Senator Brian Schatz, who is himself Jewish and sits on the foreign affairs committee in the Senate, is among those who will not be in the room during Netanyahu’s speech.
Schatz believes that the Israeli prime minister, instead of coming to the US, should focus on negotiating a ceasefire with Hamas and securing the release of the hostages in Gaza.
– A few months before our own election, he will instead give a partisan speech, says one statement from Schatz.
Does not bring peace
Netanyahu’s political rhetoric will not bring peace to the region, believes Schatz, who believes the US must make stricter demands on Israel and do more to protect the civilian population of Gaza.
Several other leading Democrats, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, have also made it clear that they will boycott Netanyahu’s speech to Congress.
So will Senator Bernie Sanders, who is now an independent.
Biden will meet with Netanyahu
President Joe Biden, on the other hand, will meet Netanyahu, the White House announced earlier this week.
– We expect that the two leaders will have the opportunity to meet each other when Netanyahu is in town, said a spokesman for Biden’s national security council, John Kirby.
Biden has tested positive for covid-19 and is in quarantine at home in Delaware, and a meeting with the Israeli continues that he will be declared healthy.
The health situation decides
– We must of course prioritize the president’s health situation and how it may have something to say regarding a possible meeting with Netanyahu, said Kirby.
The last time Biden and Netanyahu met was in Tel Aviv in October, shortly following the Hamas-led attack that killed around 1,200 people.
Nearly 39,000 Palestinians have been killed and 90,000 wounded in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since then, the vast majority of them civilians.
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2024-07-21 03:59:06
