Exclusive: Mike Johnson and Chuck Schumer to invite Netanyahu to address Congress

House Speaker Mike Johnson has told The Independent that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would sign a letter inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver a joint address to Congress.

Mr Johnson had previously urged the Democratic leader of the Senate to sign a letter allowing Mr Netanyahu to deliver a joint address to Congress.

After votes on Wednesday, the Republican Speaker said that Mr Schumer had agreed to do so.

“I spoke with him today and he’s going to sign the letter jointly and it’ll get out to the prime minister this week,” Mr Johnson told The Independent.

The Speaker said that he did not have a date set.

“No, I’m going to talk about prime minister Netanyahu about that today,” he said.

The invitation comes despite the fact that Mr Schumer has previously called for new elections in Israel and criticised Israel’s execution of its war against Hamas in Gaza.

But Mr Johnson and Mr Schumer--along with nearly every major elected official leader in Washington--condemned the top prosecutor for the International Criminal Court’s announcement that he would seek arrest warrants against Mr Netanyahu, as well as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and senior Hamas officials.

But the Biden administration said it had not been made aware of such a visit.

“So we have not at this point heard from the Prime Minister on a joint address to the Congress, the president talks to the prime minister in fact, he just talked to him not too long ago, senior administration officials engaged with him I just did so over the weekend,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. “So we'll stay in touch with the prime minister and obviously we'll stay in touch with the Congress and see what happens.”

Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu have been at odds recently about Israel’s plan to attack Rafah. The Biden administration recently paused the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel and Mr Biden said the US would not support Israel if it went into Rafah.

But some Democrats denounced the potential visit.

“I think that the presence of Netanyahu here for a joint address is an incredibly divisive and unproductive activity,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told The Independent.

“I think given the fact that he has led a military campaign in Gaza which has created one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history, where hundreds of thousands of people now face starvation, I think inviting Mr Netanyahu to Congress is not a good idea,” Senator Bernie Sanders told The Independent.

The announcement comes also as Ireland, Noway and Spain all announced their recognition of Palestinian state on Wednesday.