Dozens of lawmakers are boycotting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, as President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris prepare to meet with Bibi at the White House the following day.
From No. 2 Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to House Speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), nearly all of the absences will be Democrats who oppose Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza.
“I will stand by Israel, but I will not stand and cheer its current Prime Minister at tomorrow’s Joint Session,” Durbin said in a statement Tuesday.
“The Hamas attack on October 7 was unprovoked and cowardly, and its continued holding of hostages unconscionable,” he went on. “However, Israel’s execution of its war in Gaza under the direction of Prime Minister Netanyahu with 39,000 Palestinians dead and 90,000 injured is a brutal strategy beyond any acceptable level of self-defense.”
Durbin also echoed the words of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who in a March speech on the Senate floor called for new elections in Israel and declared Netanyahu an “obstacle to peace.”
Pelosi, who has also called for Netanyahu to resign, will not attend the speech either.
“Speaker Pelosi will not be attending today’s Joint Meeting of Congress,” a spokesman said. “This morning, she will join a Members meeting with Israeli citizens whose families have suffered in the wake of the October 7th Hamas terror attack and kidnappings.”
Schumer later signed onto an invitation spearheaded by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to invite the Israeli leader to Congress, along with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Johnson has threatened to arrest anyone who disrupts the proceeding — and told The Post in a Tuesday night interview that Netanyahu’s visit to Washington was not a “political stunt,” as critics were claiming, but an “important” expression of the need for “America’s resolve and our support.”
“Israel is in a war for its very survival,” Johnson said. “It’s arguably the most desperate time for Israel since they became a nation-state again.”
As many as 30 Democrats have publicly said they won’t attend, NBC News reported — still fewer than the 58 lawmakers who skipped Netanyahu’s 2015 speech warning against the signing of the Obama-brokered Iran nuclear deal.
The duty to preside over the joint meeting of Congress ordinarily rests on the vice president and Speaker of the House — but Harris is skipping the address for an event in Indianapolis with one of the historically black “Divine Nine” sororities.
However, she and Biden will welcome Netanyahu to the White House for separate meetings tomorrow.
“President Biden will welcome Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 25 to the White House,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
“The leaders will discuss developments in Gaza and progress towards a ceasefire and hostage release deal and the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security, including countering Iran’s threats to Israel and the broader region,” Jean-Pierre added.
“Following the leaders’ meeting, they will meet together with the families of Americans held hostage by Hamas,” she also said. “The Vice President will also meet separately with Prime Minister Netanyahu on July 25.”
With Harris’ refusal to attend the congressional speech, the next in line to sit with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who also declined.
The responsibility then fell to Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Ben Cardin (D-Md.).
“I made a commitment in October with the hostage families that I would use every opportunity I have to help get the hostages home,” Cardin told Punchbowl News. “So I’m not going to turn down any opportunity.”
Ocasio-Cortez and other far-left lawmakers have also blasted the Israeli PM as a “war criminal.”
“Netanyahu is a war criminal committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a Palestinian American. “It is utterly disgraceful that leaders from both parties have invited him to address Congress. He should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court.”
Even the libertarian-leaning Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) issued a statement condemning the speech as “political theater.”
“Today Congress will undertake political theater on behalf of the State Department,” Massie posted on X. “The purpose of having Netanyahu address Congress is to bolster his political standing in Israel and to quell int’l opposition to his war.”
“I don’t feel like being a prop so I won’t be attending,” he added.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), one of several Democrat on the fence about the meeting, exploded at Netanyahu on X Tuesday, declaring him “the worst leader in Jewish history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2100 years ago” despite defending his decision to still attend the speech.
US Capitol Police and other law enforcement agencies — including the NYPD — were present on Capitol Hill Wednesday ahead of the speech, as barricades were erected around the complex to ward off thousands of protesters who are calling for Netanyahu’s arrest.
Though he denounced the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu as “outrageous,” Biden and other administration officials have expressed disapproval with his leadership during the war against Hamas, especially over the high civilian death toll of Palestinians.
The Israeli PM is making his fourth address in a joint meeting of Congress, the most of any foreign leader in US history, with just 75 days until the Jewish state reaches the grim milestone of Oct. 7, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ terror attack.
