A new coalition of advocacy groups is urging U.S. lawmakers to skip Netanyahu’s speech in Washington, where protesters are planning demonstrations against the Israeli leader and the genocide in Gaza.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuthe World Economic Forum in Davos, January 2018.
(World Economic Forum, Flickr, Manuel Lopez, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
By Brett Wilkins
Common Dreams
Pressure is mounting on U.S. lawmakers to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled address to Congress Wednesday, after a newly formed coalition of civil society groups announced a protest against the far-right leader— whose policies and actions in Gaza are on trial for genocide at the World Court.
As Netanyahu “brings to Congress his message of extending and expanding the devastating war in Gaza, neglecting the safety of Israeli hostages, and ensuring impunity for the actions of his government, an alternative message must be heard,” the new coalition said in a statement Monday.
“To amplify a message of safety, freedom, just peace, collective liberation, and human rights for ALL Palestinians and Israelis, nine diverse groups have come together to form the Peace and Justice Protest Bloc,” it said.
The groups — American Friends of Combatants for Peace (AFCFP), Win Without War, T’ruah, Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, Israelis for Peace, Halachic Left, and three local chapters of Supporters of Standing Together — “will come together in Washington this week to urge members of Congress to skip Netanyahu’s speech, sponsor community events with peace activists from the region, and amplify the voices of those in Israel, Palestine, and around the world who reject Netanyahu’s failed leadership.”
U.S. Capitol police begin to arrest some of the hundreds of Jewish people protesting at the Capitol calling for a ceasefire & arms embargo to Israel pic.twitter.com/MdOQ0hNKxX
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) July 23, 2024
“The bloc, made up of hundreds of Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs, Jews, and allies, will unite to demonstrate that collective struggle and liberation are possible, and there is a growing movement that embodies it,” the coalition added. “We must act now to ensure that the voices for a just peace are louder than those of division and bloodshed.”
A larger protest by a coalition of groups including Palestinian Youth Movement, National Students for Justice in Palestine, CodePink, ANSWER Coalition, the People’s Forum, International Peoples’ Assembly, Al-Awda-N.Y., and the Palestinian American Community Center-N.J. is also planned for Wednesday, when Netanyahu is set to speak.
Organizers are planning to surround the U.S. Capitol.
The Peace & Justice Bloc will protest Netanyahu when he speaks to Congress next week calling for ceasefire and a hostage/prisoner deal and freedom to all Palestinians and Israelis. With @cfpeace @omdimbeyachad @israelispeaceny @WinWithoutWar @HalachicLeft and more. pic.twitter.com/01NJuniD4d
— Gili Getz (@giligetz) July 18, 2024
“A visit by Netanyahu to Congress and the U.S. confirms something we already knew: The United States of America financially and morally supports the slaughter of Palestinians happening in Gaza,” said CodePink Palestine campaign coordinator Nour Jaghama, who was arrested outside the Republican National Convention last week after being falsely accused of assaulting a Republican lawmaker. “They are no better than Netanyahu and every single Israeli official who orders the dropping of bombs on sieges on hospitals.”
No, Netanyahu should not be welcomed into the U.S. Congress.
On the contrary, his policies in Gaza and the West Bank and his refusal to support a two-state solution should be roundly condemned.
As I stated last month, I will not be attending his address. pic.twitter.com/sM8NKt1Bu2
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) July 22, 2024
Groups including the Council on American Islamic Relations and CodePink have circulated petitions urging members of Congress to boycott Netanyahu’s speech, which is set for Wednesday.
Numerous congressional Democrats have already said they will not attend the address, as has Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who on Monday reaffirmed why he’ll skip the speech.
“Netanyahu and his right-wing, extremist government have waged total war against the Palestinian people, killing at least 39,000 Palestinians and injuring 89,000 — 60 percent of whom are women, children, or elderly people,” Sanders said. “Netanyahu should not be welcomed into the United States Congress.”
ARREST NETANYAHU!
Join us in mass protest against Butcher of Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu this Wednesday in DC. He should be arrested for his crimes against humanity, not welcomed by our elected officials!
Get more info on joining CODEPINK at https://t.co/aC9Fl3oKIz pic.twitter.com/ZgVxtQeQE0
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) July 22, 2024
“On the contrary, his policies in Gaza and the West Bank and his refusal to support a two-state solution should be roundly condemned,” the senator added. “In my view, his right-wing, extremist government should not receive another nickel of U.S. taxpayer support to continue the inhumane destruction of Gaza.”
