supplies, such as electricity, water, and fuel. These actions violate the Geneva Conventions against collective punishment of civilians during wartime.

While this parody likens Netanyahu to a fictional horror character named ‘Freddy Krueger,’ who revels in the suffering of children, the reality for the children and families in Palestine over the past 15 months has been far more harrowing than any horror film.

It's also worth remembering that Republicans and Democrats stood there, side by side, to applaud Netanyahu, showing that support for the settler-colonial and gen*cidal project of Israel has always been bi-partisan.

Video credit: @cspan / @means_tvSources:https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/11/14/hopeless-starving-and-besieged/israels-forced-displacement-palestinians-gaza

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/15/the-human-toll-of-israels-war-on-gaza-by-the-numbers#:~:text=46%2C707%20Palestinians%20killed,number%20killed%20is%20far%20higher.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext

https://daily.jstor.org/freddy-krueger-folkloric-monster/

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/18/israel-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza