Hundreds of protesters are rallying within sight of the Capitol building, denouncing Israel’s war in Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hours before he is set to address members of Congress.
Vice President Kamala Harris will not be in attendance, as she is back on the campaign trail. She will head to the solidly Republican state of Indiana.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden will address the nation tonight at 8 p.m. ET.
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Here’s the Latest:
Netanyahu thanks Biden for his efforts and ‘hearfelt support for Israel’
Netanyahu on Wednesday said Biden stood with Israel in his darkest hour and it will “never be forgotten.”
“I want to thank him for half a century of friendship to Israel,” he said.
Many had expected Netanyahu to use his address before Congress to once again criticize the Democratic president but the prime minister’s remarks so far have been complimentary and gracious to President Joe Biden, who stepped down days ago as the Democratic nominee for president, for “half a century of friendship to Israel.”
Police deployed pepper spray on protesters near US Capitol
Police deployed pepper spray Wednesday as a large crowd protesting Israel’s war in Gaza marched toward the U.S. Capitol, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was speaking to Congress.
Thousands of protesters descended on Washington, chanting “Free, Free Palestine” as some tried to block streets ahead of Netanyahu’s speech. Police wearing gas marks blocked the crowd, which was calling for an end to the war that has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians, from getting closer to the Capitol.
U.S. Capitol Police said in a post on X that some members of the crowd had become “violent” and had “failed to obey” orders to move back from the police line.
“We are deploying pepper spray toward anyone trying to break the law and cross that line,” Capitol Police said.
Netanyahu begins speech to Congress
“For the forces of civilization to triumph, America and Israel must stand together,” Netanyahu said. “When we stand together something really great happens: we win, they lose.
He wore a pin with Israeli and U.S. flags on one side, and a yellow pin expressing solidarity with the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
More than 50 congressional Dems absent from Netanyahu’s address
By the time Netanyahu was set to begin his address before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, more than fifty congressional Democrats were noticeably absent after announcing publicly that they would not be attending the speech in protest of the prime minister’s handling of the war.
Protesters gather outside US Embassy in Tel Aviv ah
ead of Netanyahu’s speech
Protests were also taking place in Israel ahead of Netanyahu’s speech, with demonstrators demanding a cease-fire in exchange for the release of the roughly 120 hostages still held by Hamas. About 200 protesters gathered outside the U.S. Embassy Branch Office in Tel Aviv, some holding signs reading “Bibi, enemy of Israel,” referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
US Rep. Tlaib among those attending Netanyahu’s address
While many Democrats declined to attend the prime minister’s speech as a way to protest how Netanyahu has led the war against Hamas, one outspoken critic of his conduct is attending.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, took a seat in the House chamber with a keffiyeh, which she often wears, wrapped over her shoulders. Tlaib was censured last year for her strident criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war.
Netanyahu arrives on Capitol Hill, greets House Speaker Johnson
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived on Capitol Hill and has greeted House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“We are certainly happy to welcome our friend,” Johnson said.
“Today and every day America must stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel,” Johnson said.
“Speaker Johnson, you have shown great leadership,” Netanyahu said.
The two men spoke briefly, podiums side by side, at the Capitol.
‘We are not playing around,’ Harris tells gathering of historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta members
Vice President Kamala Harris told a gathering of the historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta in Indianapolis on Wednesday that “we are not playing around,” in the 2024 presidential election.
And she asked them for their support in helping to elect her.
Harris said: “In this moment, I believe we face a choice between two different visions for our nation — one focused on the future, the other focused on the past.
“And with your support, I am fighting for our nation’s future.”
Voters in Indiana haven’t backed a Democratic presidential candidate in nearly 16 years. But the biennial meeting of roughly 6,000 people, mostly women, is part of a constituency Harris hopes will turn out for her in massive numbers: women of color.
President Joe Biden stepped away from the race on Sunday.
Family members
of Israeli hostages criticize Netanyahu’s trip to the US
At an event with dozens of Democrats ahead of Netanyahu’s speech, several family members of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas last year unleashed criticism at the prime minister for coming to the U.S. when he could be focused on securing a deal to free those taken captive.
