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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem on 5 June 2024. (Gil Cohen-Magen / POOL / AFP)
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is
set to address the US Congress on 24 July, amid ongoing conflict with Hamas and
increasing diplomatic isolation for Israel due to the growing death toll in
Gaza. - President Joe Biden has presented a three-phase
plan aimed at ending the conflict, which Netanyahu’s office insists will
continue until their goals, including the destruction of Hamas, are achieved. - The visit highlights the enduring US-Israel
relationship despite the criticism from some US lawmakers over Netanyahu’s
handling of the situation in Gaza.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address lawmakers in the US Congress on 24
July, Republican party leaders announced Thursday.
The
visit comes amid mounting pressure for the US ally and Hamas militants to agree
to a permanent ceasefire as Israel faces growing diplomatic isolation over the
rising death toll in Gaza.
President
Joe Biden last week presented what he called an Israeli three-phase plan that
would end the conflict, free all hostages and lead to the reconstruction of the
devastated Palestinian territory without Hamas in power.
But
Netanyahu’s office stressed that the war sparked by the 7 October attacks would
continue until Israel’s “goals are achieved,” including the
destruction of Hamas, which has not given its response to the plan.
The
four top party leaders in the US House and Senate from both sides asked
Netanyahu last week to speak before a joint meeting of Congress in a letter
voicing solidarity with Israel “in your struggle against terror,
especially as Hamas continues to hold American and Israeli citizens
captive.”
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Netanyahu’s
visit “symbolises the US and Israel’s enduring relationship and will
offer… Netanyahu the opportunity to share the Israeli government’s vision for
defending their democracy, combating terror, and establishing just and lasting
peace in the region,” House Speaker Mike Johnson and top Senate Republican
Mitch McConnell said in a statement.
The
visit comes after Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called in
March for Israel to hold new elections in a rare example of strident criticism
from a senior American official of the country’s handling of the war in Gaza.
In
a statement Thursday evening, Schumer said he invited Netanyahu to speak
despite “clear and profound disagreements… because America’s
relationship with Israel is ironclad and transcends one person or prime
minister.”
The
rebuke from Schumer, the highest-ranking elected Jewish American in history,
came amid expressions of dismay from progressive Democrats who have condemned
Netanyahu over his handling of the military response and vowed to snub the
right-wing leader’s speech.
The
war was sparked when Hamas attacked Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1 194
people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official
figures.
Militants
also took 251 hostages, 120 of whom remain in Gaza, including 41 the army says
are dead.
Israel’s
retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 36 654 people in Gaza, also
mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
A
Gaza hospital said Thursday at least 37 people had been killed in an Israeli
strike on a UN-run school that the Israeli military alleged housed a Hamas
compound.
US,
Qatari and Egyptian mediators have resumed talks aimed at securing a truce and
hostage-prisoner swap in the nearly eight-month war.
But
the nation has faced a mounting diplomatic chill, with international court
cases accusing it of war crimes and several European countries recognising a
Palestinian state.
US
media reported on Monday that Netanyahu had agreed to visit on 13 June, but his
office told Israeli media the date had “not been finalised” and would
not be on that date because it interferes with a Jewish holiday.
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