Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday accepted an invitation to address a joint session of the US Congress where he is expected to present his country’s vision of protecting democracy and combating terror.
“We invite you to share the Israeli government’s vision for defending democracy, combatting terror and establishing a just and lasting peace in the region,” the congressional leaders wrote a letter of invitation sent to Netanyahu.
In accepting the invitation, Netanyahu said he was “excited for the privilege to present in front of the representatives of the American people and the entire world the truth about our just war against those who wish to kill us.”
He would be the first world leader to address a joint session of Congress for a fourth time, statement from the Prime Minister’s Office boasted.
According to Times of Israel, US Congressional leaders from the two political parties had on Friday sent Netanyahu the invitation, a show of wartime support for longtime ally Israel despite mounting political divisions over the war against Hamas in Gaza.
No date has been fixed for the address, it is expected to take place “as soon as the next eight weeks or soon after August recess,” a source familiar with the matter told reporters.
The invitation was extended to “highlight America’s solidarity with Israel”, the bipartisan congressional leaders said in the letter signed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican.
An Israeli official confirmed Netanyahu’s receipt of the invitation to reporters.
The invitation first suggested by Johnson was issued after weeks of delay caused by Schumer, who gave a speech on the Senate floor in March, calling for early elections in Israel to replace Netanyahu.
Schumer said he was prepared to cooperate in a Netanyahu address as long as it was done in a bipartisan way.
“The horrific attacks of October 7th shocked the world and forced your nation into a fight for its very existence. We join the State of Israel in your struggle against terror, especially as Hamas continues to hold American and Israeli citizens captive and its leaders jeopardize regional stability,” the letter reads.
“For this reason, on behalf of the bipartisan leadership of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, we would like to invite you to address a Joint Meeting of Congress.”
According to Times of Israel, Netanyahu had been speaking in recent weeks to Republican Congressional leaders about a potential joint session address, viewing it as an opportunity to make Israel’s case on the global stage.
Nearly 60 Democrats boycotted Netanyahu’s last joint session address in 2015, which was organized by Republican Congressional leaders without the backing of then-US president Barack Obama in order for the Israeli premier to lobby against the nuclear deal that Washington wound up signing with Iran later that year.
A much larger number of Democrats would likely boycott a Netanyahu speech, as the war in Gaza has become increasingly unpopular among progressives.
The war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 atrocities has also led to a rupture in Netanyahu’s relationship with US President Joe Biden, who in May threatened for the first time to withhold weapons from Israel if it launched a massive offensive in the civilian areas of Rafah.
Biden visited Israel shortly after the Hamas-led attack, in the first-ever trip a US president has made to the Jewish state amid a war.
