When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to a joint session of Congress in 2015, there was clear tension between the Unıted States and Israel. Sixty members from the Democratic party boycotted his speech because Republican leaders invited Netanyahu behind President Obama’s back. Netanyahu spent most of his speech admonishing the former President’s desire to strike a deal with Iran to avoid nuclear escalation.
Democrats like Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn) were not only incensed with how Netanyahu was invited, but also thought that “it was a stick in the eye of the president” and worried about “the consequences of the rhetoric he used.” Most of them saw Netanyahu’s presence and remarks as a direct attack on the US and its foreign policy.
Fast forward nine years later, Netanyahu is once again going to speak to Congress, as he aims to “present the truth” about its “just war” in Palestine in response to the events of October 7. However this time he comes before America’s lawmakers as an indicted war criminal with the blood of more than 186,000 estimated Gazans on his hands. Perhaps in recognition of his intransigence in refusing to stop his Amerıcan-funded killing machine no senior member of the Bıden Administration greeted the prime minister at the airport when he landed in the US, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive presidential Democratic nominee, has decided to forego tradition and declined to introduce Netenyahu’s speech (although officially she says it’s a scheduling conflict).
Connecticut’s congressional delegation should follow her lead and skip the speech in its entirety. Since the October 7 attack, our organization has met with every member of the House and Senate who represents Connecticut to discuss Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of schools and universities, hospitals, and religious sites. We’ve questioned why they continue to unequivocally support Israel and vote millions of dollars of arms funding as it has destroyed 70% of the housing needed to keep inhabitants of the densely populated Gaza Strip alive.
Initially to a person they argued that Israel, like any nation, has the right to defend itself against terrorist attacks. Congressman Himes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, told us about atrocities of “biblical proportions” that he had read of in confidential briefings. However we now know that these stories of babies being beheaded and of systematic rapes are categorically false. In actuality it is Palestinian babies who have been decapitated in refugee camps the Israelis have attacked using US-made 2000 pound bombs, Palestinian children killed when their soccer games have been bombed, and Palestinian children murdered by snipers with kill shots to their heads.
When is enough enough? If Connecticut’s representatives attend Netanyahu’s speech, it highlights a moral disregard for the value they place on Palestinian lives. By attending, they would be complicit in normalizing and legitimizing the actions of a leader and government whose policies have led to immense suffering and loss of life.
All of Connecticut’s delegation say that they favor a two-state solution but in Netenyahu we find a leader who has proudly stated that he has done everything in his power to prevent a Palestinian state. In fact just last week his party led a vote in the Israeli Knesset that rejected any future two-state solution.
It is imperative for our elected officials to take a stand against the ongoing human rights violations and signal that the United States will not endorse or support such brutality any longer.
Boycotting Netanyahu’s speech is not just a political statement, it’s a call to prioritize human rights, to demand accountability, and to seek a just and lasting peace in the region. Connecticut’s delegation has the opportunity to send a powerful message by advocating for a future where violence and oppression are replaced with justice and compassion.
Fareed Solman a rising sophmore at Yale University who is a Summer intern at CAIR-CT contributed to this article.