Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office has rejected a proposed date to deliver a joint session of Congress on June 13, a long-awaited speech that will likely heighten tensions on Capitol Hill over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Despite earlier reports that Netanyahu would deliver his address on Thursday next week, his office told the Washington Examiner that an exact date has not been set.
If Netanyahu delivered his address on June 13, it would fall when President Joe Biden is expected to be out of the country to attend the G7 summit in Italy.
His office told Axios that the speech cannot happen on the proposed date because it falls on the second day of the Jewish holiday Shavuot.
The Israeli prime minister was invited on Friday last week by 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).
Netanyahu’s last address before Congress was in 2015 at the invitation of then-Speaker John Boehner to criticize the Iran nuclear deal. Boehner kept then-President Barack Obama in the dark about the invite, prompting several Democrats to boycott the address.
The prime minister’s expected address comes as the war between Israel and Hamas continues in Gaza. Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack against the Jewish state, death tolls have risen significantly each day, with a handful of Democrats calling for a ceasefire.
Biden announced the newest ceasefire proposal on Friday, which would involve three phases. The first phase is a six-week ceasefire and the exchange of certain hostages for hundreds of imprisoned Palestinians. The second would exchange the remaining hostages and have the withdrawal of all Israeli soldiers in Gaza. The third and final stage would involve the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of any remains of hostages.
Netanyahu’s office said in response to Biden’s announcement that the war will not end until the complete destruction of Hamas, which could complicate ceasefire talks with the Palestinian militant group. However, the prime minister’s office said the “exact outline proposed by Israel, including the conditional transition from stage to stage, allows Israel to maintain these principles.”
The prime minister’s speech also comes as Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant application 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.
The House is set to vote on a resolution on Tuesday that will impose sanctions on the ICC if it engages in efforts to “investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any protected person of the United States and its allies.”
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Who will be in attendance for Netanyahu’s address remains to be seen. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has vowed repeatedly not to attend the prime minister’s speech, calling Netanyahu a war criminal.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the only Palestinian American in Congress and one of the liberal “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.