The office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced Friday that Schumer will join House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in offering an invitation for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress.
On March 7 this year, Schumer called Netanyahu an “obstacle to peace” alongside the likes of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and urged Israel to hold new elections as the war winds down in hopes of ejecting Israel’s duly elected head of state from office.
At the time, Israeli Ambassador to the US Mike Herzog reminded Schumer in a post on the X social media platform that Israel is “a sovereign democracy,” adding, “It is unhelpful, all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. It is counterproductive to our common goals.”
One week later (March 14), Johnson announced that he would invite Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress.
Netanyahu, 74, has addressed the Congress three times during his six terms in office, more than any other Israeli or foreign leader. The only other foreign leader to do so was British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, who addressed America’s legislative branch in 1941, 1943 and 1952.
