Last Wednesday, the person responsible for the collective punishment and ongoing ethnic cleansing of Gaza stood before both houses of Congress in a blatant act of political theater. Leaders from both parties consumed 32 of Benjamin Netanyahu’s 58 minutes at the lectern by applauding vociferously. What comprised the other 26 minutes of the Israeli Prime Minister’s address? Hasbara. The Hebrew word, with no direct English translation, is the attempt to explain the actions of the state of Israel “whether or not they are justified.” In other words, 26 minutes of propaganda.

Hasbara #1 — Bibi began the pep rally by positioning his war as a battle between civilization and barbarism, “a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life.”

We’ve known for months (thanks to accounts from six Israeli intelligence officers) that the IDF’s use of an AI machine called Lavender enables them to target thousands of low-level or merely Hamas-associated Palestinans in their homes with a policy that permits up to 20 innocents for any strike. For a senior target, up to 100 civilian deaths is allowable collateral. A similar program called “Where’s Daddy?” alerts the Israelis when a target returns to their home and has a known error rate of 10%. Officers who used these mass surveillance tools describe indiscriminate bombing of apartment buildings and an insatiable desire from leadership for more targets that led officers to spend less than 20 seconds verifying a computer-selected target before rubber stamping the bombing of that home, regardless of who was inside. I would also show Netanyahu and his fawning members of congress any of the dozens of self-recorded videos of Israeli soldiers parading through crumbling Palestinian homes, playing with women’s clothes, and lining naked, detained minors up for a photo-op. Does that sound like an army that sanctifies life? Only if Palestinians aren’t considered human. And don’t get me started on the IDF’s “Hannibal Directive,” which also makes you question how much Israeli lives even mean to the state of Israel.

Hasbara #2 — “We will win,” Bibi told his funders Wednesday, and he later doubled down on the goal his military officers, members of his (now dismantled) war cabinet, and international experts have been telling him for over nine months is unachievable: Complete eradication of Hamas.

Hasbara #3 — “Israel has already brought home 135 of these hostages, including seven who were freed in daring rescue operations,” he said to a roaring ovation.

Already? They brought home 116 hostages during a truce eight months ago by using the most effective method –one Netanyahu has refused to use again–negotiation. Since then they have saved a few hostages in a rescue operation using a food delivery truck as cover and in turn killed hundreds of Palestinians. Israel has reportedly killed six hostage themselves, three of whom were (like some Palestinians they’ve targeted) waving white flags. Netanyahu spent so many of his 26 minutes talking about hostages while hostage families were detained at the capitol for demanding he accept the ceasefire deal that he has time and again sabotaged by refusing to accept terms that don’t allow him to continue his war, which is the only thing keeping him in power (and possibly out of prison). Israeli Maoz Inon, whose parents were killed on Oct. 7, told Democracy Now, “[Netanyhu] never called any of the bereaved families of Oct. 7, not him or anyone from his government. They didn’t come to the shiva, the Jewish way of mourning. They didn’t even send us a condolence letter. They didn’t show, just like they didn’t show on Oct. 7 (when Hamas’ attack went unimpeded for over an hour).” The Hostage Families and Missing Families Forum in Israel is frustrated that Netanyahu has delayed the recent ceasefire talks again. “His foot-dragging,” they said, “is a deliberate sabotage of the chance to bring our loved ones back. It effectively undermines the negotiations and indicates a serious moral failure.” And what of those protestors outside? Netanyahu blamed them on Iran, insinuating my Jewish friends aren’t truly disgusted by this war, but rather clocking in for a foreign government. This tactic, of a foreign state influencing Americans via social media, is one Israel was caught doing just last week. This comes as no surprise to those who pay attention.

Hasbara #4 — To hear Netanyahu tell it, Israel is the most conscientious army in the history of modern warfare because they drop leaflets demanding the displacement of millions of Palestinians from their homes before they destroy those homes. He fails to mention that when Palestinians move to zones those leaflets describe as safe, they’re soon bombed in those same areas. This has happened too many times to count, but a horrific example is the May 26 bombing of a camp in Northern Rafah that killed 45 Palestinians, mostly women and children. The attack burned an entire block, setting civilians on fire as they slept. What’s interesting about Wednesday’s performance is this heinous attack is the single instance in the speech of Netanyahu taking responsibility for killing civilians, and he couldn’t even tell the truth about it. He said the attack killed “two dozen,” about half of the actual number (and the New York Times reported on Wednesday that the death tolls from the Gaza ministry of health are largely accurate, for anyone who needs another reminder of that longstanding fact). He places the blame on Hamas for the explosion that ignited the fire, even though he admitted in May that the bombing was IDF’s mistake. Oh, and the 250-pound bomb that created this horrific inferno? It was US-made, Biden-supplied and taxpayer funded.

I’d love to tell you what else I found hypocritical, distorted, and untrue about the prime minister’s speech, but I’m already over my word count. Maybe we can talk about it on Mondays this August at 15 Broadway, Saranac Lake, where I and a group of concerned Adirondackers will again meet to send Kamala Harris letters urging her to (win Michigan and) end U.S. military support for Netanyahu’s sick and unending war in Gaza, 5-7 p.m. We have postcards, addresses, stamps, information, solidarity and something to say. Join us.

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Tyler Barton lives in Saranac Lake.