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is provided by... woman: a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymond james financial advisor get to know you, your passions, and the way you bring people together. life well planned. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" through thick and thin -- >> you are watching bbc news. we are continuing to observe prime minister netanyahu's address to a joint session of the u.s. congress. prime min. netanyahu: through thick and thin, in good times and in bad, israel will be your

loyal friend and your steadfast partner. on behalf of the people of israel, i came here today to say thank you, america. thank you for your support and solidarity. thank you for standing with israel in our hour of need. together, together we shall defend our common civilization. together we shall secure a brilliant future for both our nations. may god bless israel, may god bless america, and may god bless the great alliance between israel and america forever.

thank you. christian: 45 minutes, prime minister netanyahu speaking to a joint session of the u.s.

congress, interrupted throughout by raucous applause, particularly from the righthand side of the chamber filled with republicans who had invited them here to speak. it was an impassioned, forceful defense of israel's military campaign in gaza, in an address that lasted much longer than the previous addresses he has made it to congress. he urged with the lawmakers to give him the job faster. he paid tribute to the men and women of the idf, introducing some of those who had been wounded. and almost at the outset of the speech the prime minister made a point of thanking president biden, with whom he has had a deep disagreements over the past 10 months. prime min. netanyahu: our world is in upheaval. in the middle east, iran's axis of terror conference america, israel, and our arab friends.

this is not a clash of civilizations. it's a clash between barbe arism and civilization. it's a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life. president biden and i have known each other for over 40 years. i want to thank him for half a century of friendship to israel and for being, as he says, a proud zionist -- actually come he says a proud irish-american zionist. christian: some families of those still being held in gaza were sitting in the gallery. the prime minister said he was confident the effort to secure the release of the hostages he would receive. and yet for all of the standing ovations he received -- there were many, this was a raucous show of support for the prime

minister -- he would've noticed there were many not there. the vice president traveled to indianapolis for a previously scheduled event. outside the capitol there were tens of thousands coming in protest demanding that america stop supplying weapons. the prime minister said those opposed of israel's war should be ashamed of themselves, accusing them of standing with murderers and rapists, and attacked the icc judges who he said were libelous and dangerous. prime min. netanyahu: these protesters burn american flags even on the fourth of july. and i wish to salute the fraternity brothers of the university of north carolina who protected the american flag, protected the american flag against these anti-israel protesters.

israel has enabled more than 40,000 aid trucks to enter gaza. that is half a million tons of food. and that's more than 3000 calories for every man, woman, and child in gaza. if there are palestinians in gaza who are not getting enough food, it is not because israel is blocking it. it's because hamas is stealing it. christian: let's go to washington and speech are colleague caitríona perry, who was watching that. if there were some questioning what sort of reception he would get those thoughts were put to bed. lots of standing ovations, caitríona, especially from republicans. caitríona: indeed, very loud, raucous reception for the prime minister. lots of standing ovations, but some notable in that the democratic side of the house stayed seated, particularly during the clip you just played

earlier when the prime minister was talking about those protesters and call them idiots and said they didn't know the difference between good and evil. most democrats stayed seated for that part. it looks like a tally of 50 democrats were not in attendance, most of them choosing to boycott -- not all, of course, you mentioned vice president kamala harris. she was addressing a sorority in indianapolis earlier and she made a point in a first sentence of the speech of saying that that engagement had been set months ago, well before this date for prime minister netanyahu's speech had been allocated because she has come under a lot of pressure for not being there. the democratic leader in the senate, chuck schumer, was there, but noticeably when the prime minister came into the chamber, chuck schumer did not offer his hand and shake his hand, as many of the other members did. he just nodded in the direction of the prime minister. christian: caitríona, thank you very much for that.

