The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they happen.
US House speaker says Netanyahu to ‘soon’ address joint session of Congress
US House Speaker Mike Johnson announces that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will “soon” be giving an address to a joint session of Congress.
“This will be a timely and a very strong show of support to the Israeli government in their time of greatest need,” Johnson says in a speech at the Israeli Embassy in Washington’s Independence Day event.
Johnson does not elaborate as to when Netanyahu’s speech will be, but the speaker tells reporters on the sidelines of the event that US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer informed him that he would sign off on the invitation.
Schumer’s apparent cooperation comes just one month after he called for early elections in Israel to replace Netanyahu, who he branded an obstacle to peace.
Even if an invitation is extended, it is not entirely clear whether Netanyahu will choose to accept, given the divisive nature of such a speech.
Nearly 60 Democrats boycotted Netanyahu’s last joint session address in 2015, which was organized by Republican Congressional leaders behind the back of then-president Barak Obama in order for the Israeli premier to lobby against the nuclear deal that Washington wound up signing with Iran later that year.
A much larger number of Democrats would likely boycott a Netanyahu speech that comes amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which has become increasingly unpopular among progressives.
The war has also led to a rupture in Netanyahu’s relationship with US President Joe Biden, who threatened for the first time earlier this month to withhold weapons from Israel if it launched a massive offensive in the civilian areas of Rafah.
While Netanyahu appears to have shored up an invite from Congress, he has not yet received one from the White House and the premier may not want to make the trip without one, as it would further highlight this divide. Prior to October 7, Biden had not invited Netanyahu to visit Washington since the latter’s return to office in late 2022, with the two at odds over several issues.
However, an official familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel that Netanyahu has been speaking in recent weeks with interest to Republican Congressional leaders about a potential address to a joint session, viewing it as an opportunity to make Israel’s case on the global stage, and is less concerned about some of the political fallout within the US.
US soldier in critical condition at Israeli hospital after being hurt during Gaza aid pier op
One of the three US soldiers who suffered non-combat injuries during the Gaza aid pier operation is in critical condition at an Israeli hospital, a US defense official tells Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The service member was medically evacuated to the hospital after being injured on a ship at sea, according to US Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the deputy commander of US Central Command. The other two troops, who Cooper said sustained a sprained ankle and a minor back injury, have since returned to duty.
The injuries are the first for US forces during the latest operation to bring humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, amid the war between Israel and Hamas.
German police clear anti-Israel protesters from Berlin university
BERLIN — German police have cleared about 150 pro-Palestinian demonstrators from a Berlin university faculty, ending one of a wave of student-led protests across Europe over Israel’s conduct in its war against Hamas.
Activists had occupied several rooms of the Humboldt University’s Institute for Social Sciences in downtown Berlin on Wednesday.
Student Coalition Berlin, the group which organized the protest, called in a statement posted on social media for the university to “take an active role in ending the genocide against the people of Palestine and their decades-long suffering.”
University administrators agreed after talks with protest leaders to let them stay until Thursday evening. But they called in the police when some of them refused to leave, German news agency dpa reports.
Police spokeswoman Beate Ostertag says that, while some of the demonstrators left voluntarily, police officers had to lead others from the building. Police say about 130 people were briefly detained during the operation, in which officers broke through several barricaded doors.
Student protests against Israel over the war in Gaza that began in the United States have spread to university campuses in many European countries. In Germany, protests have taken place this week at universities in cities including Munich and Leipzig.
Berlin authorities have taken a tough line against anti-Israeli demonstrations, urging police to step in if demonstrators use slogans that could incite hatred against Jews – taboo in a country marked by the memory of the Holocaust.
“There is no place for hate and antisemitism in Berlin and at our universities,” says Burkard Dregger, a lawmaker for the Christian Democratic Union, which leads the Berlin state government.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Three US troops sustain non-combat injuries during Gaza pier operation
Three US troops have suffered noncombat injuries during the operation to build and operate a pier off the coast of Gaza to bring humanitarian aid to Palestinians, US Vice Admiral Brad Cooper tells reported.
The deputy commander of US Central Command says that two of the injuries include a sprained ankle and a minor back injury, while declining to offer details on the third injury.
He adds that one of the soldiers has been medically evacuated to a local hospital.
The US military finished installing the floating pier last week and began ferrying badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave after seven months of intense fighting in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel.
US President Joe Biden ordered it to help Palestinians facing starvation as food and other supplies have dwindled due to interruptions caused by the war.
American officials have insisted that US troops will not set foot in Gaza, though they acknowledge the danger of operating near the war zone.