House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is increasing pressure on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to join him in inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Congress for a joint address.
Johnson’s office gave Schumer a deadline of Tuesday evening to sign on to a letter inviting the Israeli leader to Washington, or else, the speaker will close the invite to the upper chamber, he told reporters on Tuesday. The ultimatum comes roughly a month after Johnson initially sent the draft letter to Schumer’s office, but no action has been taken since.
“My office told Sen. Schumer’s office yesterday that he needed to sign the joint letter,” Johnson said. “And if not, we were gonna proceed and invite Netanyahu just to the House.”
Schumer responded to Johnson’s calls shortly after, telling reporters he supports Netanyahu coming to the Capitol and that he is in talks with the speaker about arranging such a time. However, the timeline remains unclear.
“I’m discussing that now with the speaker of the House,” Schumer said. “As I have always said, our relationship with Israel is ironclad and transcends any one prime minister or president.”
The invitation to Netanyahu comes amid the war in Gaza, and lawmakers have split on how to support one of the country’s closest allies.
Johnson first floated the idea of inviting the prime minister to Washington after Schumer suggested in March that Israel should hold new elections to replace Netanyahu, prompting backlash from many of his Republican colleagues.
The invite also comes as Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant application from the International Criminal Court over allegations of committing war crimes. Several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have decried the warrant, and the Biden administration has opposed the move.
House Republican leaders have even gone so far as to propose a bill that would sanction any foreign person engaged in an effort by the ICC to investigate or arrest a U.S. citizen or an official from an allied U.S. country.
The speech could stir anger among some Democrats because it’s reminiscent of when Republicans, who controlled both the House and Senate at the time, invited Netanyahu to address Congress in 2015 before informing the Obama administration of their plans. In that speech, Netanyahu slammed then-President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran in an address that angered many Democratic lawmakers.
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A modern-day speech could also anger some hard-left Democrats who have opposed providing foreign aid to Israel amid its war with Hamas and have instead repeatedly called for a ceasefire.
It is not yet clear when lawmakers would push to have Netanyahu address Congress should the invite be sent by both Johnson and Schumer.