Palestinian Factions Blast Netanyahu, US for Deceptive Congress Speech

By Al Mayadeen English

Multiple Palestinian factions have released statements criticizing the US for hosting Netanyahu in the Congress on Wednesday.

Izzat Al-Risheq, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, blasted Netanyahu's speech before the United States Congress, describing it as "a criminal's speech filled with lies and a mockery of the [peoples'] intelligence."

Another senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, said that Netanyahu's speech addressing the US Congress is evidence that he does not want to conclude a ceasefire deal.

"Netanyahu's speech was full of lies and it will not succeed in covering up for the failure and defeat in the face of the Resistance to cover up for the crimes of the war of genocide his army is committing against the people of Gaza," Abu Zuhri said in an interview.

On his part, a spokesman for the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, responded to Netanyahu by saying that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) "is the sole representative of the Palestinian people and it decides who governs them."

The remarks come as a direct response to a section in Netanyahu's speech which he dedicated to outlining his vision for governance in the Gaza Strip. 

Ali Abu Shahin, a member of the political bureau of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), said in a statement posted by the movement on Telegram that Netanyahu's speech aimed to garner sympathy from Washington after losing international support.

Abu Shahin confirmed that "it is clear that Netanyahu does not want to stop the genocidal war against our people in the Gaza Strip," and that "the day after the war in Gaza is a Palestinian matter and Netanyahu's plans will fail" in the face of the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their Resistance.

The Palestinian al-Mujahideen Movement also released a statement, strongly condemning Netanyahu's reception in the US Congress, stressing that "hosting the war criminal Netanyahu in Congress confirms the involvement and deep entanglement of the American administration in the genocidal war [on Gaza]."

Meanwhile, the movement praised the stances of those who opposed Netanyahu's visit and protested the speech, stating that "the American administration insists on continuing to violate international laws and encourages genocidal criminals by hosting the Nazi killer Netanyahu to deliver a speech full of lies and slanders and continues to supply the entity with weapons and provide it with international [political] cover."

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said that Netanyahu's fabrications and lies constitute a blatant condemnation of all American claims of upholding democracy and human rights, and "the false American peace project dubbed the two-state solution."

The front called on the political leadership of the PA and Arab states normalizing relations with "Israel" to draw lessons from the Netanayhu's address to Congress, which it saw as "reflecting the stark truths about the nature of the Israeli fascist project."

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also lambasted the US Congress and Netanyahu's speech, and commended US lawmakers who boycotted the address. 

"The reception of the war criminal Netanyahu by the US Congress, who is primarily responsible for the Zionist genocide in Gaza, confirms that America is the main sponsor of terrorism and the Zionist genocide in Gaza and that it is directly involved in unprecedented crimes against the Palestinian people," the statement read. 

The front also pointed to Netanayhu's attempts to invoke the Holocaust as justification for the Israeli war crimes in Gaza, saying that it was an "attempt to portray a victim narrative and justify the war crimes committed by the Zionist genocide regime against the Palestinian people."