Joel Rosenberg tells Jenna Ellis why Netanyahu’s US trip is so important ahead of his historic speech and meetings with Biden, Harris and Trump

ALL ISRAEL NEWS Editor-in-Chief Joel Rosenberg spoke with American Family Radio’s Jenna Ellis in the Morning on Wednesday, ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s historic fourth address to the U.S. Congress. 

Rosenberg addressed the significance of Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, coming days after several other historic moments, including the assassination attempt on Donald Trump last week, the sudden withdrawal of President Joe Biden from the 2024 Election Campaign, and the elevation of Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place. 

After Ellis noted that, with his speech to Congress, Netanyahu will have addressed Congress more than Sir Winston Churchill, who spoke to Congress on three occasions, Rosenberg agreed.

Just as Winston Churchill warned the U.S. about the dangers of Nazi Germany and its Axis partners, so Benjamin Netanyahu has done more than any other world leader to warn the West about the threat of “radical Islamism and apocalyptic Islamism,” Rosenberg said.

He also addressed the dynamics of Netanyahu’s meeting with Biden following the president’s decision to withdraw from the race, and the troubling signs indicated by Harris’ decision to skip Netanyahu’s speech to Congress in favor of a sorority event. 

Finally, Rosenberg spoke about the relatively unrecognized troubles between Netanyahu and former U.S. President Donald Trump, who he will meet on Friday for the first time since Trump left office. 

Read the full transcript below. 

(This interview was recorded before Netanyahu's address to Congress on Wednesday evening.)

JENNA ELLIS: And speaking of Israel, this is one of the biggest things that we can look forward to in terms of God fulfilling His promises because there are still a lot of outstanding promises to the nation of Israel and this, coming today, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit Washington and he will be addressing Congress later today around 2 p.m.

And our good friend Joel Rosenberg wrote a really great piece, and he is in D.C. and has actually been invited to Congress to be present at that speech. And the headline is “Evangelicals: 7 critical things to watch – and pray for – amid Netanyahu's high stakes visit to Washington.” So Joel Rosenberg joins me now. Good morning and I'm really excited for you that you get to attend this speech. As Speaker Johnson yesterday was saying, that now, after this speech, Benjamin Netanyahu will be the foreign leader that has now addressed Congress even more times than Winston Churchill, which is just an incredible historic moment.

JOEL ROSENBERG: That's true. And I think very much, Benjamin Netanyahu sees himself as a 21st century Winston Churchill – warning about the grave threats not only to Israel but to the United States, to the West, to human civilization...that being the threat of not just the Iranian regime, but radical Islamism and apocalyptic Islamism.

Radical Islamism, Jenna, is those who would use their Islamic theology and political theory to use violence to accomplish their objectives. That's Hamas, right? They’re using their violence to try to drive Israel out of the region; or Hezbollah or al Qaeda back in its day; or the Taliban. But the Iranian regime actually practices something called apocalyptic Islamism, which is using violence to annihilate Judeo-Christian civilization. That's what they want. That's why they want nuclear weapons. That's why they want the ballistic missiles to deliver them.

And I don't know anyone on the planet who has been more focused on the threat of apocalyptic Islamism and nuclear Iran than Benjamin Netanyahu. And I worked for him 24 years ago, just for a few months in a junior capacity, but I spent time with him as recently as in December, during this war. And Winston Churchill saw Nazism and Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust years before, and nobody listened to him. That's what's happening with Netanyahu today.

So, Jen, I'm so glad to be on your show. So glad to be in D.C., but also so glad, really honored and humbled that God has given me an opportunity to sit in that chamber and watch this historic speech, because as you just set up with a quote from David Barton, I'll just say, I think the United States is at a critical turning point – a crossroads: Is America going to abandon Israel or stand with Israel?

I mean, we have stood with Israel more than any country on the planet in the modern history of Israel. But you have the next nominee of the Democratic Party – Kamala Harris – she's not even going to come. She's going to go to a sorority event, instead. Like, that tells you a lot about her values and her priorities. And Biden has been pro-Israel on some days and hostile to Israel on other days. That's not going well. Even former President Trump, who's been super pro-Israel, but he has serious problems with Benjamin Netanyahu even saying –, well, I don't want to say it on Christian radio, and I wouldn't anyway – But, you know, basically, “F– Bibi.” Right? So, that was a few years ago. But there's some repair work to be done. So, anyway, complicated but very interesting moment.

ELLIS: It really is. And especially coming at this point in time. And I'm glad to see Speaker Johnson, you know, who is a stalwart Evangelical Christian – understands why America should be standing with Israel – really facilitating this moment and standing very firmly with, not only Benjamin Netanyahu but also the nation of Israel, and he is coming this afternoon ahead of Joe Biden's historic Oval Office address at 8 p.m.

What do you think, or what do we know right now about the content of what Netanyahu's speech will be? And, in any way, has that changed because of Biden's withdrawal from the Democrat nomination.

ROSENBERG: I don't think the content has changed, Jenna. But I think it will give Netanyahu some comfort that his tone can be very magnanimous towards his 40-year friendship with Joe Biden. They have had some serious, serious disagreements in recent years.

Let’s start with the context that Joe Biden, as President of United States, has never, ever invited Prime Minister Netanyahu to the Oval Office – to the White House – in four years. That shows how hostile Biden has been, not to Israel generally but to Netanyahu personally. That's the first thing.

So now, Thursday – tomorrow – Biden is going to have his first-ever White House meeting, being president. Now, they have met in some other contexts, but never as President of the United States in the White House. So that's a big deal.

