Dem
51
GOP
49
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been invited to address Congress on July 24. Some Democrats are not pleased. They could walk out en masse when he starts speaking, but some of them want to make a stronger statement that they are unhappy with his policies in Gaza. And there are others who want to make a strong statement supporting him. There could be a lot of counterprogramming before, during, or after his speech.
Multiple proposals are being batted around to see how much support they can get. Progressives will probably hold one or more events focused on getting a ceasefire now so the killing can stop. Of course, Joe Biden is already working on that, but finding a proposal that both Israel and Hamas can agree to is not so easy. Other Democrats may take part in an event where the focus is bringing all the hostages home. To that end, they may invite the families of the hostages to take part. They may accuse Netanyahu of not doing enough to save the hostages. Still other Democrats are concerned that Netanyahu is undermining the work Biden and Secretary of State Tony Blinken are doing to try to establish peace.
Discussions are in the early stages and there could well be multiple counterprogramming events held. In addition, some House members may boycott the speech and others may try to disrupt it. Since Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is pro-Israel, he will probably not tolerate disruption and will order the sergeant-at-arms to remove anyone disrupting Netanyahu's speech.
As an aside, (V) once attended a formal ceremony at a university to confer an honorary doctorate on someone certain students did not like at all. They barged in and started chanting. The president of the university thought quickly and said: "I'll offer you a deal. You get one minute to state your case against the honoree and then you leave quietly. If you refuse the deal, I will have security remove you by force right now." The students took the deal, made their case, and then left.
Netanyahu probably understands America as well as any foreign leader. He studied at M.I.T. and received a bachelor's degree there in architecture in 1975. Then he got a master's from M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management, where he graduated near the top of his class. He simultaneously took courses at Harvard. He was studying for a Ph.D. in political science at M.I.T. when his brother was killed, so he returned to Israel. His professors have said he was extremely bright and organized. He speaks unaccented English and if you didn't know better, could pass for a senator from somewhere in New England. He will know exactly what to say to Congress to get the largest number of members to support him.
Donald Trump likes Netanyahu and vice-versa. Netanyahu will do his best to help Trump, but he is clever enough not to let that show. Biden and Netanyahu don't like each other and don't agree on much. Nevertheless, Netanyahu is dependent on Biden for weapons and more at least until Jan. 20, 2025, and maybe until Jan. 20, 2029, so he has to be very careful in how he helps Trump because he can't afford to anger Biden now. (V)