--- title: A Speech That Fell Short and Tied Netanyahu in Knots description: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress showed that he no longer knows what he wants in a deal with Iran. canonical: https://time.com/3730233/benjamin-netanyahu-congress-speech/ author: Karl Vick article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-03T18:44:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:16.727Z article:section: Politics og:title: A Speech That Fell Short and Tied Netanyahu in Knots og:description: After a month of buildup, perhaps a letdown was inevitable. og:url: https://time.com/3730233/benjamin-netanyahu-congress-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e8c426dc2158d0d/698781e7428a9eb3d6cc76a3/netanyahu-congress3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2071 og:image:height: 1165 og:image:alt: Israeli PM Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of US Congress og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Speech That Fell Short and Tied Netanyahu in Knots twitter:description: After a month of buildup, perhaps a letdown was inevitable. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e8c426dc2158d0d/698781e7428a9eb3d6cc76a3/netanyahu-congress3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Speech That Fell Short and Tied Netanyahu in Knots > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Karl Vick](https://time.com/author/karl-vick/)  ## Karl Vick Editor at Large Mar 3, 2015 6:44 PM UTC  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech to a joint meeting of Congress on the floor of the US House of Representatives in the US Capitol in Washington, DC on March 3, 2015. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech to a joint meeting of Congress on the floor of the US House of Representatives in the US Capitol in Washington, DC on March 3, 2015. Michael Reynolds—EPA  by [Karl Vick](https://time.com/author/karl-vick/)  ## Karl Vick Editor at Large Mar 3, 2015 6:44 PM UTC No one sets the table better than Benjamin Netanyahu. With Ehud Barak, his defense minister at the time, the Israeli prime minister pushed the matter of Iran’s nuclear ambitions to the front of the global agenda three years ago by threatening to launch military strikes against Tehran. And he spent the last month or so — while running for re-election back in Israel, no less — stoking the keen, keen anticipation that awaited Tuesday’s joint address to Congress. By the time he took the rostrum in the House at ten minutes after 11, the drumroll was almost deafening; on Fox News a half hour earlier, the camera was trained on the empty hallway outside the Capitol office of Speaker John Boehner, empty of human traffic but every molecule of air charged. So perhaps a letdown was inevitable. Going by the speech itself, though, the problem was more that Netanyahu no longer seems entirely certain what he wants, or at least how to put it. He spoke against the [agreement that appears to be taking shape](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/02/world/middleeast/2015-03-02-iran.html) between Iran and six world powers, led by the United States. But at one point in the speech he seemed to concede that [the agreemen](http://onpoint.wbur.org/2015/03/02/israel-iran-united-states-congress-debate)t would go forward — calling for its final draft to include language that would extend it beyond ten years unless Iran “changes its behavior by the time the agreement expires. If Iran wants to be treated like a normal country, let it _act_ like a normal country,” Netanyahu said. ### 7 Times World Leaders Addressed Congress  Pope Francis, addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress with with Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Sept. 24, 2015, urging legislators to work together to solve problems and avoid polarization Jim Lo Scalzo—EPA  Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, addressed Congress on March 3, 2015, urging a stop to the Iran nuclear talks. His policy positions are often controversial, but he enjoys a privileged position when it comes to visiting the legislature, this was his third visit to Congress. Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images  Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Prime Minister, and King Hussein of Jordan shake hands following a joint address to Congress on July 26, 1994\. In the second of two Arab-Israeli appearances, Jordan's leader appeared with Israel's prime minister to celebrate their peace treaty. The treaty, signed the next month, ended a 46-year state of war. David Rubinger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Nelson Mandela addresses Congress on June 26, 1990\. At the time, he was president of the African National Congress. Apartheid was still law in South Africa and Mandela had only just been released from prison a few months before his appearance before lawmakers. Kevin Larkin—AFP/Getty Images  Benazir Bhutto, prime minister of Pakistan, addresses Congress on June 7, 1989\. She was the first woman elected to lead an Islamic state, and she remains Pakistan's only woman prime minister to date. After serving two non-consecutive terms, she was exiled to Dubai in 1999\. She returned to Pakistan in 2007 to run for the office again, and was assassinated. J.Scott—AP  Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister, addressed Congress on Feb. 20, 1985\. She was the first female head of state to do so who was not a monarch. Bob Daugherty—AP  Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin respond to applause in the chambers of the U.S. House of Representatives during a joint session of Congress on Sept. 18, 1978\. A day earlier, the leaders had signed the historic Camp David accords, which ended 30 years of