Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, said on Thursday that he plans to invite Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, to speak before Congress.
The comments come a week after Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate leader, called for elections in Israel which could oust Netanyahu, claiming the prime minister has “has lost his way”.
Republican support for Netanyahu has remained staunch, despite the death toll in Gaza rising to more than 30,000 in the face of Israel’s continued military action.
“I would love to have him come in and address a joint session of Congress,” Johnson said on Thursday morning, in an interview with CNBC. “We’ll certainly extend that invitation.”
Johnson said it would be “a great honor of mine” to invite the Israeli leader. He added: “We’re just trying to work out schedules on all this”.
Netanyahu addressed Republican senators virtually at a closed door event on Wednesday. Earlier in the week Israel’s prime minister said he was “determined” to carry out a ground invasion of Rafah, the city in the south of Gaza, despite opposition from Joe Biden. An estimated 1.5 million Palestinians have taken shelter in Rafah after fleeing violence elsewhere in the country.
Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the United States, was criticized by Republicans and by Israel’s ruling Likud party after he said Netanyahu “has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel” in a speech in the Senate.
The Senate leader pointed out that Netanyahu had included far-right figures in his government, and said the prime minister “has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows. Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah.”
On Thursday, Schumer said he would welcome Netanyahu to speak before Congress.
“Israel has no stronger ally than the United States and our relationship transcends any one president or any one prime minister,” Schumer said in a statement.
“I will always welcome the opportunity for the prime minister of Israel to speak to Congress in a bipartisan way.”
Johnson’s invitation comes after Reuters reported on Wednesday that a bill being worked on by the House, Senate and the Biden administration would continue a ban on funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Unrwa), the main UN agency for Palestinians, until March 2025.
The White House said in January it was temporarily pausing new funding to Unrwa after Israel accused 12 of the agency’s 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the 7 October Hamas attack.
Australia, Sweden, the European Commission and Canada recently reinstated funding to Unrwa, having paused funding while the allegations were investigated.
In announcing the resumption of funding Penny Wong, the Australian foreign minister, said: “The best available current advice from agencies and the Australian government lawyers is that Unrwa is not a terrorist organization.”
In 2015, Netanyahu infuriated the Obama administration by accepting an invitation from John Boehner, then the Republican speaker, to address a joint sitting of Congress about the threat of a nuclear Iran.
That speech was interpreted as a partisan intervention in US politics, and an attempt to wreck western negotiations with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme. The White House was particularly incensed that Boehner and Ron Dermer, then the Israeli ambassador to Washington, conspired to arrange the speech without consulting the administration.
