Kamala Harris skipped Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on Wednesday amid growing pressure from elected Democrats and grassroots supporters to take tougher positions on Israel over the devastating war in Gaza and Netanyahu’s hard line right-wing government.
During his speech, the Israeli Prime Minister thanked congressional leaders and lawmakers for the “profound” honour of addressing Congress. He added that when Israel and the US stand together “we win, they lose”.
Capitol Police also escorted three people out of the chamber who were wearing yellow T-shirts reading, “SEAL THE DEAL NOW”, a reference to a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
They were put in zip-tie cuffs and taken away. Police said six people from the chamber were arrested.
In the middle of the speech, Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian woman to serve in Congress, held up a small black-and-white sign at Netanyahu that read “war criminal” and “guilty of genocide”.
The Israeli Prime Minister condemned protesters, adding that “malicious lies” are being levelled at the Jewish state, and that we are witnessing an “appalling” rise of antisemitism around the world.
“For the forces of civilisation to triumph, America and Israel must stand together,” Netanyahu added.
More than 80 Democrat representatives are expected to have skipped the address, CNN reported, including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, as trade unions called for sanctions on Israel and protest groups swarmed the Capitol building.
Police deployed pepper spray as a large crowd protesting Israeli actions in Gaza marched towards the Capitol as Netanyahu made his speech.
Thousands of protesters descended on Washington, DC carrying signs that read “Arrest Netanyahu” and “End all US aid to Israel” and shouting, “Free, free Palestine”.
US Capitol Police said in a post on X that some members of the crowd had become “violent” and had “failed to obey” orders to move back from the police line.
Congresswoman Cori Bush was among those boycotting the speech. “Instead of platforming a war criminal, Congress should be imposing an arms embargo and using its leverage to force Netanyahu to end the bombing and bloodshed that has already killed over 39,000 Palestinians and failed to ensure the release of the vast majority of hostages,” she said.
Senator Chris Van Hollen also snubbed the speech, stating that he was a strong supporter of Israel but opposed hosting the leader of an “ultra-right Israeli government”.
The most senior Jewish member of Congress, Jerry Nadler, said he would attend the speech “out of respect for the state of Israel”, but slammed Netanyahu as “the worst leader in Jewish history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2,100 years ago”.
Seven trade unions signed an open letter ahead of the speech calling for an arms embargo to be imposed on Israel.
“We need a ceasefire now, and the best way to secure that is to shut off US military aid to Israel,” said Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union.
Jewish peace groups led a sit-in in Congress on Tuesday night carrying banners reading, “Not in our name”. Activists released maggots on several floors of the Watergate Hotel where Netanyahu and his entourage are staying. Crowds carrying Palestine flags and coffins gathered at Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning ahead of the speech.
Some Democrats attending the speech expressed frustration with colleagues. Senator Ben Cardin, who chaired the session in the absence of Harris – the presumptive Democrat nominee attended a pre-scheduled event in Indiana – said it was an “opportunity to help get the hostages home”.
Much of the party leadership remains strongly supportive of the traditionally close US relationship with Israel. Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, co-signed the invitation to Netanyahu. President Joe Biden has offered staunch backing to Israel throughout the war in Gaza.
Critics of the party’s positions on Israel have been encouraged by Harris’s nomination, noting that she was among the first senior officials to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and has appeared to show more empathy towards Palestinians than the President.
Josh Paul, a former State Department staffer who resigned in protest at the administration’s policies, predicted Harris would “show more pragmatism and flexibility than Biden has, and in her public commentary has also demonstrated a far more humanising approach to the Palestinians in the past year”.
Team Harris briefed US media that she would press Netanyahu to end the war and pursue a peace agreement with the Palestinians when the two meet on Thursday.
The presidential nominee will tell the Israeli leader “it is time for the war to end in a way where Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can enjoy their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination”, an aide told the Wall Street Journal.
Harris is also reportedly intending to ditch Biden’s foreign policy team, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, raising hopes of a new direction.
But Harris representatives have also emphasised that her non-attendance of Netanyahu’s speech is due to prior commitments rather than a deliberate snub. Pro-Israel groups also note that she has maintained close relations with Aipac, the largest Israel lobby group that is funding opponents of left-wing candidates in primary elections.
Dr Thomas Gift, director of the Centre on US Politics at University College London, suggested the new nominee would seek to play safe on an incendiary issue.
“Harris isn’t attending Netanyahu’s speech before Congress due to a ‘scheduling issue’. That’s code for wanting to keep her distance from the entire Israel-Palestine issue,” he said. “As with Biden, this is a no-win topic for Harris. Any way she steers, she’ll get attacked from one side or the other.”
Kaivan Shroff, a commentator on US and Democrat politics who worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign, suggested that Harris could steer the party into a less accommodating position towards Israel.
“Vice President Harris and the entire Democratic Party now have an opportunity to reset messaging around Israel given Netanyahu’s visit and the reality that we are now several months past the initial attack”, he told i.
“While the US will remain as strong an ally to Israel as possible and continue to focus on getting hostages released – a priority of President Biden’s – we can already see major Democratic leaders like Jerry Nadler rebuke Netanyahu in stark terms.”
Harris will be at pains not to “undercut” Biden’s foreign policy during his final months in office, Shroff said, but suggested that the Democrats would continue to “evolve” their position before the election.
The leadership’s job of unifying the party could be made easier by their opponents’ growing extremism on the issue, he added.
“I think it’s also helpful that Trump and Republicans have now been fully campaigning as not pro-Israel but anti-Palestinian, with Trump even calling Biden a ‘Palestinian’ as some sort of intended insult at the first presidential debate,” said Shroff. “I think voters, including those further left, see the policy contrast more clearly between the Democrats and the Republicans.”