we will come back to you through the evening to get a reaction from capitol hill. with me in the studio is international editor jeremy bowen. to really pull out the theme from that, it was the common cause he was trying to draw between the united states and israel. and also to present this conflict as something sustained and exacerbated by a foreign power, namely iran. jeremy: yeah, he presented israel not just as america's ally, but i country fighting for america, to protect americans, fighting america's battles for it. he particularly pointed to iran, which he always does, as the source of evil and all that. from his point of view, and he always prides himself on understanding the american political psyche -- actually, it was a pretty masterful performance and that he got all of that applause, he knows where to press the buttons and he did it. of course in doing that he deployed a thoroughly selective

version of the truth, and it's the truth according to -- it's his truth according to mr. netanyahu, not the truth according to israelis who oppose him. it's also not the truth according to members of aid agencies. give you a couple of examples. he said that in rafah in southern gaza there were no casualties among civilians. he didn't say that the u.s., biden forced israel to change its military plans when it was going to attack rafah to allow humanitarian corridor's. he didn't get onto that particular subject. christian: the u.s. state department found in may they had likely violated international standards in protecting civilians. jeremy: i think there is overwhelming evidence that they have. there is a resentment chorus around the world and a course -- of course he selected the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court for particular

condemnation, who he is somebody who wants the icc to issue arrest warrants against mr. netanyahu, and his defense minister. he said if we allow this to happen, democracies will not be able to fight terrorism. that was one of his real targets. he said there was absolutely no evidence that israel was starving gaza. that is not true. the americans have said that. the americans have said that while there is some evidence that hamas have taken shipments of aid, the main problem is israel does not allow enough in. not just the americans have said that, there is an overwhelming course around the world and loads of evidence that the enormous humanitarian catastrophe happening in gaza is being massively exacerbated by israel's actions. christian: let's it is how you distribute the ai--plus it is

how you distribute the aid when you get in. we spoke yesterday to the u.n. team there in gaza who were shot on their way to gaza city. jeremy: you have to be able to move around and coordinate with the various belligerents there to move aid. that is the case in every war zone when you are trying to move aid around. it is very netanyahu, as you would expect. this is the world according to him. it is not the world according to all of the evidence. he takes the evidence where it suits him and he ignores evidence that doesn't fit in with his arguments. christian: just to the end of the speech he talked about the day-after scenario. he doesn't talk about a future palestinian state. he talks more about israel having security, a security umbrella over gaza. what do you think -- how do you think that will affect conversations tomorrow? he goes to the white house and

speaks to joe biden, who is attached to a two state solution. jeremy: joe biden and his secretary of state and many others have said the only solution long-term is a palestinian state, living in peace alongside israel. netanyahu and his supporters say, and they are backed by many israelis, say that is impossible, it is never going to happen, so israel has to take these military actions to make sure that they can live in peace, that gaza isn't a threat. he says it can be governed by palestinians, but they must be ones that don't have ill will towards israel. he said nothing about an administration in gaza being linked with the palestinian administration in the west bank, and certainly no mention of a palestinian state. he's going to see joe biden, he is also going to see donald trump. i felt that he had more praise and that speech for donald trump and what he did when he was president than he does to joe biden.

joe biden's on the way out. christian: the nearest he came to criticism about the delay on one weapons shipment was this line "give me the weapons faster, get me the tools to finish the job." jeremy: by channeling winston churchill's famous phrase from world war ii, he was taking a edi at the -- he has taken a dig at the biden administration who has pretty much given israel all they wanted. they would not be able to fight the with a half without not just american military supplies, but also because of the actions of the american fleet in protecting them from weapons coming from yemen. but he's taking a dig at biden for holding up a consignment of 2000-pound bombs. the accusation is that israel uses these very heavy bombs in built-up areas to go over specific targets and they don't just kill the target, they kill everybody around the area. christian: obviously he will be hoping when the headlines are

written from the speech tomorrow that this will reinstate his position as the national statesman. where do you think this leaves him on the world stage? jeremy: don't think there were many surprises in the speech. it's the kind of speech you would expect him to say, and i think of the world stage what you actually will see is that those people who think -- you respect him as a strong man, israel's mr. security, a reputation that was left in tatters after october 7 because many israelis blame him for what happened, they would say yeah, that's absolutely true. those people who criticize him will be pretty appalled by the tone of the speech. we haven't mentioned so far in this -- i think is worth saying that there was this letter published earlier in the week by senior israeli retired intelligence and security officials who wrote to congressional leaders on monday, including a former head of the mossad, former generals, former chief of staff, these are people

