Netanyahu formally invited to address joint session of Congress

All four United States congressional leaders signed on to a letter on Friday inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington to address a joint meeting of Congress. The letter was delivered to the Israeli embassy in Washington.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote to Netanyahu that “the existential challenges we face, including the growing partnership between Iran, Russia and China, threaten the security, peace and prosperity of our countries and of free people around the world.”

“To build on our enduring relationship and to highlight America’s solidarity with Israel, we invite you to share the Israeli government’s vision for defending democracy, combating terror and establishing a just and lasting peace in the region,” the letter added.

It notes that Hamas continues to hold hostages from both nations.

“We join the State of Israel in your struggle against terror, especially as Hamas continues to hold American and Israeli citizens captive and its leaders jeopardize regional stability,” the leaders wrote. “For this reason … we would like to invite you to address a joint meeting of Congress.”

While media reports indicate that the goal is to schedule the address in the next two months, it is understood that a tight Capitol schedule in an election year might push the visit back to after the August recess.

Earlier on Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a multi-phased Israeli proposal to end its war with Hamas, including the gradual release of hostages and a release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners.

While Biden said Israel had degraded Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, he made no mention of any component of the proposal which would force Hamas from power in Gaza.

Elements of Biden’s Democratic party, including the president himself, have at times been harshly critical of Israel’s response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, causing a partisan splinter following near-universal sympathies from the Capitol in the wake of the brutal terror attack.