Dozens of Democratic lawmakers skipped Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on Wednesday, expressing dismay over the thousands of civilian deaths and the humanitarian crisis from Israel’s campaign in Gaza.
Thousands of demonstrators took to streets near the Capitol to protest against Mr Netanyahu’s appearance amid the tightest security since the January 6th, 2021 attack. The Capitol building was surrounded by high fencing, with a heavy police presence.
Given a standing ovation on his arrival, the long-time Israeli leader delivered his speech to a joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives in a city preoccupied with domestic politics.
“For the forces of civilisation to triumph, America and Israel must stand together,” Mr Netanyahu said as he began his speech. “When we stand together, something very simple happens: we win, they lose.”
Mr Netanyahu got several standing ovations as he spoke, reflecting the broad bipartisan support he retains in the US even as criticism has mounted over the war. About two dozen lawmakers announced they wouldn’t attend to protest the mounting death toll – 39,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza – and Mr Netanyahu’s handling of the war in the Gaza Strip.
Mr Netanyahu delivered his speech at one of the most supercharged moments of recent American political history. Three days ago president Joe Biden announced he wouldn’t seek re-election and endorsed vice-president Kamala Harris to replace him. A week before that, a would-be assassin wounded former president Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Ms Harris would normally preside over such events but was absent to attend a previously scheduled campaign rally in Indianapolis. She is scheduled to meet Mr Netanyahu on Thursday, as is Mr Biden.
Among those who did attend was billionaire Elon Musk, who has thrown his support behind Mr Trump and his vice-presidential nominee JD Vance, and was there at Mr Netanyahu’s invitation. Mr Netanyahu thanked Mr Biden in his speech as, he said, a self-described “proud Irish-American Zionist”, but has made no secret of his preference for Mr Trump, and was scheduled to travel to Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Friday to meet him.
It was a record fourth speech by a foreign leader to a joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives, passing British wartime leader Winston Churchill, who made three.
Just before Mr Netanyahu spoke, the US Capitol police reported that some of the protests a few blocks from the building had become violent, prompting them to use pepper spray.
Mr Netanyahu spoke hours after Israeli forces carried out new raids in the Gaza Strip. The latest attacks destroyed homes in towns east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza and thousands of people were forced to head west to seek shelter, residents said.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said it had received distress calls from residents trapped in their homes in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis, but were unable to reach the town.
Medics later said two Palestinians had been killed in an air strike on Bani Suhaila, where the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas said fighters had detonated a bomb against an Israeli army personnel carrier.
The Israeli military, which is trying to eradicate Hamas after the October 7th attack on Israel, said it had been operating in areas from which fighters had been able to fire rockets into Israel and attack Israeli troops.
Gaza health officials said Israeli military strikes in the past 24 hours had killed at least 55 peoples.
Republican leaders in Congress orchestrated Mr Netanyahu’s visit, who was seeking to bolster his traditional links to the party but also looking to ease tensions with Mr Biden, a Democrat whose support he will rely on for the remaining six months of the president’s term. – Reuters/Bloomberg