WASHINGTON – Republicans attacked Vice President Kamala Harris for skipping Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s joint Congressional address on Wednesday, to campaign in Indiana.
“You want to be the leader of the free world, and yet you can’t bring yourself to sit behind our most important and strategic ally in this moment. That is not a good look for you,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said, “it’s not a good look for America and it’s not a good look for her party, that she aims to lead,” adding that it was her duty as the Vice President to oversee joint sessions of Congress.
“It’s outrageous,” he said, about the fact that she would not attend.
Harris delivers Netanyahu a cold welcome
Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) noted that, in addition, Harris had not greeted Netanyahu on the tarmac when his plane landed.
“Republicans stand with Israel,” he wrote in a post on X, “the Left doesn’t.”
Harris, who became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee as recently as Sunday, when US President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, is set to meet with Netanyahu on Thursday afternoon and has hit the campaign trail running.
She was not the only candidate who chose stumping for votes over attending the speech. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s new pick for vice president, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), will also be on the campaign trail. He is a strong supporter of Israel, but decided not to attend, even though he was the only one on the ticket who would have been able to attend.
A small but growing number of Democratic members of the House and Senate have chosen to boycott the speech in protest at Netanyahu’s actions during the Gaza war.
For Democrats, he is one of the more contentious leaders among the US’s allies due to the Gaza war, his judicial reform plan, and his refusal to support a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
However, Netanyahu’s last joint address to Congress, in 2015, also made waves, given that he had turned to that parliamentary body asking it to oppose the Iran agreement, negotiated by then-US president Barack Obama.
According to CNN, at that time, 58 democrats boycotted that speech, including those who are hastening to skip it this time around as well. And Biden, in his role as vice president was then, as Harris now, absent from Congress when Netanyahu delivered his joint address.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about this backlash from Republicans during a briefing held Wednesday just as Netanyahu's speech concluded.
Jean-Pierre told reporters that Harris has been "unwavering" in her commitment to Israel and called the Vice President a "critical partner" in ensuring Israel can defend itself and securing a hostage deal.
Jean-Pierre confirmed that Harris will meet with Netanyahu but did not specify the timing of that meeting.