Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Friday that they will extend an invitation to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress.
This move takes some cojones from Chuck Schumer. Schumer railed against Netanyahu on March 7 on the Senate floor. He called Netanyahu an “obstacle of peace.” He went way over the line in his criticism and meddled in Israeli domestic politics by calling for new elections. Let that sink in. Schumer called for elections in hopes of ousting Netanyahu from office as he conducts a war for the survival of Israel.
Netanyahu is the duly elected leader of Israel. Polls show he isn’t very popular with Israelis, in general, but he is overwhelmingly supported by Israelis in his execution of the war. The Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. pushed back against Schumer’s unhinged remarks.
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.”
Speaker Johnson announced one week later that he would invite Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress.
The 74-year-old prime minister has addressed Congress three times during his six terms in office. That is more than any other foreign leader, except for Winston Churchill. The former British prime minister addressed Congress three times – in 1941, 1943, and 1952.
The main point to be made is that Schumer is joining Johnson in the invitation. There has been no doubt that Johnson steadfastly supports Israel and its war to survive. Schumer, however, is willing to go to the floor of the Senate and trash Netanyahu during wartime to do President Biden’s bidding. I thought at the time that the Senate majority leader should have been censured. I still do.
It wasn’t the first time that Democrat leaders in Washington tried to influence politics in Israel. During the Obama administration, in 2015, the U.S. State Department issued $350,000 in grants to a group that was working to unseat Netanyahu. Obama bros traveled to Israel to work with Netanyahu’s opposition.
Johnson drafted the invitation to Netanyahu over a month ago. Schumer is late to signing on. “The timing is being worked out,” Schumer’s spokesperson said.
The statement, which follows Johnson’s acknowledgment of the draft invitation to the Hill, is only an incremental step toward the gesture and not altogether surprising. Schumer previously indicated his openness. But the development comes amid a period of intense bitterness between Washington Democrats and Netanyahu, who has defied the White House with his casualty-heavy war in Gaza.
“Israel has no stronger ally than the United States, and our relationship transcends any one president or any one prime minister. I will always welcome the opportunity for the prime minister of Israel to speak to Congress in a bipartisan way,” Schumer said at the time.
Schumer is trying to soften his message now. That is likely due to the blowback he received for meddling so boldly in Israel’s domestic politics. Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden don’t get to choose the prime minister of Israel. Sounds a little like incitement and overthrowing a democratically elected government, doesn’t it?
Joe Biden has gone wobbly on Israel in hopes that his betrayal of a longtime ally will win him re-election, especially in places like Dearborn, Michigan where there is a large bloc of Muslim Arab American voters. Muslim voters and useful idiots on the far left are threatening to deny Biden their votes in the November presidential election. Biden must win Michigan to successfully be re-elected.
Netanyahu updated Senate Republicans on the Israel-Hamas war in a virtual meeting a week after Schumer’s call for Netanyahu to be ousted. Democrats rejected Netanyahu’s request to update them. That would be a decision that Schumer would have made. Instead, Schumer met with Netanyahu’s political rival, Benny Gantz, a member of his war cabinet, in Washington without Netanyahu’s permission.
Schumer has some clean-up to do. He sides with the Hamas wing of the Democrat Party. It needs to stop. Republicans must take back the Senate in the November general election. There is much work that needs to be done.