WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s With his visit to Washington looming this week, Difficult The confrontation between the two allies comes at a time of extreme political volatility in the United States and growing wariness among American leaders of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government. His own story Interfering in US domestic politics.
Netanyahu’s main purpose in his visit is to address a joint session of Congress, but his meetings with administration officials are also expected to help make progress in the U.S.-led mediation effort to end the nine-month-old Israel-Hamas war. The visit comes as the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza approaches 40,000. It also comes a week in which new deaths were reported among surviving hostages, including Israelis, Americans and other nationalities who were held by Hamas and other extremists in the hours since the war began.
Netanyahu planned the visit weeks before the foundations of U.S. politics began to suddenly shake this summer, with the July 13 assassination attempt on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and President Joe Biden’s decision Sunday to abandon his stalled re-election campaign and instead endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as his presidential candidate.
Protests are planned against Netanyahu’s speech to both houses of parliament on Wednesday.
Visit details:
The Israeli leader will visit the U.S. Capitol in what is sure to be a high-profile diplomatic, political and security test.
Why Netanyahu is coming
The political dimension for Netanyahu is that his popularity at home is plummeting, and the visit was seen, at least initially, as a chance for him to present himself as a global statesman, welcomed by lawmakers and leaders of Israel’s closest ally and the world’s only superpower.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson He helped Prime Minister Netanyahu deliver a speech to lawmakers.He stressed that Republicans stand firmly behind the Israeli leader. Tensions remain between Netanyahu and Biden, despite the Biden administration’s military and diplomatic backing for Israel’s war efforts.
Biden and Netanyahu are scheduled to meet on Thursday, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the White House announcement. Harris is also due to meet separately with Netanyahu the same day.
Speaking for the White House, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said at a national security council in Colorado last week that President Biden will focus in the coming weeks on discussions between the United States, Israel and other countries about what it takes to reach an agreement on the release of the hostages and a ceasefire.
“I think we’re on the brink of ending this war,” Biden said during a call with campaign staff on Monday.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu addressed longer-term issues before leaving Israel on Monday, saying he wanted to discuss with Biden continuing the war with Hamas, confronting other Iran-backed militia groups in the region and releasing hostages.
Why Netanyahu’s visit is controversial
The Israeli war has caused bitter divisions in the United States, sparking protests and arrests on college campuses, alienating some voters on both sides and derailing Biden’s months-long efforts to end the fighting.
The visit is Netanyahu’s first trip abroad since the war began on Oct. 7. It is also his first since the International Criminal Court announced it was seeking his arrest on charges of war crimes in Israel’s attacks on Gaza. Israel denies any wrongdoing, and the United States does not recognize the International Criminal Court.
Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel Ceasefire and hostage release agreement avoided Relatives of the hostages repeated the accusation on Monday that the move is an attempt to stay in power.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has not hesitated to criticize the Democratic government. Including BidenIn 2015, the Israeli leader tried to destroy lawmakers’ and public support for President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran in a speech before both houses of Congress, angering administration officials by calling the deal bad and dangerous.
Sullivan said administration officials do not expect this week to be a repeat of 2015.
Netanyahu’s timing
Things look bad: Even as Netanyahu was heading to Washington on Monday, American politics and voters were still adjusting to the sudden shift of focus in the Democratic presidential race from Biden to Harris, who was still recovering from COVID-19 in Delaware.
Senate President Harris typically sits behind foreign leaders but will be absent Wednesday due to a planned trip to Indianapolis ahead of her weekend rise to become the leading Democratic presidential candidate.
President Trump agreed to meet with the Israeli leader on Friday, an announcement he made on Truth Social and used to promote what he calls his “peace through strength” policy abroad.
Trump has a complicated relationship with Netanyahu, whom he has criticized for portraying him as being quick to acknowledge Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Protests are planned
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s joint parliamentary address is likely to be slightly different from previous speeches, due to opposition within his Democratic Party to his handling of the Gaza war.
In Harris’ absence, Netanyahu will be deputized by Sen. Pro Tem Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat who is also among those declining to attend. She will be replaced by Sen. Ben Cardin, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who told The Associated Press he hopes Netanyahu will use the speech to outline the future for both Israel and Palestine.
Family members of some of the hostages were reportedly accompanying Netanyahu, but he said other relatives who have criticized the handling of the crisis were also sitting in the chamber.
Lawmakers tried to boycott the speech He said he would set aside time to talk with the families of those being held by Hamas.
Several protests are planned outside the parliament building, with some condemning the entire Israeli military operation and others voicing support for Israel but calling on Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire and allow the hostages to return home.
The largest protest is planned for Wednesday morning, with organizers planning a march around the Capitol building. Calls for arrest of Prime Minister Netanyahu It was an alleged war crime, and the participation was estimated at at least 5,000 people, according to a permit application submitted to the National Park Service.
The protest took place on Tuesday Protests are expected to continue throughout the day on Wednesday, with relatives of the Israeli hostages planning to hold a rally on the National Mall.
Security is tight
Fences have been erected at the entrances to the Capitol and to the hotel along the Potomac River where Netanyahu is staying, and extra Capitol Police and Secret Service personnel have been deployed to step up screening and security measures in preparation for the Israeli leader’s visit.
The London Metropolitan Police Road closure That will continue for most of this week.
The trip comes as the Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting visiting foreign leaders, has come under heightened security and intense political criticism from both parties over security failures during the Trump attack that led Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign on Tuesday.
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Associated Press writers Ammar Madani and Zeke Miller in Washington and Joseph Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
