US House speaker says Netanyahu to ‘soon’ address joint session of Congress

US House Speaker Mike Johnson announces that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will “soon” be giving an address to a joint session of Congress.

“This will be a timely and a very strong show of support to the Israeli government in their time of greatest need,” Johnson says in a speech marking Washington’s Independence Day event at the Israeli Embassy.

Johnson did not elaborate when Netanyahu would address Congress but the speaker told reporters on the sidelines of the event that US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer informed him that he would sign off on the invitation.

Schumer’s apparent cooperation comes just one month after he called for early elections in Israel to replace Netanyahu, who he branded an obstacle to peace.

Even if an invitation is extended, it is not entirely clear whether Netanyahu will choose to accept, given the divisive nature of such a speech.

Nearly 60 Democrats boycotted Netanyahu’s last joint session address in 2015, which was organized by Republican Congressional leaders behind the back of then-president Barak Obama in order for the Israeli premier to lobby against the nuclear deal that Washington wound up signing with Iran later that year.

A much larger number of Democrats would likely boycott a Netanyahu speech that comes amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which has become increasingly unpopular among progressives.

The war has also led to a rupture in Netanyahu’s relationship with US President Joe Biden, who threatened for the first time earlier this month to withhold weapons from Israel if it launched a massive offensive in the civilian areas of Rafah.

While Netanyahu appears to have shored up an invite from Congress, he has not yet received one from the White House and the premier may not want to make the trip without one, as it would further highlight this divide. Before October 7, Biden had not invited Netanyahu to visit Washington since the latter’s return to office in late 2022, with the two at odds over several issues.

However, an official familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel that Netanyahu has been speaking in recent weeks with interest to Republican Congressional leaders about a potential address to a joint session, viewing it as an opportunity to make Israel’s case on the global stage, and is less concerned about some of the political fallout within the US.