who are political opponents of netanyahu, got to make that clear -- they said netanyahu is an existential threat to israel, that he built up hamas with billions of dollars to divide and rule so he would not have to reach political settlement the palestinians. that led to the october 7 attacks. the accusation by people like that against netanyahu is that he is trying to prolong the war to put off the day of reckoning when an official israel inquiry will say why did you let them send them packing cases full of cash into gaza, which hamas used in the way they wanted to use and no doubt paid for some of those tunnels? christian: with that in mind, lawmakers aren't stupid, they will have read that letter, they know the divisive nature of netanyahu and the fact that he is sustaining this war for political ends as well, that is the criticism. do you suspected that the reception he was given today was

more about the reception for the alliance between america in this -- america and israel rather than the man standing at the podium? jeremy: chuck schumer, senate majority leader, said netanyahu had to resign and there had to be new elections. he was in there. he didn't go and clap the man on the back but he said he was going to be there because of the alliance between america and israel. one of the representatives, democratic congas been jerry nadler, he said before all of this that netanyahu was the worst leader in jewish history since the maccabean kingdom invited the romans into jerusalem 2000 years ago, and he said the speech was a cynical stunt. i couldn't see him on the video feed, but i've seen reports that he was of applauding as well. so, you know, there is performative action in politics always. this alliance between israel and america is undoubtedly a very,

very strong alliance, no doubt about it. whether leaders have a go at each other or not. christian: jeremy, good to get your thoughts. we will take a short break, but after that bite, we will get reaction from tel aviv. around the world and across the u.k., you are watching bbc news. for our u.k. viewers still with us, quick look at some stories making headlines. a video showing a british olympian repeatedly whipping her horse has now been made public. the dressage star has been permanently suspended by the governing body and she has pulled out, saying she is deeply ashamed of what she called an error of judgment. video has emerged of an arrest at manchester airport where a police officer is seen kicking a man on the ground and apparently stamping on his head the incident happened after reports of an altercation between members of the public in a terminal 2.

greater manchester police reported three officers were violently assaulted. a man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and a number of knives were seized after a soldier was stabbed near army barracks in kent. victim, in his 40's, is in the hospital in serious but stable condition. the attack is not believed to be terrorism-related. you are watching bbc news. let me take you to washington to some of the scenes outside the capitol at the moment. i told you that tens of thousands of protesters turned out, some of them around union station tonight. and those are the scenes outside the capitol where they are burning the israeli flag -- american flag, do that your pardon -- and pictures of netanyahu as well. it looks like they are willing an effort -- wheeling an average

into the foreground, which presumably they will -- wheei ling an effigy into the foreground, which presumably they will burn as well. there were protests outside mr. netanyahu's hotel, a sit-in in the house rotunda. and they are continuing after that speech. there you see the effigy being burned outside the capitol. we will maybe get reaction to that and what is going on outside the building very shortly. let us go to tel aviv, where our political analyst has been waiting patiently to give her thoughts on what we have just heard. nice to see you. who do you think was his audience tonight? >> it's a good question. certainly one of the controversial parts of the speech that i think was towards the very end when he said "on behalf of the israeli people."

