US House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed on Wednesday evening that the legislative chamber’s Republican caucus is considering inviting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress, amid a deepening divide between the premier and Democrats over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
“It’s one of the things that we have in mind, and we may try to arrange for that,” Johnson told reporters. “I think it’s very important for us to show solidarity and support for Israel right now in their time of great struggle, and we certainly stand for that position and we’ll try to advance that in every way that we can.”
The House speaker said he’d had a “lengthy conversation” with Netanyahu earlier in the day, and “reiterated to him the House Republicans’ strong support for Israel.”
The show of solidarity with Netanyahu and the Israeli government by the GOP comes a week after US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Israel to hold new elections, declaring that Netanyahu had “lost his way” and was an obstacle to peace in the region.
According to Axios, the possibility of inviting Netanyahu was first raised in a closed-door meeting of congressmen on Wednesday which focused on finding ways to counteract Schumer’s comments.
Attendees also floated the possibility of bringing Israeli lawmakers over to Washington to meet with the Republican Conference, a House Republican told Axios.
Netanyahu previously addressed Congress at the invitation of the Republican party in March 2015, when his highly controversial appearance was arranged behind the back of then-US president Barack Obama.
He used that speech to warn that the nuclear deal then taking shape between Iran and Western powers “paves the path for Iran” to a nuclear arsenal, rather than blocking it, and urged American leaders to walk away from what he called “a very bad deal.”
Then-vice president Joe Biden did not attend the speech, highlighting the Democrats’ displeasure with the appearance, while Obama dismissed it as “nothing new.”
At the same time as Republicans contemplate inviting Netanyahu to once again address Congress, Schumer declined a request by the prime minister to speak at the Senate Democratic Caucus.
A spokesperson for Schumer confirmed that Netanyahu had offered to speak to the Democrats but that the Senate leader had turned him down, saying that the conversation should not be a partisan one.
“I care deeply about Israel and its long-term future. When you make the issue partisan, you hurt the cause of helping Israel,” Schumer told reporters.
Following Schumer’s speech on the Senate floor last week, Netanyahu’s Likud party accused the Jewish Democrat of “totally inappropriate behavior” and of treating Israel like a “banana republic.”
Schumer later told The New York Times that he had contemplated calling for Netanyahu to step down altogether in his speech, but decided against it so as not to be seen as lecturing Israel.
The growing divide between Netanyahu’s government and US Democrats was further highlighted on Wednesday when Netanyahu addressed Republican senators via video linkup to their weekly policy lunch.
During the conversation, the premier told them that Israel will continue its efforts to defeat Gaza terror group Hamas, senators told reporters.
“He’s going to do what he said he’s going to do. He’s going to finish it,” Senator Jim Risch said.
Netanyahu updated the Republican senators “on the war, on the release of the hostages and on the efforts to defeat Hamas,” Senator John Barrasso said. “We told him Israel has every right to defend themselves and he said that’s exactly what they continue to do.”
Israel’s war with the Hamas terror group in Gaza began after the shock terror onslaught on October 7 in which some 1,200 people were slaughtered, most of them civilians, and 253 people were seized as hostages.
Of that number, 130 are still captive in Gaza, and military intelligence has determined that at least 33 are no longer alive.
Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Netanyahu had addressed civilian casualties and the need to get more aid into Gaza. He said Netanyahu was “very supportive” of plans to build a temporary pier and bring in aid by sea.
“He’s very sensitive to the fact that every civilian casualty is a very unfortunate event,” Risch said.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has claimed that since October 7, more than 31,800 people have been killed. These figures cannot be independently verified, however, and do not differentiate between civilians and combatants, of whom Israel says it has killed over 13,000 inside Gaza. An additional 1,000 are estimated to have been killed inside Israel on and immediately after October 7.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Netanyahu had made a presentation and then taken questions from senators.
“I made it clear to him, that it’s not the business of the United States to be giving a democratic ally advice about when to have an election or what kind of military campaign they may be conducting,” McConnell told reporters, referring to Schumer’s comments.