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Friday, May 3, 2024
Weeks after calling for Israeli elections, Schumer set to join invite for Netanyahu to address Congress — report
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Less than two months after declaring that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be replaced in early elections, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is reportedly set to sign off on an invitation for the Israeli premier to address a joint session of Congress.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson announced last month that he would seek Schumer’s buy-in for the invitation in support of Israel amid the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.
The Hill reports that Johnson sent the draft invitation to Schumer last month and quotes the Senate leader’s office as saying that he is now ready to get on board.
“He intends to join the invitation, the timing is being worked out,” Schumer’s office is quoted as saying.
In his March 14 speech on the Senate floor, Schumer had said that Netanyahu has “lost his way, putting himself in coalition with far-right extremists like [Finance Minister] Bezalel Smotrich and [National Security Minister] Itamar Ben Gvir.”
“The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7. The world has changed – radically – since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past,” Schumer told Senators in his controversial remarks.
The Times of Israel Community.