With no date set for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver his controversial joint address to Congress, there’s still time for Democratic leaders to renege on their absurd participation in this event.
Congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, extended an invitation to Netanyahu over the weekend — to "build on our enduring relationship and to highlight America’s solidarity with Israel," as they said in their letter — and the prime minister accepted. The invitation comes over the objection of many liberals in Congress who have voiced a range of concerns about the event, from, “We should not platform more war criminals period” (Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo.) to "it’s just going to be about benefiting Netanyahu’s personal politics back home” without progress toward peace (Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.).
I agree.
Delivering a joint address to Congress is meant to be an honor. Just recently some lawmakers were apoplectic over the disrespectful message House Speaker Mike Johnson sent by not permitting Kenyan President William Ruto to deliver such a speech during his visit to the U.S. (Politico reports that Jeffries "told reporters that invitations to foreign leaders came from agreements between the House and Senate majority parties. 'That process took place in the context of the invitation to the head of state of the state of Israel, a democratic ally,” Jeffries is quoted as saying. Jeffries also said the decision to attend is up to individual members.)
On the heels of that controversy, the message Congress is sending with its invitation to Netanyahu is even more odious. This is a man whose government has seemingly ignored U.S. officials’ demands to limit civilian casualties in Gaza; a man who President Joe Biden said people have "every reason" to believe is prolonging the war for political purposes; a man who has been denounced by families of Israeli hostages for not agreeing to deals that would return hostages (Netanyahu has said that "anyone who says that I’m not doing everything to bring back our hostages is wrong and is misleading"). While the U.S. deals with its own internal attacks on judicial legitimacy, the prospect of Congress platforming the first sitting Israeli prime minister to face criminal corruption charges, who’s pursued anti-democratic policies against the judiciary within his own country, seems ill-advised, to say the least (Netanyahu has pleaded not guilty).
In 2015, congressional Republicans invited Netanyahu for a joint address to denounce the Obama administration’s negotiations with Iran, which were intended to prevent the country from building a nuclear weapons program. That speech — by a foreign leader in the same forum in which the U.S. president delivers the State of the Union address — was widely viewed as a slight against Obama.
Israel’s prime minister is desperately clinging to power. In his effort to stave off accountability for his policies, Netanyahu has aligned himself with far-right forces that want to continue an indiscriminate bombing campaign that, in the long term, arguably puts Americans at risk by accelerating a cycle of radicalization. The idea that Netanyahu, as a leader, merits a joint address to Congress seems out of touch with reality. This invitation to Netanyahu is even more disrespectful to the president and the country he leads than the last one — which is part of the reason why it’s so disturbing to see Democrats going along with it.