Rep. Ro Khanna joins other lawmakers in boycotting Netanyahu’s speech to Congress

California Representative. Ro Khanna became the latest Democratic lawmaker to announce his refusal to participate in a highly anticipated speech before Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuciting the leader’s role in continuing the devastating US-funded military offensive in Gaza, while rejecting efforts to prioritize a ceasefire agreement.

Last month, a bipartisan group of top lawmakers invited Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress on July 24 in an effort to highlight the unwavering support for the US government has for Israel, which more than eight months ago, bombs rained on the Palestinian enclave in response to the Hamas attack on October 7 that killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250, half of whom were released during a temporary ceasefire last year.

Since then, Israel’s military offensive killed more than 37 thousand Palestinians — mostly women and children — displaced the majority of the 2.3 million population, kidnapped and tortured Palestinian men and boys, destroyed hospitals and water and sewage infrastructure, and created a hunger crisis blocking humanitarian aid reaches civilians.

Various countries, human rights groups and international agencies has since accusedIsrael of committing genocide against the Palestinians, an allegation the Israeli government and the US deny. The International Criminal Court recently charged Netanyahuhis defense minister and three Hamas leaders of war-related war crimes.

The ongoing devastation by Netanyahu’s far-right government continues to create a deep divide among US lawmakersmany of whom believe that inviting the Israeli leader to speak before Congress is inappropriate.

“I will not attend. I said if he wants to talk to members of Congress about ending the war and releasing hostages, I would be fine with doing that,” Khanna, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “But I will not participate in a one-sided lecture.”

Khanna’s comments follow those of South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, a prominent Democrat and co-chair of Biden’s re-election campaign, who also said he plans to boycott Netanyahu’s speech. Clyburn also did not participate in the Israeli leader’s speech when he was last at the Capitol.

“I will treat him the same way he treated [former President] Barack Obama,” Clyburn said of Netanyahu earlier this month on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday.”

The lawmaker was referring to when Netanyahu was invited by Republicans to speak to Congress in 2015 – near the end of Obama’s second term – condemn the attitude of the Democratic president effort to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, as well as its support for the Palestinian Statean idea the Israeli leader continues to oppose to this day.

“I agree with Rep. Clyburn. I mean, how [Netanyahu] treated President Obama, he should not expect reciprocity,” Khanna said on Sunday. “That said, I think it should be polite and let’s not make a big deal out of it. He is obviously addressing Congress and there has to be decorum.”

Lawmakers like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who for months has vehemently defended his opposition to Israel’s bombing of Gaza, were more direct in their decision to boycott Netanyahu’s speech.

“I think I speak not just for myself, but for a number of other senators who think this decision is very, very bad,” Sanders told NBC’s Chris Hayes earlier this month. “You do not honor a foreign leader by speaking to a joint session of Congress who is currently involved in the worst humanitarian disaster in this country’s modern history.”

“What we are seeing now is hunger and starvation affecting thousands and thousands of children,” he continued. “The architect of this policy is not someone you honor by bringing to the United States Congress.”

Among the top lawmakers who invited Netanyahu was Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the country’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official and a Democrat. who, in March, said the Israeli leader “lost his way”. Schumer later said that although he strongly disagrees with Netanyahu, he invited the leader to Congress because “America’s relationship with Israel is rigid.”

Providing Netanyahu with a platform in Congress “undermines the ceasefire agreement that President Biden is trying to get the Israeli leadership to accept,” Lily Greenberg Call said, according to If not nowa Jewish-American group against the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip.

Greenberg Call, the first American Jewish political appointee by the Biden administration resign over US policy in Gazamade the observations while protesting with other American Jews at Schumer’s office last week about Netanyahu’s upcoming speech. The demonstration was organized by IfNotNow.

“Sen. Schumer, you need to listen to your voters, the American people, the majority of American Jews who want Biden to stop sending weapons to Israel, and the families of hostages who are urging Jewish leaders to pressure Israel to accept the deal,” Greenberg said. . The call continued. “What values ​​lead you to invite a war criminal like Netanyahu here, senator? These cannot be the same Jewish values ​​that I learned. … Think carefully about your legacy – it’s up to you to decide.”

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