“The hostage family forum back home urged Netanyahu not to come here and give this speech now at a time when a deal is so close,” said Maya Roman, who had several family members taken hostage. “Because by coming here, he risks making himself the issue, turning the humanitarian issue of the hostages into a political one.”
U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, called the event a “powerful” reminder of the importance of reaching a cease-fire deal and returning the hostages.
“It’s painful for them to have Netanyahu here in Washington kind of promoting himself when their loved ones are still being held hostage,” he said.
Vance labels Harris an out-of-touch ‘career politician’
Trump’s VP pick is characterizing Harris, his running mate’s possible November opponent, as an out-of-touch “career politician.”
“What has she ever done for this country?” Vance asked conservative activist and host Charlie Kirk in a podcast interview Wednesday.
The 39-year-old Vance, who has begun hitting the campaign trail both solo and with Trump in recent days, also argued that his addition to the GOP ticket can help appeal to young voters.
“If you’re a young voter in this economy with interest rates skyrocketing how can you possibly afford to buy a house?” Vance said. “If you want to turn the page on that … you’ve got to vote for President Trump.”
Vance said he sees the two top issues as the economy and U.S.-Mexico border, on both of which he argued that Biden — and now Harris — are not succeeding.
“I think we have to make a substantive argument that the Kamala Harris-Joe Biden agenda has failed for this country,” Vance said. ”Do we want four years even worse than the last four years?”
Senate Republicans criticize Harris over absence from Netanyahu’s address before Congress
Senate Republicans are criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris for skipping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address today before a joint session of Congress.
Harris is in Indianapolis where she’s speaking to the historically Black Zeta Phi Beta sorority’s biennial convention. She is set to hold private talks with Netanyahu at the White House later this week.
The vice president is the presiding officer of the Senate and would typically co-preside over such an event with the House speaker. But there have been other instances in recent history when the vice president has skipped such addresses by foreign leaders because of scheduling conflicts.
“She should be here whether she likes the prime minister of Israel or not, whether she respects him or not, she should be here,” said Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, who organized a press conference with fellow Senate Republicans that largely focused on Harris’ absence from the speech.”It is a disgrace.”
Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice president nominee, is also skipping the speech to campaign.
“He’s not the sitting vice president of the United States,” Ernst said.
2 Senate committees will hold a hearing next week on the assassination attempt on Trump
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin announced the hearing on the Senate floor Wednesday, saying that the Judiciary panel will hold the joint hearing with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
He said the committees will conduct a bipartisan investigation into the shooting.
The panels will hear from the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI, Durbin said, and they will also have a closed-door classified briefing. Witnesses have not yet been announced.
Mother of Israeli hostage slams delaying of negotiating team to cease-fire talks
The mother of an Israeli held hostage by Hamas in Gaza has slammed the delay of the Israeli negotiating team to cease-fire talks.
“Instead of announcing in Congress that he agrees to the deal on the table, Netanyahu is preventing the deal’s fruition because of personal considerations. Even if we hear of more hostages who died in the tunnels, he will continue his PR mission in the U.S. and will continue to drag his feet,” said Einav Zangauker, who has been a vocal critic of Netanyahu throughout the war. Her son Matan was taken hostage on Oct. 7.
Cease-fire negotiating team that was meant to depart has been delayed, Israeli official says
An Israeli official said Wednesday that a negotiating team meant to depart to continue cease-fire talks was delayed.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss developments in the sensitive talks, did not give a reason for the delay, saying the team would likely be dispatched next week.
More than 60 congressional Dems gather at the Capitol with families of Israeli hostages
In the bowels of the U.S. Capitol, a group of more than 60 congressional Democrats gathered with the families of Israeli hostages to bring light to their months of captivity and increase pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to abide by the terms of the cease-fire agreement that the U.S. is helping broker.
The event was marketed as alternative planning for Democrats who didn’t want to attend Netanyahu’s address to Congress later Wednesday afternoon.
