About 1,500 demonstrators have gathered in Washington, DC to protest against Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to joint session of the Congress, scheduled for 2pm local time (18:00 GMT).
It will be Netanyahu’s fourth appearance before the legislative body.
His speech will seek to shore up American support for his war in Gaza and redirect the attention of a nation that has been preoccupied for weeks by a stream of domestic political issues.
Protesters continued to flood into the US capital ahead of Netanyahu’s address.
Tensions are high among crowds of protesters. With security ramped up, people from many coalitions with a variety of messages are making speeches, carrying signs and waving flags.
Earlier, the Hostages Families Forum urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to open his remarks to the US Congress today with the words; “There’s a deal.”
The forum stated that without those words, “there will be neither victory nor revival.”
The forum added, “These words contain everything necessary to begin a process of national healing. They embody the essence of mutual responsibility and mark the end of abandonment and sacrifice of citizens whose safety was violated.”
The forum said 120 hostages “are waiting for the government to take decisive and necessary action: sign a deal to return the living for rehabilitation and bring the murdered and fallen home for proper burial in their homeland.”
Many of the hostages’ families have criticized Netanyahu’s trip to Washington DC – saying that he should have remained at home to secure a deal.
Netanyahu’s speech was also not welcomed by all members of the US Congress, some of whom have decided to boycott the appearance.
Johnson And Netanyahu Hold Press Conference Ahead Of Speech
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in the halls of the Capitol for a short press conference, ahead of the Israeli leader’s speech to a joint session of Congress.
Johnson opened the briefing by reaffirming support for Israel’s war in Gaza and pledging to help Israelis “live freely and securely in their ancestral homeland.”
“Our dear ally Israel is in an existential fight for its very existence, and that fight extends to every one of its borders,” Johnson said.
“Today the Israeli people are working to defeat Hamas, following of course the horrific massacre on October 7th. They’re having to ward off Hezbollah in the north. They’re having to respond Houthi attacks in Tel Aviv. And they fended off a historic watershed direct attack from Iran itself.”
Mike Johnson
He later added, “The most powerful nation in the modern world is standing with our Jewish friends and the Israeli government.”
On his part, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu offered warm words to the congressional leaders who invited him to address the legislature.
“Speaker Johnson, you have shown great leadership, along with the leaders of the Senate and the minority leader in the House,” Netanyahu said.
He added, “The Congress of the United States speaks for the American people, and the American people speak for the entire world. I very much value this opportunity to address this august forum.”
Both Johnson and Netanyahu noted that the speech fell after the Seventeenth of Tammuz, a day in the Jewish holy calendar commemorating when the Roman army breached Jerusalem’s walls two thousand years ago.
“Our enemies will not breach our walls today,” Netanyahu said.
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