WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint session of Congress on July 24, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Congressional leaders last week formally invited Netanyahu to speak and deliver the latest US show wartime support for the longtime ally despite growing political divisions over Israel’s military attack on Hamas in Gaza. But the date of the speech was in flux. According to the person, who was granted anonymity, that has now been set for July 24 to discuss private scheduling.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, along with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, signed the letter extending the invitation to Netanyahu was expanded. They said the offer was intended to “highlight America’s solidarity with Israel.”
Netanyahu’s appearance before an increasingly divided Congress is sure to be controversial and accompanied by many protests, both inside the Capitol from lawmakers and outside by pro-Palestinian demonstrators. And it will put into stark relief the growing election-year divisions among Democrats over the prime minister’s prosecution of the months-long war against Hamas.
The Democratic lawmakers most critical of Netanyahu’s strategy are not expected to show up for the speech. Senator Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont, said: “Netanyahu is a war criminal. I certainly won’t be there.”
Netanyahu’s visit to the Capitol also comes as relations between President Joe Biden and the Jewish state’s leader have deteriorated in recent months. Biden has privately and publicly criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war and the Israeli government for not allowing more humanitarians into Gaza.
At the end of last week, Biden announced a proposed agreement to end the fighting in Gaza, increasing pressure on Netanyahu to accept the deal. Many Israelis have urged him to embrace the terms, but his far-right allies have threatened to quit his coalition government if he does so.
Netanyahu called permanent ceasefire in Gaza a ‘nonstarter’ until long-standing conditions for it end the war is met, which appears to undermine the proposal that Biden described as an Israeli proposal.
Johnson first suggested inviting the Israeli leader, saying it would be “a great honor for me” to invite him. His move came shortly after Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the US, gave a speech stinging rebuke from Netanyahu in a long speech in the Senate. Schumer said in the speech that Netanyahu had “lost his way” during Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza.
Still, Schumer had said he would participate in the invitation because “our relationship with Israel is rock-solid and transcends any prime minister or president.”