We are disappointed that most of Michigan’s congressional delegation attended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial and insulting speech on Capitol Hill. 

Their decision to stand and applaud for Netanyahu’s lies as he undermines President Obama and pretends to care more about threats to world peace than our own leaders is a testament that most members of Congress care more about politics than principles. 

It is no excuse to claim, as Rep. Debbie Dingell (D- Dearborn) did, that they need to listen to “world leaders.” In our democracy, the sole source of leadership is the people whose votes land politicians in their offices. 

Members of Congress should listen to their constituents first and not to a “leader” whose reputation for distorting truth is known in his own country and across the world. Congress should put America’s interest first, not Netanyahu’s personal agenda and political ambitions.

Besides, if Dingell wanted to hear what Netanyahu had to say, even though she disagreed with the circumstances of his invitation, she should have watched his speech on C-SPAN.

It is true that our community did not mobilize sufficiently against the speech, but the stand of Arab Americans is known and should have been respected. In an editorial published last week, we urged Dingell, Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D- Southfield) and Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D) and Gary Peters (D) to snub Netanyahu’s address. We reminded Peters and Dingell, who represent the capital of Arab America in Washington, that almost all Arab American voters in Dearborn supported them last November.

We don’t know if our lawmakers gave in to political pressure from pro-Israel donors or simply were convinced that insulting a president from their own political party was a good idea. But this was the moment to side with the right side of our concerns about Israel at a minimal political cost; and they squandered it. 

Netanyahu’s theatrical speech, which earned 26 standing ovations, was dull— a mere repetition of an age-old irrational rationale that Iran wants kill us all.  

Nobody in Congress dared to ask Netanyahu about his own nuclear arsenal. Even when the mainstream national media were uncharacteristically critical of the Israeli prime minister, Congress was erupting in cheers, like a room full of clowns, to his archaic rhetoric.

We urge our organizations to remember the faces of the senators and representatives who sided with the Israeli right wing against us and the president before hosting and honoring them.

Special thanks to the 59 lawmakers who decided to boycott the speech, especially Michigan own civil rights legend, Congressman John Conyers (D- Detroit).