New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined with fellow progressive Jamal Bowman, Ilhan Omar And Corey Bush said she would skip Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address to Congress next week.
House members, who represent parts of the Bronx and Queens, told Jewish Insider their plans on Thursday. Corey Bush of Missouri revealed his plans to Haaretz.
While the number of Congress members who announced plans to skip Herzog’s speech is far smaller than the 58 members who sat out the Israeli Prime Minister’s speech. netanyahu address In Congress in 2015, some other progressive lawmakers critical of Israel — including Representatives Andre Carson of Indiana and Mark Poken of Wisconsin — have yet to make up their minds.
Herzog is set for talk to congress on Wednesday, during a short visit to the White House that begins Tuesday. According to an official White House statement, Herzog’s visit with President Joe Biden “will reaffirm the United States’ steadfast commitment to Israel’s security.”
Herzog’s speech in the US Congress
The two leaders will also discuss “opportunities to deepen Israel’s regional integration and build a more peaceful and prosperous Middle East”; “ways to advance equal measures of freedom, prosperity and security for Palestinians and Israelis”; and “Russia’s deepening military ties with Iran, and Iran’s destabilizing behavior in the region.”
Biden has criticized Israel’s plans to weaken its judiciary and said in March that he had no plans to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in the near future. Herzog’s role as president is non-partisan and largely ceremonial, but he has criticized the judiciary’s proposals, saying they could incite “civil war”.
Ocasio-Cortez has made several comments criticizing Israel and its policies, including calling it an “apartheid state”. However, he has never expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, and in 2021, he expressed his support during a Congressional vote to approve $1 billion in new US funding for Israel’s Iron Dome. Vote changed from “no” to “present”. missile defense system.