“It is my hope that the Prime Minister will listen to you, will listen to the families and to the countless Americans who love and who support Israel and want to see a negotiated end to the fighting that makes an enduring peace possible,” said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, a senior Democrat who is boycotting the address.
Protestors demand Netanyahu’s arrest
Zeina Hutchinson, director of development for the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, on Wednesday read off the names of several Palestinian journalists killed by the Israeli military.
“We protest this homicidal maniac, his supporters and his enablers,” she shouted from the stage, referencing Netanyahu. “And we demand his arrest.”
She was among hundreds who gathered to protest near the U.S. Capitol.
More than 1,000
protestors line Pennsylvania Avenue
More than 1,000 people gathered Wednesday morning on Pennsylvania Avenue within sight of the U.S. Capitol building, with more streaming in from multiple directions.
Protesters carried signs branding Netanyahu a “war criminal” and several erected a large effigy of Biden with blood dripping from its mouth and devil horns.
The crowd chanted: “Biden Biden, you can’t hide/We charge you with genocide.”
This report has been corrected to show that the effigy was of Biden, not Netanyahu.
Netanyahu focuses on Iran in remarks at memorial for Joe Lieberman
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday pointed to Iran as the force “behind an entire axis of terror” threatening the United States and Israel.
Netanyahu used brief remarks at a memorial for the late lawmaker Joe Lieberman to focus on what the Israeli leader portrayed as danger from Iran and its nuclear program.
Netanyahu long has sought to rally support for more aggressive U.S. and Israeli action against Iran, its militia allies around the Middle East and its nuclear program. His comments at the memorial are likely to foreshadow the theme of the Israeli leader’s remarks to a joint meeting of Congress later Wednesday.
Lieberman, who died in March, “knew how dangerous our world would become if Iran were ever to develop and acquire nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said. The two men often discussed “how Iran was behind the entire axis of terror that threatened both our countries.”
Protestors: ‘As American Jews, we don’t support this war’
Across the street from Union Station in Washington, D.C., Jewish Americans gathered Wednesday morning for a prayer service led by T’ruah, an organization of rabbis calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Rabbi Bill Plevan, of New York, said he believed prayer could be a catalyst for peace.
“We’re here to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech in Congress,” he said. “We’re here to say we don’t stand by his policies. As American Jews, we don’t support this war.”
Still, many Jewish Americans view the war in Gaza as just because it came as a response to the brutal Oct. 7 Hamas attack, even if they don’t outright support Netanyahu and his policies. The families of hostages taken by Hamas are also protesting, demanding Netanyahu agree to a cease-fire deal that would free their loved ones.
The scene near the Capitol
Workers erected a black metal fence around the White House as Washington braced for protests ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before a joint session of Congress.
Multiple protests were planned for Wednesday over Israel’s war in Gaza.
There was a heavy police presence, but the streets were relatively quiet in Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning. A small group of protesters walked down a street carrying Palestinian flags and signs with messages such as “anti-Israel is not anti-semitism.”
Within view of the Capitol, orthodox Jews lined the streets protesting Netanyahu and the war.
As police sirens sounded in the distance, protesters carried signs that included “Jews Worldwide Condemn Israeli Bloody Brutality” and “Free Palestine.” Another called for Netanyahu’s arrest.
Despite some of the people and groups who were protesting, many Jewish Americans view the war in Gaza as just because it came as a response to the brutal Oct. 7 Hamas attack, even if they don’t outright support Netanyahu and his policies. The families of hostages taken by Hamas are also protesting, demanding Netanyahu agree to a cease-fire deal that would free their loved ones.
Senators re-up calls for Biden and US negotiators to close cease-fire deal
Hours before Netanyahu was set to arrive, the Senate chairmen of the national security committees sent a letter to President Joe Biden, reupping calls for him and U.S. negotiators to quickly close the cease-fire deal that would end the conflict in Gaza and force the release of the hostages.
“We are under no illusion that this will be easy and we fully understand that diplomacy requires compromise. But the pre-October 7 status quo is not sustainable,” Sens. Ben Cardin, Jack Reed and Mark Warner wrote Wednesday.
