Netanyahu receives cross-party invite to speak before Congress

House and Senate leaders Friday asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress, a long-awaited invitation that is expected to cause friction between both parties and within the Democratic conference in particular.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) signed on to a letter inviting the Israeli leader to Washington on an unspecified date.

The invitation comes as the war between Israel and Hamas continues in Gaza, with death tolls rising significantly each day since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack against the Jewish state.

“Last year, Congress was proud to host Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Washington to celebrate 75 years of friendship and partnership between our two democracies,” the congressional leaders wrote. “Less than three months later, the horrific attacks of October 7th shocked the world and forced your nation into a fight for its very existence.

“We join the state of Israel in your struggle against terror, especially as Hamas continues to hold American and Jewish citizens captive and its leaders jeopardize regional stability,” the leaders continued. “For this reason, on behalf of the bipartisan leadership of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, we would like to invite you to address a Joint Meeting of Congress.”

In March, Schumer called for Israel to replace Netanyahu, saying the prime minister “has lost his way” in his handling of the war.

Johnson had increased pressure on Schumer to join him in inviting Netanyahu to speak before Congress. Last week, he gave the top Senate Democrat a deadline of May 23 to sign on to the letter, or else Johnson would close the invitation to the upper chamber. The speaker sent a draft letter to Schumer’s office roughly a month ago, but no action had been taken until Friday.

The invitation also comes as Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over allegations of war crimes. Several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have decried the warrant, and the Biden administration has also opposed the move.

Netanyahu’s visit is likely to sow divisions within the Democratic conference. While House Republicans and most Democrats have denounced the Hamas attack and thrown their support behind Israel, some progressive House Democrats have long called for a ceasefire and criticized Netanyahu’s government for the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Most of the casualties since Oct. 7 have been Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

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The last time Netanyahu addressed Congress was in 2015 at the invitation of then-Speaker John Boehner to excoriate the Iran nuclear deal the Obama administration had forged. Boehner kept then-President Barack Obama in the dark about the invite, prompting several Democrats to boycott the address. Schumer, however, wasn’t among the protesters, saying the relationship between the United States and Israel transcends the rift with the speaker.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the only Palestinian American in Congress and one of the progressive “Squad” members, has been the most vocally opposed to Netanyahu and the war in Gaza. The Washington Examiner reached out to Tlaib for comment on her response to Netanyahu’s expected address.