Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) reiterated his intention to boycott Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s planned address to Congress.
House and Senate leadership invited Netanyahu to speak to the legislature. While the date of his visit remains to be seen, Sanders issued a statement Saturday to confirm again that he will not be in attendance.
“It is a very sad day for our country that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been invited — by leaders from both parties — to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress,” Sanders wrote.
“Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal,” he added. “He should not be invited to address a joint meeting of Congress. I certainly will not attend.”
Sanders asserted that “Israel, of course, had the right to defend itself” following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, but condemned the country for killing 34,000 civilians, destroying housing and schools, and blocking humanitarian aid. Instead, he commended the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar for their respective alleged war crimes.
“The ICC is right,” Sanders wrote. “Both of these people are engaged in clear and outrageous violations of international law.”
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was involved in inviting Netanyahu to the Capitol and felt differently about the warrants.
“The arrest warrant request by the International Criminal Court against democratically elected members of the Israeli government is shameful and unserious,” Jeffries said in a statement. “America’s commitment to Israel’s security is ironclad. I join President Joe Biden in strongly condemning any equivalence between Israel and Hamas, a brutal terrorist organization.”
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has an opinion somewhere in between the two. During a hearing in March, he suggested that “the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7.” He still proclaimed to be a “lifelong supporter of Israel.”
Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Chuy Garcia (D-IL), and Don Beyer (D-VA) have all reportedly committed to not attending the speech. Before the congressional leaders extended the invitation to Netanyahu, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued a statement that she would not attend, as she skipped out on his 2015 speech to Congress.
