Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks before the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, with some Democratic lawmakers boycotting the appearance, and continuing protests expected in Washington over his hardline government’s stance on the war in Gaza.
Netanyahu is assured a warm welcome from Republican lawmakers who arranged his speech in the House chamber, an appearance making him the first foreign leader to address a joint meeting of Congress four times, surpassing Winston Churchill.
Many Democrats and political independent Bernie Sanders plan to boycott Netanyahu’s appearance. Vice-President Kamala Harris, who serves as president of the Senate and traditionally would sit behind whatever dignitary is speaking, says a long-scheduled trip will keep her away. The next Democrat in line, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, also declined to attend.
Amid Israel’s brutal assault on the Gaza Strip and a changing political landscape in the U.S., Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flown to Washington for a controversial speech at a joint meeting of Congress. Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, discusses Netanyahu’s Washington visit.
The United States is Israel’s most important ally, arms supplier and source of military aid as Israel battles to break Hamas since the group considered a terrorist organization by several Western countries led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
Netanyahu’s visit is his first abroad since the war started.
Thousands of protesters gathered near the Capitol to condemn Netanyahu’s visit and the war in Gaza.
Waving the Palestinian flag and bloodied effigies of the Israeli prime minister, crowds cheered as speakers on stage called for an end to the conflict.
“Palestine will be free,” they chanted. “Ceasefire now. Free free Palestine.”
Protesters who spoke with CBC News included those who said they travelled from Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, California and upstate New York to denounce the war.
Law enforcement officials set up a perimeter around the Capitol building the equivalent of over five football fields, with officers from around eastern U.S. holding a strong presence.
Parts of the city were on edge Wednesday, with employees online mulling whether it was safe to come to work in the area or whether they should work from home.
Ceasefire hopes linger
President Joe Biden’s administration says it wants to see Netanyahu focus during his visit on helping it complete a deal for a ceasefire and hostage release in the nine-month war. The hard-right wing of Netanyahu’s coalition has disdained the possibility of a pause in fighting.
“Once the Knesset goes out of session July 28th, Mr. Netanyahu no longer has to worry about a no-confidence motion, and if he’s going to move, and if Hamas is going to move, it’s going to occur in mid-August,” Aaron David Miller, the former Middle East negotiator who’s now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told CBC News this week.
Netanyahu says his aims for the U.S. visit are to press for freeing hostages held by Hamas, to build support for continuing Israel’s battle against the group and to argue for continuing to confront Hezbollah in Lebanon and other Iranian-allied groups in the region.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson arranged the address prior to the recent U.S. political turmoil, which has included the assassination attempt against Trump and Biden’s decision not to seek a second presidential term.
“I don’t know all the motivations for Speaker Johnson initiating the invitation, but clearly he wanted to throw a political lifeline to Netanyahu, whose popularity is very low in Israel right now,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, among the dozens of Democrats set to boycott, said Tuesday.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish, was more incendiary, characterizing the joint address as “the first time in American history that a war criminal has been given that honour.” The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court has applied for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, and specific Israeli and Hamas officials for charges including war crimes.
Speech in Obama’s term roiled Democrats
Some veteran Democrats are wary about Netanyahu after he used a 2015 joint address to Congress to denounce then-president Barack Obama’s pending nuclear deal with Iran, but many members of the party are attending. That includes Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who called for new elections in Israel in a March floor speech and called Netanyahu an obstacle to peace in the region.
House Republican Thomas Massie, a critic of U.S. assistance and aid in the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, called the visit “political theatre.”
“The purpose of having Netanyahu address Congress is to bolster his political standing in Israel and to quell [international] opposition to his war,” Massie, of Kentucky, said in a social media post. “I don’t feel like being a prop so I won’t be attending.”
After they ordered civilians evacuate the area, the Israel Defence Force targeted an area east of Khan Younis which left at least 37 dead and 120 injured from numbers from officials in Gaza
In addition to multiple protests, relatives of Israeli hostages are planning a vigil on the National Mall.
The Health Ministry in Gaza says over 39,100 Palestinians have been killed in the war, with its total not distinguishing between fighters and civilians. The attacks led by Hamas on Oct. 7 resulted in about 250 people being taken hostage and about 1,200 killed, according to Israeli government tallies.
It is believed by the Israeli government that 116 hostages have yet to be repatriated, though about one-third have so far been pronounced dead in absentia. Several hostages unaccounted for are American citizens.
After the address, Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with Biden and Harris, separately, on Thursday, and plans to do so with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, on Friday.
