FACT CHECK: Netanyahu misleads, lies to US Congress

WASHINGTON

US Congress repeatedly stood in applause Wednesday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed American lawmakers, at times misleading, and at other instances outright lying to, the federal legislature.

Here are four major claims made by the Israeli leader during his address to a joint session of Congress that do not comport with the truth.

Claim: "Despite all the lies you've heard, the war in Gaza has one of the lowest ratios of combatants to non-combatant casualties in the history of urban warfare."

Fact: Gaza's confirmed death toll sits at nearly 40,000, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which has repeatedly publicized lists of the dead, including their Israeli-issued identification numbers, and whose data from past conflicts the UN has attested as reliable. The majority of the dead -- tens of thousands -- have been women and children, and not every man killed has been a combatant. Israel has largely shrugged off civilian casualties, blaming Hamas as the number has risen dramatically over the past nine months. The true death toll is likely far higher than the official numbers from the ministry, a fact even the Biden administration has acknowledged. Many of the dead likely remain buried under Gaza's sprawling rubble fields, or were summarily buried at makeshift sites by Israeli forces.

Claim: "I suggest you listen to Col. John Spencer. John Spencer is head of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point. He’s studied every major urban conflict, I was going to say 'in modern history,' he corrected me, 'no, in history.' Israel, he said, has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history, and beyond what international law requires.”

Fact: Spencer is a military analyst who is the chair of the Urban Warfare Studies program at West Point. He is a well-known pro-Israeli partisan whose Gaza analysis stands largely alone within the wider community. Netanyahu's claims, which Spencer endorsed on X (formerly Twitter), are at stark odds with repeated appeals for Israel to do more to mitigate civilian harm, including from the Biden administration which has for months said that more must be done to not only avoid additional deaths, but to improve the humanitarian situation throughout Gaza. The UN has also strongly criticized the conditions at what Israel considers "safe zones." James Elder, a UNICEF spokesperson, said July 16 that "under international law, the place where you evacuate people to must have sufficient resources for survival -- medical facilities, food, and water. That is, these so-called safe zones are safe not just when they are free from bombardment, but when these conditions -- food, water, medicine, protection -- are also met. However, these safe zones are tiny patches of barren land, or street corners, or half-built buildings, with no water, no facilities, no shelters from the cold and the rain. And now, in yet another deadly twist for families in Gaza, those forced into the Al Mawasi 'safe zone' are not only deprived of such lifesaving services, but have been bombed three times in the past 6 weeks!" The comments came after 90 people were killed during a series of strikes on the al-Mawasi safe zone near Rafah.

Claim: "If there are Palestinians in Gaza who aren't getting enough food, it's not because Israel is blocking it, it's because Hamas is stealing it."

Fact: The UN and international relief groups have repeatedly sounded the alarm at Israeli restrictions on the entry of humanitarian assistance, denials on forward movement once the convoys enter Gaza, and Israel's repeated attacks on convoys as they attempt to make badly-needed deliveries. A series of Israeli airstrikes on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy on April 1 killed seven workers, and led to major aid groups pausing their operations. And in June, the World Food Programme imposed a pause on its operations after two warehouses came under rocket attack during an Israeli hostage rescue operation that killed nearly 300 Palestinians. The agency had been carrying out delivery operations from a temporary pier the US built on the Gaza coastline to work around Israel's restrictions. The lack of sufficient deliveries has led to extreme scarcities of food and clean water throughout Gaza. A panel of 10 independent UN rapporteurs said on June 9 that there is "no doubt" famine now exists across all of Gaza. "We declare that Israel’s intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across all of Gaza. We call upon the international community to prioritise the delivery of humanitarian aid by land by any means necessary, end Israel’s siege, and establish a ceasefire," they said.

Claim: Netanyahu claims civilian casualties stemming from Israeli operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah are "practically none."

Fact: The claim is not only far-fetched, it is an outright lie. There have been multiple Israeli strikes in Rafah that have resulted in civilian casualties, including one that set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians in May, killing at least 46 people. Netanyahu himself said that strike was a "traffic mishap." Hundreds of others were treated for injuries they sustained during the attack, including gruesome burns. UN experts were outraged by the strike. Earlier in February, roughly four Israeli airstrikes killed at least 95 civilians. About half of those victims were children. Amnesty International called the attack "unlawful," and said it adds to evidence that "Israeli forces continue to flout international humanitarian law, obliterating entire families with total impunity."

Claim: "The vast majority of Americans have not fallen for this Hamas propaganda, they continue to support Israel,” he said.

Fact: Netanyahu's claim that the "vast majority of Americans" support his war in Gaza is simply not true. Poll after poll has indicated that a significant portion of Americans either disapprove of, or have serious reservations about, Israel's ongoing war against Gaza. Polling firm Gallup's semimonthly survey found that while there has been a moderate decline in disapproval of the war, falling seven points from March to hit 48% in June, there are still sweeping reservations in the American public. Support remains strong amongst Republicans, but Democrats and Independents remain overwhelmingly pessimistic.