Battenfeld: Liberal Democrats threaten to boycott and disrupt speech by Israeli leader
Liberal Democrats including one from Massachusetts are vowing to boycott Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in a protest that could further alienate Jewish voters from President Joe Biden in the November election.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said he won’t attend the speech by “war criminal” Netanyahu and other Democrats said they also won’t go if Netanyahu speaks to a joint session.
In Massachusetts, Rep. Jim McGovern said he will also boycott the address because he doesn’t support Israel’s bombing of Gaza.
“I wish it (Netanyahu’s speech) wasn’t (happening),” McGovern told Axios.
Other progressive Democrats joined in saying a large number of them plan to boycott or disrupt Netanyahu’s address – even though most claim to be strong supporters of Israel.
But the boycott could cast a shadow on the fall election by angering Jewish voters who represent a crucial chunk of the electorate in battleground states like Florida. Biden can ill afford to suffer any further defections from traditional Democratic voting blocs if he hopes to be re-elected.
Netanyahu was invited to speak to Congress sometime in the next few months by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. The invite was also signed by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal,” Sanders said in a statement. “He should not be invited to address a joint meeting of Congress. I certainly will not attend.”
Sanders also told NBC News that he blamed Johnson for staging the speech.
“What Mr. Johnson is going to have to explain to the American people is why he thinks it’s okay to invite somebody to a joint session who is responsible for the deaths of some 38,000 Palestinians at this point,” the flame-throwing Vermont senator said.
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) predicts the boycott “will be large,” saying “a lot of people are extremely upset he is coming here.”
That might be exactly why Johnson invited Netanyahu to Congress – to highlight Democrats’ abandonment of Israel in their war against Hamas.
Fifty-eight Democrats including McGovern and U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) also skipped a 2015 speech to Congress by Netanyahu.
“The House chamber should not be used as a platform for a foreign leader to run his re-election campaign,” McGovern said at the time.
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But the boycott of Netanyahu’s speech this year is dividing Democrats, some of whom realize the importance of Jewish voters in the November election.
Democratic leaders signed off on the invitation to the speech by the Israeli leader and may be uncomfortable with their colleagues’ boycott protest – especially if it widens into an embarrassing disruption.
The Netanyahu speech comes as liberal voters threaten to abandon Biden in the fall election due to the United States’ military support of Israel. That could be a double whammy if Jewish voters also move to Republican Donald Trump.
