200 congressional staffers sign letter protesting Netanyahu address

Netanyahu will arrive in Washington next week for the speech before Congress and will meet with President Biden at the White House for his first visit since 2020.

More than 200 anonymous staff members across 122 Democratic and Republican congressional offices signed a letter this week calling for Congress to protest or boycott Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech next week on Capitol Hill, citing concerns about the ongoing war in Gaza.

The letter, organized by the Congressional Progressive Staff Association and signed by 230 House and Senate staffers, said speaking out against Netanyahu’s July 24 joint address to Congress was an “issue of morality” and not politics.

“Citizens, students, and lawmakers across the country and the world have spoken out against the actions of Mr.

Netanyahu in his War on Gaza,” the letter reads. “Israelis have been protesting in the streets for months, decrying his failure to negotiate a ceasefire and release of hostages. We hope you will join your fellow Members of Congress in protest at his speech or in refusing to attend it.”

Some staffers, mostly progressives, have repeatedly called for a cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, including at a demonstration in November and another in May.

Several Democratic lawmakers have already announced they will protest Netanyahu’s speech, which was organized after a May invitation from the top Democratic and Republican leaders in both chambers.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), among the most vocal critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, earlier this month criticized leaders for inviting Netanyahu while more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war that began Oct. 7, when Hamas invaded southern Israel and killed some 1,200 people and took roughly 250 hostages.

Sanders reupped his vow to sit out the meeting last month, calling the Israeli leader a “war criminal.”