Netanyahu to make history with fourth address to Congress

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint session of the U.S. Congress for a record fourth time on Wednesday, with the speech airing live in the Jewish state at 9 p.m.

With this speech, Netanyahu will surpass former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1941, 1943 and 1952) for the highest number of joint-session addresses by a foreign leader. The Israeli leader previously addressed joint sessions in 1996, 2011 and 2015.

The speech will also mark the 10th time that an Israeli leader has taken to the rostrum to address the national legislature of the United States, starting with former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1976 and most recently President Isaac Herzog last year.

Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of Louisiana will be sitting behind Netanyahu, but Vice President Kamala Harris will be absent due to what her office said was a scheduling conflict. Other Democrats are expected to boycott the speech, drawing criticism from Johnson and others.

“Democrats always seem to have an excuse for boycotting the Chamber when Israel’s Prime Minister addresses Congress. Joe Biden had a weak excuse for missing the last Netanyahu address in 2015, and now Kamala Harris is skipping his speech tomorrow. This is inexcusable,” Johnson tweeted on Tuesday.

The vice president, who also serves as the president of the Senate and is the tie-breaking vote, is traditionally present when foreign leaders speak. Senate president pro tempore Patty Murray was next in line to sit behind Netanyahu in Harris’s absence, but the Washington senator also won’t be attending the speech.

Therefore, Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee and is a Jewish pro-Israel Democrat, will sit beside Johnson and behind Netanyahu during the address.

Security will be tight for Netanyahu’s address, with protests planned against Israel’s war in Gaza. High fencing surrounds the Capitol building complex, with additional police deployed and streets around the nation’s capital closed to traffic.

Netanyahu intends to present a “new way” of dealing with the threat of the Iranian “axis of evil,” according to an Israeli official familiar with the prime minister’s plans.

The Israeli leader plans to address the threats that Iran poses both to the Jewish state and to other countries in the region, the official said.

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 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 President Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday to drop out of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

The Israeli premier is scheduled to meet with Biden at the White House on Thursday before heading to Florida to meet with former president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential race. Netanyahu is also supposed to meet with Harris, whom Biden has endorsed for the Democratic nomination.

Before his address, he is scheduled to speak at a memorial service at 10 a.m. E.T. for Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) at Washington Hebrew Congregation. Other expected speakers include Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Al Gore and Hadassah Lieberman.