Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is speaking to a joint session of Congress on Thursday for the first time since Israel launched its war in the Gaza Strip as he seeks to shore up support from his country’s closest ally amid mounting political criticism at home and abroad.
But absent from the crowd are dozens of Congress members — including at least six from the Bay Area — many of whom blame him for obstructing the path to peace.
Netanyahu’s joint session address will be his fourth, more than any other foreign leader (surpassing Winston Churchill). Absent from that address will be Bay Area Reps. Barbara Lee, Jared Huffman, Ro Khanna, Mark DeSaulnier and Mike Thompson, as well as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
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 Wednesday. And the next Democrat in line, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, is declining to attend.
In a statement on Wednesday morning, Pelosi said she will instead meet with Israeli citizens whose families have suffered in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.
Lee said in a statement that Netanyahu’s appearance was “a thinly veiled GOP political event disguised as a joint address.”
“The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has taken countless lives, including the lives of women and children, and destroyed Palestinian homes and communities,” Lee said. “Prime Minister Netanyahu’s deeply divisive policies put the peace and security of both Israelis and Palestinians at risk. I will not condone this by being present at the address.”
Thompson “did not attend Prime Minister Netanyahu’s last address to Congress in 2015, and he has no plans to attend the Prime Minister’s address today,” a spokesperson wrote.
The stakes are high. Since the Hamas attack against Israel on Oct. 7 — which left some 1,200 people dead and 250 kidnapped — Israel’s campaign has killed nearly 40,000 people in Gaza and wounded nearly 90,000, according to local health officials. Malnutrition and disease among survivors have become rampant.
Netanyahu faces complaints in Israel that he is avoiding closing a cease-fire and hostage-release deal to stay in power, a charge repeated Monday by a relative of one hostage. His visit also comes during a week when deaths among Hamas captives were reported.
But for the White House, Netanyahu’s meetings with administration officials carry hopes for progress in U.S.-led efforts to mediate an end to the nine-month Israel-Hamas war. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said at a security conference in Colorado last week that Biden planned to focus on working out what it will take for the United States, Israel and others to get a hostage-release and cease-fire deal done in the coming weeks.
This post includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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