House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said a formal letter of invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress will be sent and that he expects the speech to happen in the next eight weeks.
"I think the prime minister is anxious to come over here and address the Congress because I believe we should and we need to hear from him directly about all these issues right now. And I think he's anxious to deliver that message," Johnson told Punchbowl News.
Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., signed the letter. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is currently reviewing it, Johnson told Punchbowl, in an effort to make the invitation as bipartisan as possible. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is already onboard.
Johnson said he has provided dates to Netanyahu and that the objective is for it to happen "as soon as possible," he told the outlet. Johnson added that it will happen before Congress goes into recess Aug. 5.
Netanyahu has given three speeches to a joint session of Congress, most recently in 2015, tied with Britain's Winston Churchill for the most.
The impending fourth address would come amid Netanyahu being targeted by the International Criminal Court for "causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies [and] deliberately targeting civilians in conflict" in the war in Gaza. Netanyahu has dismissed the ICC, maintaining Israel's enemies are Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian people.
"We're putting in half a million tons of food and medicine into Gaza," Netanyahu said in an interview this week. "There's plenty of food there — 3,000 calories per person. That's almost 1,000 above the standard that is required."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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