Undeterred by the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s plan to seek an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes against the Israeli PM, House Speaker Mike Johnson (D-La) stated on Tuesday that he intends to proceed with inviting Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver an address to Congress. Johnson revealed that a formal invitation has not yet been extended as he is awaiting confirmation from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) regarding co-sponsoring the invitation.
Barak Ravid noted on Axios early Thursday that the Speaker’s plans are being met “with fierce pushback from Democrats,” as “some top House Democrats are going so far as to say Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer should not sign onto the invitation.”
But Speaker Johnson told The Independent early Thursday that Schumer was going to sign an invitation to Netanyahu asking him to deliver a joint address to Congress. “I spoke with him today and he’s going to sign the letter jointly and it’ll get out to the prime minister this week,” Johnson told The Independent Wednesday.
House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-Con) said Netanyahu “should be focused on freeing hostages, not on charming legislators.”
It appears Democrats are hell-bent on forging other people’s policy for them, even as their own presidential candidate is trailing the competition by high single digits in six out of seven swing states. A nice sit down with Bibi would go a long way to gain Biden the badly needed votes of middle-class Democrats who plan to stay home in November.
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich) told Axios, “I don’t think it’s a good time … let’s not complicate an already complicated situation.” As in “Don’t confuse me with the facts.” Democrats will never forgive Bibi for his frontal assault against President Barack Obama when the Israeli PM last spoke before Congress – only because Obama was making nice with the worst murderers who had sworn an oath to annihilate the Jewish State. Bibi talks good English, and is likely to disseminate much-needed information about the “starving children in Gaza.” Who needs the headache?
And former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) channeled Joe Biden, saying simply: “No.” How can you argue with that?
Tom Friedman, Biden’s official court jester, was livid on Tuesday because Netanyahu showed “his gratitude to Biden by having his parliamentary majority give Elise Stefanik, a hack Republican congresswoman with no foreign policy standing whatsoever – and a person groveling to become Donald Trump’s vice president – the extraordinary honor of giving an address Sunday in the Knesset, where she slammed the US president and praised Trump.”
Those right-wing extremist ingrates.
If Netanyahu gets to speak before Congress this would be especially humiliating to Chuck Schumer, who not long ago called for new elections in Israel and said Bibi had to go. Won’t it be hilarious if Bibi’s visit resulted in Biden having to go?
Netanyahu may not wish to rock the boat, especially since his government’s current relationship with the administration is not as terrible as it was with the Obama White House. If you ask the White House, Bibi has yet to agree to check if they’re OK with his visit to the Hill.
The Biden administration said on Wednesday that it had not been made aware of a planned visit by Netanyahu. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters, “So, we have not at this point heard from the Prime Minister on a joint address to the Congress, the president talks to the prime minister in fact, he just talked to him not too long ago, senior administration officials engaged with him I just did so over the weekend. So, we’ll stay in touch with the prime minister and obviously we’ll stay in touch with the Congress and see what happens.”
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, sounded more anxious than most fellow Democrats, telling Axios Netanyahu is “dividing this country … in a similar way he’s divided Israel, and I think that’s awfully dangerous. … I can only imagine the personal and political conflict facing Leader Schumer.”
Maybe Leader Schumer shouldn’t have meddled in another country’s affair, telling it who should or shouldn’t be its prime minister. I’m just saying.
