Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) said on Wednesday that in the event Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would speak in Congress, he will surely be absent that day. The senator's stance adds strength to the camp of the Democrats who are pushing back against the effort of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in sending an invitation for Netanyahu.
On Wednesday, Johnson noted that he was expecting Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to support the visit of Netanyahu on Thursday. The House has been deliberating for several days whether the Israeli Prime minister can come, visit and address the Congress, amid the criticism that he has been getting for the handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
In an interview with Kaitlan Collins of CNN, Sanders became highly critical of Netanyahu, describing him as a "a prime minister who has created the worst humanitarian disaster in modern history." He qualified though that Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas. However, he said that what Netanyahu did was not a defense of the country but was in fact, akin to going to war against the Palestinian people including women and children.
"Five percent of the population is now dead or wounded. 60 percent of them are women and children. Some 200,000 housing units have been completely destroyed," Sanders explained in The Hill.
"Every university in Gaza has been bombed. There is now imminent starvation taking place," Sanders further lamented.
"So why you would invite somebody who has done such horrific things to the Palestinian people is something that I think is a very bad idea," he asked again.
For a long time, Democrats tried to strike a balance between supporting Israel, as an ally, and also pushing back on Netanyahu's responses in Gaza.
According to Schumer, they were open to extending the invitation to Israel's prime minister after Johnson mentioned that whether there is support from him or not. The sentiment of Sanders only added to the already existing misgivings of Democrats and who said that they would not attend the speech as well.
"I boycotted his last visit. I certainly will not attend this one," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, another Democrat from Illinois, who described the Israeli Prime Minister as "a menace."
She also said that such visit will not help anyone move forward, and even considered it as the opposite, calling it a detriment. She then emphasized that if there is any reason, regardless thereof, and in any venue, she will not be there.
