The first day of infamy was on Dec. 7, 1941. The Empire of Japan attacked United States military bases at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines and declared war on the U.S. and the British Empire. President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the term for the first time in modern history, saying the following day, in a joint session of the Congress, "Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy..."

It was a great speech, marking the American defeat in a very heroic and epic way for Americans, like all Anglo-Saxon cultures, creating a valiant narrative of defeats as possible as victories. For the Eastern and African cultures, defeats and enslavements like becoming prisoners of war could not be part of national narratives. Consequently, when President Roosevelt made that short speech at Congress, the American people were not embarrassed to the core; they did not sink through the floor; quite contrary, Roosevelt's speech had a long-lasting impact and was referred to as one of the most famous speeches of American politics. Half an hour later, Congress declared war against Japan.

Thirty thousand and 179 days later, in that same chamber, the American people witnessed another speech that will make July 24, 2024, live in infamy. That honorable chamber, which saw many a crook abusing its sanctity and many small-town politicians lying there looking into the eyes of their electors, still remained the symbol of the idea that the U.S. had been built upon. The U.S. was a polity created by a consensus of the people. Yes, to put that polity on, those people had to carve a country out of what the native people considered their lands, using massacres, genocides and other inhuman war crimes, but they did it, and they admitted what they did and tried to compensate their crimes.

Last week, in that chamber of Congress, a war criminal, a probable convict of genocide, besmirched the whole history of the U.S. He is somebody who has no respect for any religion or any ideology but masquerading as a Zionist, fulfilling the dreams of creating a homeland for all the Jewish people, in fact only trying to keep himself as prime minister of Israel so that he won’t go to jail. Netanyahu defiled the people’s rostrum, putting his bloodied hands on it and lying about his intentions in the Gaza Strip. He also lied about killing non-combatants in Gaza. The confirmed death toll in Gaza is around 40,000, and the majority of the dead – tens of thousands – have been women and children, and not every man killed was a combatant. Israel has largely shrugged off civilian casualties, claiming that all the men killed were Hamas fighters. The true death toll is likely to be much higher than the official numbers from the Gazan Ministry of Health, a fact even the Biden administration has acknowledged. Many of the dead are likely to remain buried under rubble or were summarily buried at makeshift sites by Israeli forces.

Netanyahu said that Col. John Spencer, head of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point, attests that Israel has been more precautious to prevent civilian harm than any military in history. This John Spencer is a well-known pro-Israeli partisan and stands alone within the wider community with suggestions that are at stark odds with repeated appeals for Israel to do more to mitigate civilian harm, including from the Biden administration. The whole world has been calling Israel for months to avoid civilian casualties. He shamelessly said that the hunger in Gaza is caused not by Israel’s blocking food but because of Hamas’ stealing it. The U.S. lawmakers in that room shamelessly applauded him even though the U.N. and international relief groups have repeatedly sounded the alarm at Israeli restrictions on the entry of humanitarian assistance. Israel denies forward movement once the convoys enter Gaza and attacks convoys as they attempt to make badly needed deliveries.

Netanyahu blatantly lied when he said a number of civilian casualties stemming from Israeli operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah are "practically none." Even the U.S. media reported 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 the strike was a "traffic mishap." U.N. experts were outraged by the strike. Moreover, earlier in February, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 95 civilians in Rafah; about half of those victims were children. Amnesty International called the attack "unlawful" and said it adds to evidence that "Israeli forces disrespect international humanitarian law."

Another lie that members of Congress and Netanyahu’s personal invitee, Elon Musk, a businessperson and investor and one of the wealthiest people in the world, applauded standing was that the "vast majority of the American people" support the Israeli atrocities in Palestine." They don’t. Polls indicate that a significant portion of Americans either disapprove of or have serious reservations about Israel's war on Gaza. After narrowly backing Israel's military action in Gaza in November, Americans now oppose the campaign by a solid margin. Some 55% currently disapprove of Israel's actions, while 36% approve.

I have news for those deputies and senators who applauded that war criminal to the echo; wait until the schools are opening again; you will hear that cheer echoing at the university yards.

Netanyahu spoke for 59 minutes, and those who refused not to protest against him by not attending the session rose up to their feet 49 times and applauded his slanders and libels while Israeli opposition leaders slammed the speech. Opposition leaders expressed disappointment over the lack of commitment to the prisoner exchange deal with Hamas. Yair Lapid, the leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, called the address "disgraceful." "An hour of talking without uttering the single sentence: 'There will be a kidnapping deal,'" he wrote on Twitter.

Israel, disparaging the U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, faces international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive against Gaza.

Roosevelt’s speech 83 years ago had "innocence violated" as its main theme because Japan had attacked the U.S. forces without provocation. Netanyahu repeated his claim that Israel’s offensive against Gaza is a response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 raid. The U.S. was not occupying any Japanese territory; Israel had been invading and occupying Palestinian lands. The U.S. lawmakers helped a war criminal desecrate a chamber with which they were rightly proud up until last week. Not anymore: That chamber and its rostrum will live in infamy because it lost its innocence when Netanyahu smudged the innocent Palestinians' blood on them.