Dozens of members of Democrats are expected to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress on Wednesday afternoon. Some are boycotting, others are attending a series of counter-programming events, and several cited scheduling conflicts as the reason.
The last time Netanyahu address Congress on March 3, 2015, the situation was much the same. A total of 58 members of Congress skipped his speech, including then-Vice President Joe Biden, who chose not to preside over the address in much the same way that Vice President Kamala Harris will not preside over this one.
At the time, Netanyahu’s speech to Congress was exactly two weeks before elections in Israel, and his address included withering criticism of the Iran nuclear deal, which was viewed as an overt political attack on then-President Barack Obama.
“So why would anyone make this deal?” Netanyahu asked rhetorically. “Because they hope that Iran will change for the better in the coming years, or they believe that the alternative to this deal is worse?”
“Well, I disagree,” he said.
Now as then, Netanyahu is facing criticism for turning this address into a political exercise with his own self-interest in mind.
A group of senior Israeli figures, including former security officials, prominent business leaders, and academics, wrote a joint letter to congressional leaders, saying, “Netanyahu has lost the support of the Israeli people and is trying to shore up his domestic coalition through a show of force in the United States.”