war and led to a peace treaty between the two nations in 1979. AP  Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, addressed Congress on April 12, 1962\. He was deposed in 1979\. No Iranian leader has addressed a joint session since. Aziz Rashki—AP Nor was it clear whether Netanyahu’s words were backed by the possibility of an Israel military strike, the barely veiled threat that had proved so effective in galvanizing world attention to Iran’s pursuit of the atom. Halfway through[ the speech](http://time.com/3730318/transcript-netanyahu-speech-to-congress/), he essentially took the gun off the table by suggesting the next step would be another round of talks: “Now we’re being told, the only alternative to this deal is war,” Netanyahu said. “That’s not true. The alternative to a bad deal is a much _better_ deal!” Why would that be? It turns out the country that Netanyahu passed almost all of 40 minutes describing as single-mindedly obsessed with achieving nuclear weapons, may, he said, want something else as well: “If Iran threatens to walk away form the deal – and this often happens in a Persian bazaar — call their bluff. Because they need the deal a lot more than you do.” The observation, puzzling only in the context of the speech, may well be correct. Even before plummeting oil prices delivered another staggering blow to the petroleum exporter, Iran’s economy[ was crippled](http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/markaz/posts/2014/03/21-iran-sanctions-russia-crimea-nuclear) by the array of economic sanctions that President Obama rallied world powers to impose on Tehran (operating on the logic that peaceful coercion was better than the military option Israel appeared poised to exercise). The problem is that Israel no longer appears poised to launch air strikes, yet its leader appears trapped in the rhetoric that made the threat of them credible. It’s a binary equation, where Netanyahu reliably offers the negative to whatever the question at hand: warning that sanctions won’t work, then that they[ must be left in place](http://world.time.com/2013/10/01/at-u-n-israels-netanyahu-warns-of-iranian-nuclear-threat/), that an interim agreement must[ be avoided ](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/obama-aide-calls-netanyahu-visit-destructive-to-relations/2015/02/25/1f1d5b0c-bce6-11e4-9dfb-03366e719af8%5Fstory.html)lest it become permanent, then that talks continue beyond the March deadline both sides say they want to honor. **MORE:** [Why Bibi and Barack Can’t Get Along](http://time.com/3729174/netanyahu-obama-iran-speech-fight/) It’s a rhetorical trope that may or may not become a trap, but certainly becomes predictable, which in speeches may be as bad. As the prime minister’s address wore on, the applause in the chamber appeared to drift into the dutiful. Only when he turned to the Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel (the Holocaust survivor Netanyahu[ tried in vain to persuade to run ](http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.596334)for the largely ceremonial office of Israel’s President) did the response reach the [tumult that greeted](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BaMLlnb%5FKI) his March 24, 2011, address, a frankly cocky appearance that cemented Netanyahu’s mastery of The Hill. The Wiesel introduction came amid the customary expression of defiance — “Never again” — and vow that Israel would protect itself, which Netanyahu immediately walked back with the observation that the United States of course could be counted upon to do the same. Left unsaid, as always, amid the talk of an existential threats is the matter of[ Israel’s own nuclear arsenal](http://fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/nuke/), and its refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that is providing so much leverage against signatory Iran. Speeches may be what the man does best; Netanyahu cut his teeth in politics as Israel’s videogenic spokesman in America, where he attended high school and college, and Hebrew-speakers say he is every bit as effective in that language. But having assigned himself the mission of derailing the negotiations he had basically set in place, then warned against, then said must continue, Netanyahu had to thread a needle, and could not help ending up in a bit of a snarl. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3730233/benjamin-netanyahu-congress-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3730233/benjamin-netanyahu-congress-speech/"},"headline":"A Speech That Fell Short and Tied Netanyahu in Knots","datePublished":"2015-03-03T18:44:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:16.727Z","description":"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress showed that he no longer knows what he wants in a deal with Iran.","url":"https://time.com/3730233/benjamin-netanyahu-congress-speech/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","Congress","Iran","Israel","Benjamin Netanyahu"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e8c426dc2158d0d/698781e7428a9eb3d6cc76a3/netanyahu-congress3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Karl Vick","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/karl-vick/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e8c426dc2158d0d/698781e7428a9eb3d6cc76a3/netanyahu-congress3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Israeli PM Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of US Congress","caption":"Israeli PM Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of US Congress","creditText":"Michael Reynolds—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3730233/benjamin-netanyahu-congress-speech/","name":"A Speech That Fell Short and Tied Netanyahu in Knots"}}]}] ```