Analysis: Applause heard in White House, around world
The Jerusalem Post ^ | 05/24/2011 | HERB KEINON
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Netanyahu could only dream of such a reception in Israel; Congress' ovation was heard by Obama, the Palestinians, the world at large.
The overall importance of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyanhu's speech to a special joint session of the US Congress on Tuesday was not in the substance he did not break any radical new ground but rather in the overwhelmingly warm ovation he received.
Netanyahu could only dream of such a reception in Israel. Even his wife, Sarah, received a standing ovation when she entered the hall. The prime minister was applauded some 30 times, many of those accompanied by standing ovations.
The nearly four-minute ovation he received when he entered the historic chamber, including a brief period of rhythmic clapping that sounded more like the Mann Auditorium than Congress, was not only heard by Netanyahu, but also by US President Barack Obama, the Palestinians and the world at large.
With all the talk of the country's existential loneliness and Israel's real sense of isolation, when Netanyahu spoke to the most important parliament in the world, it exuded nothing but warmth toward Israel.
Even the prime minister's comment that Jews are not interlopers in Judea and Samaria, not like the Belgians were in The Congo or the British in India, received raucous applause and a standing ovation by most in the hall.
Granted, Congress is not the world, and it is the US president who in the final analysis sets US foreign policy. But Congress is not just some insignificant little body that can be lightly dismissed - not by the president or the world - and it is a body that sets the limits to how far the president can push Israel.
With the resounding applause, on both sides of the aisle, to Netanyahu's comments on a unified Jerusalem, not returning to the 1967 lines, not negotiating with Hamas, and not allowing the descendants of Palestinian refugees enter Israel, Obama - currently tending to US business during a visit to Europe - received a clear signal from Congress that when it comes to Israel, his hands are not free.
