Netanyahu to address a Congress deeply divided over his leadership

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris will be absent from the rostrum.

The rows of seats on the Democratic side of the House chamber will be conspicuously emptier than those on the Republican side.

And tensions are running so high that Speaker Mike Johnson has threatened to have anyone who causes a disturbance on the floor or in the gallery above arrested.

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel arrives on Capitol Hill on Wednesday afternoon to address a joint meeting of Congress, he will confront a legislative body divided over his leadership in the face of international censure over the war in the Gaza Strip, with some showing open hostility to the government of a country that is supposed to be among the United States’ closest allies.

“I will seek to anchor the bipartisan support that is so important for Israel,” Netanyahu said before departing Israel for his visit to Washington.

In reality, his visit will underscore the divides within the Democratic Party over the Israel-Hamas war at a moment when the party is seeking to unite around Harris as its presumptive presidential nominee. She declined to preside over Netanyahu’s speech, as is traditional for the vice president, citing a scheduling conflict.

She is only the most high-profile Democrat who will be absent — empty seats on one side of the chamber will represent the deep anger from the party’s progressive base about Netanyahu’s conduct of the war with Hamas.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said she would not be attending the speech for the simple reason that she thinks Netanyahu is a “war criminal” for his tactics in the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza and caused a humanitarian disaster.

So does Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., the sole Palestinian American in Congress. “It is utterly disgraceful that leaders from both parties have invited him to address Congress,” she said in a statement.

“He should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court.”

Rep.Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, was planning to stay away, and the list of Democratic no-shows was growing by the hour Tuesday afternoon. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., stared blankly at a reporter Tuesday when pressed twice about whether she planned to attend and refused to answer the question.

In the Senate, several in the Democratic caucus, including Sens. Patty Murray of Washington, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have said they plan to skip the address.

In place of Harris, Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, who leads the Foreign Relations Committee and is strongly pro-Israel, will sit beside Johnson and behind Netanyahu.

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