In his address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to present a “new way” of dealing with the threat that Iran’s axis of evil presents, according to an Israeli official familiar with the prime minister’s plans.
Netanyahu plans to address the threats that Iran poses both to the Jewish state and to other countries in the region, the member of the Israeli premier’s delegation said on Tuesday.
The prime minister’s address is also expected to focus on Israel’s efforts to achieve a complete victory over Hamas and liberate the remaining 120 hostages held in the Gaza Strip and to emphasize the justness of the war on Hamas and the bravery of Israeli troops.
In Washington, Netanyahu is seeking to solidify bipartisan support amid ongoing conflicts on the Jewish state’s borders and following Biden’s decision, on Sunday, to drop out of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
The Israeli leader is scheduled to meet with evangelical Christian leaders on Tuesday afternoon and to attend an event with members of the U.S. Jewish community, his office announced.
Prior to his speech at the Capitol on Wednesday, Netanyahu is scheduled to attend a memorial service for Joe Lieberman. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are among the other leaders expected to attend the service for the late Jewish senator.
Netanyahu’s address to the joint session of Congress is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
Schumer, Johnson, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) collectively invited Netanyahu to deliver the address, which “symbolizes the U.S. and Israel’s enduring relationship,” the four stated in June.
They added that the speech “will offer Prime Minister 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.”
Netanyahu’s speech will mark the fourth time the Israeli premier has addressed the legislatures—a record for any foreign leader.
Later this week, Netanyahu is expected to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the U.S. vice president whom Biden has endorsed for the Democratic nomination for president.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump plans to host Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., on Friday, the Republican presidential candidate announced on Tuesday.
The longtime Israeli leader plans to focus during his visit primarily on the threat posed by Iranian-backed terrorist organizations, according to Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador in Washington.
“There is a whole world of issues on the agenda on the bilateral level between Israel and the United States, which will not wait and cannot wait,” Herzog told Israel’s Ynet news outlet on Tuesday. “These issues will be discussed during the prime minister’s visit here.”
“The prime minister is coming here at a time when Israel has been in a difficult war already for more than nine months,” Herzog added. “However, the strategic focus of the visit will be on the Iranian axis.”
Israel has been engaged in combat with Iran-backed terrorist proxies—including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels—since Hamas-led terrorists murdered about 1,200 Israelis and took some 250 others hostage on Oct. 7.
The Israeli Air Force struck Houthi terror targets in the western Yemen port city of Hodeidah on Saturday following a deadly suicide drone attack by the Iran-backed organization in Tel Aviv the prior day.
“Like Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis are an integral part of Iran’s axis of evil,” Netanyahu stated on Saturday. “This axis operates not only against Israel, it threatens the peace of the entire world.”