Netanyahu’s visit said ‘barely registering’ in Washington amid election drama
Prime minister ‘hasn’t really been able to get the traction and the airtime he would have expected,’ says House aide; 35 Democrats set to boycott speech, with VP busy elsewhere
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington this week is “barely registering” among American officials, Politico reported on Wednesday, amid dramatic developments in the US presidential race.
“I had someone ask me what I thought Netanyahu would say in his speech and I had to stop and think for a minute to realize that was this week. I had completely forgotten it was happening,” said one senior aide from the House of Representatives.
Another told Politico the prime minister “hasn’t really been able to get the traction and the airtime they would have expected.”
The prime minister arrived in Washington just one day after US President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign, and less than two weeks after a 20-year-old gunman shot at former president and current candidate Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.
Biden’s announcement was made abruptly on social media Sunday, and he is expected to address the nation on Wednesday night, just hours after Netanyahu’s speech, which will likely further divert attention from the Israeli leader.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the Democrats’ presumptive nominee days after Biden’s unprecedented withdrawal, was set to miss Netanyahu’s speech, though her office said it was not a snub of the prime minister but a matter of scheduling.
Meanwhile, some Democratic lawmakers mulled whether to attend the address amid deep divides in the party over the war in Gaza.
As of Tuesday night, at least 35 Democratic members of Congress had confirmed they planned to boycott the address, according to a tally by Jewish Insider, which noted that the number was likely to rise.
Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, a prominent critic of the Biden administration’s Israel policies, said he “refuse[d] to be a political prop” for Netanyahu.
Senator Bernie Sanders, the independent socialist from Vermont, called Netanyahu a “war criminal” and said his invitation to address Congress was “a disgrace and something that we will look back on with regret.”
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democratic leader and the highest-ranking Jewish congressman, said he would attend the speech but called Netanyahu “the worst leader in Jewish history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2,100 years ago.”
Netanyahu was also under intense pressure from the families of those held hostage in Gaza, especially families of the eight American captives— five of whom are believed to still be alive — to secure a hostage-ceasefire deal by the end of the week to return their loved ones.
In a joint statement, the families said they would consider his trip “an abject failure” if he does not announce during his speech that he has finalized a deal.
The prime minister is not expected to do so.
Several dozen anti-Israel protesters gathered outside the Watergate hotel in Washington on Monday, where Netanyahu was staying. In videos posted to social media, protesters could be seen chanting “Say it loud and say it clear, we don’t want no Zionists here!”
On Tuesday, hundreds of protesters led by the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace group occupied the rotunda of a congressional office building, wearing identical red T-shirts that read “Not In Our Name” and chanting “Let Gaza Live!”
Further demonstrations were expected on Wednesday during the prime minister’s speech.
The report in Politico on Wednesday noted that Netanyahu did not have plans to meet with major foreign policy officials, though Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he was open to a meeting.
The prime minister is expected to meet with Biden as well as with Harris while he is in Washington, though the timing remained uncertain as of Wednesday afternoon. On Friday, Netanyahu plans to meet with Trump in Florida.