Axios Capitol Hill reporter Juliegrace Brufke said Monday that Vice President Kamala Harris — whom many Democrats have endorsed for president since U.S. President Joe Biden’s Sunday withdrawal from the 2024 race — has “declined” to preside over Netanyahu’s speech, as is her prerogative as Senate president. So has Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray (D-WA), leaving uncertainty as to who will preside over the session.
Like Biden, Harris has been an ardent supporter of Israel during her tenure in the U.S. Senate and White House. She is facing fresh calls take a “clear stance” against any more weapons sales for Israel.
In 2015 — the last time Netanyahu addressed Congress — nearly 60 lawmakers including Sanders boycotted his speech.
Some progressive groups and individuals have called for more than just a boycott of Netanyahu.
The Center for Constitutional Rights on Friday asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate Netanyahu and other Israeli officials for allegedly committing or authorizing genocide, war crimes, and torture.
The group led a federal genocide complicity lawsuit against Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that was dismissed last week.
Last month, former Democratic Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner argued that Netanyahu “should be arrested on the spot” for “overseeing a genocide.”
Meanwhile, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) warned attendees of the Republican National Convention event last week that he would order the arrest of any lawmakers who get “out of hand” during Netanyahu’s speech.
Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
This article is from Common Dreams.
Views expressed in this article and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Having Netanyahu address Congress certainly seems to make America a partner overtly complicit in Israel’s actions. What will this mean going forward especially if/when Israeli is found criminally guilty of genocide? Will this make the members of Congress liable as well? We can certainly hope and demand. Each of the Congressional clowns bowing and scraping to this Zionist monster should be noted and cataloged.
In any case, the US has certainly abandoned any shred of morality or legitimacy on the world stage. What a futile arrogance. These pathetic spit-lickers are hastening their own demise. Good riddance.
Yes, they are hastening their own demise via the arrival of a multi polar world. I think that the wars in Ukraine and Gaza will be looked at as the tipping point when western hegemony ended. I anticipated that this transition would be messy, but never thought so much blood would be shed in the attempt to maintain status quo. Truly an alarming situation the world is enduring.
When you look at what the collective west and USA are at risk of losing, namely world control, which means also wealth control, which no one nation should exercise nor several from the same continent, because for certain they are willing to murder as many as necessary, having tasted the headiness of such forbidden fruit, and also quite likely would murder their own families, as in the days of the old Ottoman Empire where fratricide was common in order to maintain power. Human beings in this day and age, as in any, are not equipped to resist the inherent temptations when dealing with vast power and far too much concentrated wealth which I can only surmise due to the evidence, is not healthy for humans, any humans.
CIA and MOSSAD and the international criminal cartel are likely to be planning if not already executing many more false flags for the dullards and purposely dumbed down of the world.
It’s taken a number of years to get to where the screed of fog is beginning to dissipate for some Americans. Having seen behind the curtain of fog, at least partially for a good many years of my life, it’s been a not very successful exercise in patience for myself towards others. I was called a “slow” thinker, and true, I have much difficulty thinking on my feet in front of a classroom, confronted with the EMF’s of 30 or more young people that some people are better at channeling than I. However, in response to what some consider a lack, I, at least learn, whether over time, or immediate, and I hope that’s true about all my “slow” brothers and sisters out there.
It seems as though our slowest learners are in office and cannot see the world any differently. Nothing changes for them as they are purposely wearing blinders to the truth of a changing world, no matter the cost in blood because of course these slow learners in office, head of multinational corporations, etc. all the silent world rulers, no matter the cost in blood, because that blood cost is their gateway to a world made livable for the benefit of the most inferior people on the face of the earth, the so called “elite” who are so undeserving of it, since they are the ones responsible for the earth’s current condition in the first place.
“What will this mean going forward especially if/when Israeli is found criminally guilty….”
Yes , International Court of Justice (ICJ) has found Israel guilty of the crime … ” , so ? – hxxps://www.vtforeignpolicy.com/2024/07/world-court-israel-committing-apartheid-must-return-palestinian-lands-occupied-since-1968-with-reparations/
The truly satanic nature of the US regime has never been more apparent.