Thread: Trends Journal on America Last: House Republicans Flock to Israel to Meet Netanyahu

Trends Journal on America Last: House Republicans Flock to Israel to Meet with Netanyahu During Recess

https://trendsjournal.com/america-la...during-recess/

Summary:
August 12, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greeted at least 20 Republican House members in Israel last week during a trip that was organized by AIPAC and updated them on the “war” in Gaza and the “mendacious campaign being waged by Hamas against the State of Israel.”

Antiwar.com, citing a report by Punchbowl, reported that there will be another trip to Israel that will include 20 Democrats from the House. The Antiwar report noted that the “strong show of support” comes at a time when Tel Aviv kills about 100 Palestinians a day in Gaza and continues its land steal in the West Bank.

Responsible Statecraft noted that while AIPAC organized these trips, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was part of another trip to the occupied West Bank with Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas; Michael Cloud, R-Texas; Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y.; and Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas.

Annelle Sheline, a research fellow for the Quincy Institute’s Middle East program, told Responsible Statecraft that these trips were a “debacle” because these representatives should have been meeting with their constituents in their home districts. She said the tour “demonstrates the pervasiveness of the Israel lobby’s hold on American politicians.”

Social media users attacked these members.

One posted: “Anyone think it’s weird 20 members of congress were in Israel this week and not one news outlet reported on it?”

Another one wrote: “So to bury the Epstein files they shut down Congress and then all took a trip to Israel to kiss the wall. If you can’t see that America is lsraeI’s bitch by now you’re a fool.”

Johnson, who we’ve reported represents the evangelical Zionists in Congress who Netanyahu relies on for U.S. support, visited the occupied West Bank and became the highest-ranking official from the U.S. to ever cross the so-called Green Line, which is land stolen by Israel after the 1967 War.

Haaretz reported that Johnson called the land the “rightful property” of Jewish people. The paper noted that he was joined by Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, and his daughter Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Arkansas governor.

The Israeli paper noted that Huckabee’s daughter posted on X that she met with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and said she looks forward to increasing “trade and investment.”

She posted Saturday night: “Closed out an incredible final day in Israel by signing a Memorandum of Understanding that deepens the Arkansas-Israel partnership. This is an unbreakable bond—spiritually, diplomatically, and economically.”

She posted an earlier image smiling with Netanyahu that read: “Israel is our nation’s most important ally, and we will always stand together to defeat our common enemies and defend our shared values.”

TRENDPOST: Huckabee’s daughter is correct when she states that the U.S. government and Israel have shared values. Both governments see Palestinians as human animals unworthy of dignity who need to be tamed by the whip of the Israelis.

Haaretz [Means The Land] noted that Smotrich, one of Israel’s top “settlers,” was photographed, just days after the meeting with Huckabee Sanders, next to graffiti that read: “Death to Arabs.”

(See “ISRAEL’S SMOTRICH: WE WILL KEEP STEALING PALESTINIAN LAND TO MAKE A ‘GREATER ISRAEL’”29 Oct 2024, “STARVE THEM OUT: NETANYAHU ‘OPEN’ TO ETHNICALLY CLEANSING GAZA, BEN GVIR SAYS” 10 Dec 2024 and “BEN GVIR, SMOTRICH SAY THEY WILL DISSOLVE GOVERNMENT IF NETANYAHU AGREES TO CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL” 4 Jun 2024.)

The report said Smotrich is not a “fringe” figure, but one of the engines of Israeli policy.

The paper said the Trump administration “continues to buoy Smotrich and his allies, offering them platforms, photo ops, and policy cover.”

The paper noted that Johnson planted a tree in the West Bank as a sign of peace, but the paper said it, instead, “marks the deepening roots of violence, dispossession, and authoritarianism stretching across both sides of the Green Line.”

TREND FORECAST: Washington will continue its unlimited support for Israel because no matter what party is in charge, Israel wins.

(See “SENATE REJECTS MEASURES TO BLOCK $675 MILLION IN ARMS SALES TO ISRAEL AMID GENOCIDE,” 5 Aug 2025.)

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