the israeli people do not think he is speaking on their behalf if you look at surveys which have been very consistent throughout the entire period of the war. we had a survey showing 70% of people think he is the reason why there hasn't been that she has responsibility for why there hasn't been a hostage deal. two thirds think he should be doing more. and one of the biggest protests in israel over the last week, one of the biggest themes was don't go to washington unless you are going to announce a hostage deal. he is basically speaking to some extent to the american audience, but really as far as we can tell, to his base, the israeli right wing. i have another theory which is a little psychoanalytic -- normally i don't like to do this, but given the incredible rounds of applause, as you pointed out earlier, constantly -- people showing their adulation, i think that maybe netanyahu himself needed that. he has been under so much pressure and on because there is so much criticism of how he has been running this war and of"

pressure. israel -- and of course global pressure. israel's condition has rarely been so bad that maybe himself needed this boost. he himself is the audience. and he probably wanted to show israelis at home not just the words of his speech, but to show that he is so appreciated on one of the world's most important global stages. all of those were aims of his speech before we get to the content. christian: i was reading the comments from the israeli former consul general in new york, who describe the entire visit as a vanity tour designed ultimately, he says, to resuscitate his flagging base at home. is there some truth in that, do you think? dahlia: even though we have not coordinated our message, i generally agree that is part of his aim. of course he has other political aims. you can tell from the speech that he was trying to in some ways assure the american

political community that israel is still somehow a partner, partnership-oriented, amenable to both sides of the aisle, when in fact he netanyahu himself has done so much to make israel a partisan issue, throwing in a lot of the country with republicans. there was some attempt to reach across the aisle, save for that one dig you mentioned about the biden administration slowing down weapons shipments, and maybe a bit of a reassurance message. speaking to his base is the obvious reason. interesting thing is when netanyahu has pulled this kind of effort in the past -- i'm debating how cynical to be about it, because it doesn't look good from the israeli perspective, israelis don't believe him anymore -- but in the past when he went to congress in the middle of an election campaign, he certainly was hoping it would boost his electoral fortunes to be shown in that wonderful position and he was sure it was sure of his base to see him -- shore up his base to seem so

appreciated in congress, and it actually didn't change his pulling numbers at all during the campaign. he continued to lag behind until the very end and the only thing that changed the polls at that time is when he got tough on the palestinian issue and said "i will not allow a palestinian state." he did when those elections, but not because of going to congress. i think netanyahu himself knows this will not be a game changer for him in israel. to that end, it looks a little bit desperate on his part, as if he is just trying anything he can possibly think of to make sure that the spotlight is trained on him, that he grabs the headlines, that he looks like the only statesmen in the country. he is not good at reinventing himself. it didn't work in the past and i don't think it is going to change his position particularly at home, even if he is clearly speaking to his base, and some measure of reassurance to the american political community. but i agree with jeremy, people who already have their opinions about him were pretty much -- will dig into what they got before. christian: the british

government is preparing to announce that it recognizes a palestinian state as a contribution to a renewed peace process. perhaps the most important line of what we got at the end was this idea -- in fact i think they voted against any recognition of a palestinian state before he left -- exactly, in the knesset. he is trying to put paid to that and presumably that'll be he discusses with joe biden tomorrow, the idea that if they do withdraw as part of the cease-fire, there is an israeli security net the remains over gaza. what does that look like? how do the israelis view that? dahlia: i think there are in credible he mixed messages with relation to what happens the day after. the netanyahu government for the most part has been steadfast in not wanting to discuss the day after at all. it's become such a point of contention that even essentially that was practically the issue that broke up his original war

cabinet, because there was no clear political aim for the end of this war, which is tied into the question of what happens in gaza and the day after. that is partly because netanyahu is beholden to his ultra right wing, ultranationalist coalition partners who don't want to hear anything about any sort of -- any option other than israel retaining complete control over gaza. he did make the statement in this speech, "we don't want to resettle gaza," something that his far-right coalition partners will not appreciate. but he is still very reticent -- every day there are new rumors, different policy papers that are being floated, and i don't think we have a clear sense of it. what we do know is what mr. netanyahu didn't say. he talked about demilitarization, deradicalization, these amorphous terms that are essentially leaving the door open to a permanent presence. he will never ever talk about some thing like a palestinian state. it is anathema not only to his far-right coalition partners -- let's face it, netanyahu himself has been dead set against that for years.

he first said it in 2015, nine years ago. he's been against it, his party has been against it come his coalition government has voted against it, actually twice. related vo

amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the "newshour" tonight. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu calls on the u.s. to stand with israel in a speech to