Warren to boycott Netanyahu’s speech to Congress

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will not attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech, which is expected to be delivered next month to a joint meeting of Congress, she told The Hill on Tuesday.

“Benjamin Netanyahu has created a humanitarian disaster,” Warren said.

“The United States needs to use its influence, including restrictions on arms sales, as a way to advance a push toward peace in the Middle East,” said the former Democratic presidential candidate, when asked about her reaction to the administration’s search. Biden for a military sale to Israel.

“We need a ceasefire, massive humanitarian aid, the return of the hostages, and we must achieve progress to bring the parties to the negotiating table. Giving Israel more weapons is not moving in the right direction,” Warren continued.

She is part of a small group of Senate Democrats pressing President Biden to take a tougher line on Israel in its conduct of its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

This group wants Biden to withhold arms deliveries and military sales as leverage to influence the Israeli government. In particular, they talked about a military sale that is expected to move forward after senior Democratic lawmakers dropped objections this week.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Biden should use a pause in arms sales to pressure Israel to do more to increase humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip, withdraw military operations in the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, crackdown on violent and extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank and fulfill commitments made to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.

Van Hollen said he has not yet decided whether he will attend Netanyahu’s speech, scheduled for July 24, when asked by The Hill.

“I think it was a mistake to invite him. I will make a decision later,” he said.

The Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate last month sent an invitation to Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress in July, to present “the Israeli government’s vision for defending democracy, combating terrorism, and establishing a just and lasting in the region.”

A majority of Congress supports Israel’s more than eight-month war to defeat Hamas, in response to the designated terrorist group’s attack on the country on October 7, with 1,200 people killed and around 250 taken hostage.

But the US is also working to establish a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas as the best way to force Hamas to release 120 hostages and allow for an increase in humanitarian aid to the strip that was devastated by the Israeli attack, with almost all the population of 2 million people in need of some assistance, according to international aid organizations.

An estimated 37,000 Palestinians were killed in the war, according to health authorities under Hamas control, but this fails to distinguish combatants from civilians. Israel estimates it has killed between 15,000 and 17,000 Hamas fighters.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story