Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to demonstrate against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address before a joint session of Congress.
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Netanyahu’s trip to the Capitol has been controversial since House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) first announced his plans to invite the prime minister in May. Several lawmakers declined to attend the joint session given the brutality of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, and the ongoing investigations into human rights violations committed by the Israeli military in their ongoing siege against Gaza.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the most vocally pro-Palestine member of Congress, did attend Netanyahu’s speech. She wore a Palestinian pin and scarf, and held up a “WAR CRIMINAL” sign as Netanyahu spoke.
Netanyahu described Israel’s ongoing war against Gaza, in which the state’s military has killed tens of thousands of Palestinans, as a “clash between barbarism and civilization,” and decried allegations of atrocities by the Israeli government as antisemitic propaganda. He added that Israel must have “overriding security control” over Gaza “for the foreseeable future,” but that Israel “does not seek” to resettle the region.
“Give us the tools faster and we’ll finish the job faster,” he told Congress.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote on X in June that he would not be attending, calling Netanyahu a “war criminal,” referencing the International Criminal Court’s May request for an arrest warrant against the prime minister.
The boycott includes dozens of lawmakers, including some Republicans. Vice President Kamala Harris declined to preside over the event in her role as president of the Senate. Other prominent Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are skipping the address . Pelosi’s office indicated that she would instead be meeting with “Israeli citizens whose families have suffered in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack and kidnappings.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) wrote that the event is “political theater on behalf of the State Department,” in an X post on Wednesday. “The purpose of having Netanyahu address Congress is to bolster his political standing in Israel and to quell int’l opposition to his war. I don’t feel like being a prop so I won’t be attending.”
Outside of the Capitol, protesters have been making their displeasure known.
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For weeks ahead of the visit, “WANTED” posters displaying Netanyahu’s image were posted on public infrastructure around the city. A similar image was projected on the external facade of the Watergate Hotel — where the prime minister is staying — on Tuesday night. A Watergate spokesperson confirmed to Politico on Wednesday that demonstrators released maggots on Netanyahu’s table at the hotel.
On Wednesday, groups of demonstrators attempted to barricade Netanyahu’s potential routes to the Capitol, with one group bringing out an effigy of the prime minister in handcuffs. The motorcade driving Netanyahu to the Capitol was reportedly forced to reroute .
“Netanyahu should be in handcuffs, not in the halls of Congress. We demand that our elected officials stop platforming war criminals and enabling genocide,” Loan Tran, national director of Rising Majority, said in a statement provided to Rolling Stone .” Congress and the Biden administration should not be rolling out the red carpet for a war criminal and leader of a state credibly charged with committing genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people. If they won’t block him, then we will!”
Punchbowl News reported that “senior Capitol Hill aides and lawmakers have been told in briefings that there could be upwards of 10,000 protestors on the Hill today.” Speaker Johnson issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to his fellow lawmakers warning that “If any disturbance does occur,” during Netanyahu’s speech, “the Sergeant at Arms and Capitol Police will remove the offending visitor(s) from the gallery and subject them to arrest.”
Capitol Police arrested approximately 200 protesters who occupied the Cannon House Office building’s rotunda on Tuesday. Jewish Voice for Peace, the Jewish anti-Zionist group that organized the demonstration, decried the prime minister’s invitation to the Capitol in a statement on their website . “For nine months, we’ve watched in horror as the Israeli government has carried out a genocide, armed and funded by the U.S. Congress and the Biden administration have the power to end this horror today,” Stefanie Fox, the group’s executive director, wrote. “Instead, our president is preparing to meet with Netanyahu and Congressional leadership has honored him with an invitation to address Congress. Enough is enough. Biden and Congress must listen to the people: We need an arms embargo now to save lives.”
Tension escalated as Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday, with law enforcement using pepper spray on protesters outside of the Capitol.
More than 200 New York Police Department Officers were temporarily sworn in as Capitol Police Special Officers in order to assist with law enforcement activity throughout D.C. The increased police presence clearly did not deter protesters, who maintain that Netanyahu’s invitation to the capital serves only to whitewash the atrocities being committed in Gaza.
“I’m not coming to only confront Netanyahu, I want to confront this administration and the members of Congress who arm and provide diplomatic cover to an apartheid regime as it carries out a genocidal assault on Palestinians,” said Thomas Keppen, a U.S. Army Veteran and member of the organization About Face: Veterans Against the War, in a statement provided to Rolling Stone . “Rather than funding war crimes, we should be mobilizing resources to strengthen our communities and guarantee a dignified life for all.”
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