And Kamala Harris as Vice President, will meet with Netanyahu separately tomorrow, but then she won't come to the speech today. And then Netanyahu will fly to Florida, go to Mar-a-Lago and meet former President Trump and repair that relationship. So that's good.

But in terms of content, I think, Biden and Bibi have been at such loggerheads over so many major issues – Iran, Gaza, Hezbollah, the Houthis – that now Netanyahu is not there to challenge Biden directly – the way Netanyahu did have to challenge Obama and Biden in 2015, right? – when Netanyahu gave his last speech to a joint session of Congress and had to say, ‘This Iran deal is dangerous for America, as well as Israel and the world.’ I was at that speech as well, and that was high drama, because here was the prime minister of a country of a few million people talking, coming into the belly of the beast and challenging the leader of the free world – President Obama at that time. So, Netanyahu doesn't have to think that he's doing that today.

Short version: I think that Netanyahu's content will be first thanking Biden for his service. and that will get huge bipartisan applause. And one of Netanyahu's objectives is bipartisanship, right? He is not here to pick a fight between the two or choose one side or the other. He can't afford that. Israel can't afford that. But, about 50 or so members of the House and Senate are not going to show up. They're going to boycott Netanyahu's speech. So, he's going to be trying to be very bipartisan. He's going to praise things that Biden has done right, but he's going to ask that arms be sent on a regular basis: Resupply. Israel's burning through weapons and missile interceptors at a very high rate.

But I think, in a larger way, aside from thanking Biden and thanking the American people of both parties for standing with Israel, he's going to lay out, I think, a vision for what “the day after” should look like in Gaza and what the U.S. role with Israel and the Arab world could be in building a better, safer Gaza. I think he's going to lay out a vision of a U.S.-Israel-Saudi alliance and peace treaty. And I think we may even hear news that that could happen – that deal between the Saudis and the Americans and the Israelis could happen – before the end of the year, I think. I think Biden has been pushing this for his legacy. Bibi Netanyahu certainly wants it for his legacy, and the Saudis want it, too. So, I think we may hear some news today. I don't know that for certain.

And finally, I think Netanyahu is going to lay out the threat about Iran and that the U.S. can't leave it only to Israel to deal with the nuclear and terror threat from Iran – that we've got to work on this together and we've got to work on it fast.

ELLIS: And we will be looking to ALLISRAEL.com – where Joel Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief there – for your analysis and the breaking news out of that speech, which I'm again, I'm very excited and thrilled for you that you actually get to be in that moment. There's nothing like being there – present, observing and watching history unfold. And you mentioned Joel Rosenberg about Benjamin Netanyahu meeting later at Mar-a-Lago with President Trump. And we'll also meet later after this speech with now presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. How important are those two meetings – even separately from this national public address – those private meetings with the presidential election only about four months away?

ROSENBERG: I've never seen a moment, Jenna, where an Israeli prime minister has a more critical task before him than to repair U.S.-Israel relations. I think most American Evangelicals think U.S.-Israel relations are good. And, you know, at a strategic level, that's true. But again, with President Trump, when he went on the record, not just once but multiple times with very sharp criticism of Netanyahu, right? That was a surprise to us all, because we thought – at least those of us on the outside thought – that there were no two closer political allies on the planet than Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu during the four years of the Trump administration.

Trump was the most pro-Israel president in history. Netanyahu was the prime minister during that whole time. They got huge things done. So what was the problem? But, it turned out there were some serious personal and political problems that they had that none of us knew about until Trump left office. So, I think Trump wants to repair that relationship. I know that Bibi does, for sure, but they have literally not talked – those two men – or met in four years. So, I don't think people realize that, but that's true, so this is a very important meeting in Mar-a-Lago on Friday.

The meeting with Bibi and Biden; it's important but it's not the most important. The most important meeting of all of these is the meeting between Netanyahu and Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris was a non-entity for the last four years, three and a half years. But she now has enormous influence in the Democratic Party and nationally. And if Biden cannot finish the term, she will be the president, whether she's elected or not. So, the fact that she won't even show up for Netanyahu's speech tells us how hostile she is towards Netanyahu and towards Israel.

I think her husband is a little friendlier. He's Jewish, but that doesn't mean he'd be friendly. But in this case, he is. But she's making a major statement, right? So, Netanyahu has to figure out a way to try to engage her and figure out where are there areas that – if she were to become the next president of the United States – that they could work together with someone who's going to boycott his speech? That's never happened in American Israel relations that the sitting U.S. president or vice president wouldn't – vice president is the chair of the Senate, so presides over the Senate – so that's her job to be there and she doesn't want to do it. She wants to go to a sorority function in Indianapolis. So, I think the highest stakes meeting is between Kamala Harris and Bibi Netanyahu. And, boy, I’d love to be in that room covering that, but we'll have to observe and get the leaks when we can.

ELLIS: Didn't get the invite to that one...

ROSENBERG: I didn't get the invite to that one. No.

ELLIS: Only to Congress. Well, maybe that'll be forthcoming later this afternoon. But, thanks so much, Joel Rosenberg. And I agree with you that that is the high stakes meeting, and it's really going to be interesting over the next couple of months. I mean, even – possibly – as early as tonight around 8 p.m. I mean, there's nothing to say that Joe Biden isn't just going to resign office, as well, and put Kamala Harris in a position to run as the current incumbent president, and only give her a couple of months in the Oval Office, but the power of that symbol is just huge. So, the article is “Evangelicals: 7 critical things to watch – and pray for – amid Netanyahu's high stakes visit to Washington.” You can read that on ALLISRAEL.com.