Some Democrat Lawmakers Say They Would Boycott Netanyahu Address

WASHINGTON—Despite no invitation being sent at the moment, some Democrat members of Congress are already telling The Epoch Times they would boycott Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu giving an address before a joint session of Congress amid the war between Israel and Hamas.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a member of the far-left congressional group “The Squad,” called the plan by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to invite Mr. Netanyahu to speak before Congress “disgusting.”

“I think it is probably one of the most morally corrupt thing that we can do in this moment,” she added, noting the baseless accusation of Mr. Netanyahu “carrying out a genocide, forced starvation of the people of Gaza.”

“People want to make a political point to support Netanyahu and his policies in Gaza, which I do not support myself for the record,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.).

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said that now is not the time for the Israeli leader to speak before Congress.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, said, “I probably would not go.”

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Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said he is “concerned about the timing.” But he said he might attend were it to happen.

Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) has said she would boycott the speech.

The last time Mr. Netanyahu addressed Congress was in 2015 when he warned about the then-upcoming Iran nuclear deal, which he opposed for the United States and allies giving Tehran sanctions relief while not adequately addressing its nuclear program and not dealing with Iran’s other malign activities, such as the regime’s leading support for terrorism. It was subject to controversy as a number of Democrats boycotted it, and the Obama administration refused to meet with Mr. Netanyahu during his visit.

Rumors first began to swirl on March 20 that the Republican house speaker was considering inviting the Israeli leader to address Congress. Asked again about the idea during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” program on March 21, Mr. Johnson said such an invite is in the works.

“I would love to have him come in and address a joint session of Congress,” he said. “We will certainly extend that invitation.”

On May 22, Mr. Johnson said his and Mr. Schumer’s staff were working out the logistics for the invite.

The speech comes a couple of months after Mr. Schumer decried Mr. Netanyahu’s handling of the war and called for new elections in Israel.

Mr. Johnson rebuked Mr. Schumer’s comments, calling them “highly inappropriate.”

Mr. Johnson didn’t explicitly say that his efforts to invite Mr. Netanyahu to address Congress were part of a further effort to chastise Mr. Schumer. Still, he took the opportunity during the CNBC interview segment to criticize the Democratic Senate leader again.

“What Chuck Schumer did was almost staggering, just unbelievable,” Mr. Johnson said on March 21. “To suggest to our strongest ally in the Middle East, the only stable democracy, that he knows better how to run their democracy is just patently absurd.”

He told “Squawk Box” that Mr. Schumer’s comments were “outrageous” and a “terrible signal to our allies and our enemies around the world,” noting that he wished the Senate majority leader “would keep his comments to himself.”

On May 21, Mr. Schumer said he supported inviting Mr. Netanyahu to Congress.

“I’m discussing that now with the Speaker of the House, and as I’ve always said, our relationship with Israel is ironclad and transcends any one prime minister or president,” he said during a press conference following the weekly Senate policy luncheons.