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Agence France-Presse

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to deliver a landmark speech to the US Congress on Wednesday, a visit that has now been thrown off balance by President Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday not to seek re-election.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving premier, will become the first foreign leader to address a joint meeting of the two chambers four times – pulling ahead of Britain’s Winston Churchill on three.
But analysts say the Gaza war since the October 7 Hamas attacks has created worrying tensions between Israel and the United States, its main military and diplomatic backer, with Washington pushing Israel to seek a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Netanyauhu’s office has announced that the two men would meet on Tuesday.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog was one of the first world leaders to react to Biden’s announcement on Sunday that he would not be seeking re-election as president. He thanked Biden “for his friendship and steadfast support for the Israeli people”.
Washington fears a backlash from the mounting civilian toll in Gaza, while protests in Israel by families of hostages taken by Hamas are also causing headaches for Netanyahu.
Biden and some Israeli ministers say a deal negotiated through Qatar, Egyptian and US mediators is possible. A plan outlined in May proposed a six-week ceasefire when some Israeli hostages would be swapped for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that negotiators were “inside the 10 yard line and driving toward the goal line”.

Hamas has accused Netanyahu of seeking to block a deal, however, and Blinken said he wants to “bring the agreement over the finish line” when Netanyahu is in Washington.
Israel has intensified its air strikes on Gaza in recent weeks and Netanyahu has insisted that only piling on military pressure can free the hostages and beat Hamas.
“This double pressure is not delaying the deal – it is advancing it,” Netanyahu told troops in Gaza on Thursday.
The October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on Israeli figures. Hamas militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, including 42 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 38,919 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.
Publicly, Biden has voiced strong support for Israel. But he expressed concern over an offensive on the southern city of Rafah in May and for a while suspended deliveries of heavy bombs to Israel. Supplies of 2,000-pound bombs remain embargoed.
“Never before has the atmosphere been so fraught,” said Council on Foreign Relations Middle East specialist Steven Cook.
“There is clearly tension in the relationship, especially between the White House and the Israeli prime minister,” Cook said in a commentary.
While US Republicans pressed to invite Netanyahu to address Congress, he has lost support among Democrats.

One Jewish senator, Democrat Brian Schatz of Hawaii, said he would boycott Wednesday’s speech, saying he would not listen to “political rhetoric that will do nothing to bring peace in the region”.
Netanyahu said after being invited to Congress again that he would “present the truth about our just war against those who seek to destroy us”.
Cook said Netanyahu has two aims for his Washington trip.
First, to show that he has not “undermined” Israel’s relations with the US.
Netanyahu also “will endeavour to shift the conversation away from the conflict in Gaza toward the threat that Iran and its proxies pose” to Israel and the US, Cook added.
Much attention will be focused on whether Netanyahu meets Donald Trump or a figure close to the Republican presidential candidate.


Despite the tensions, the US has defended Israeli interests while taking a key role in mediation efforts, and the military relationship remains strong, according to officials.
Washington’s support could prove crucial as Israel faces increasing international criticism over the growing humanitarian toll from nearly 300 days of war.
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor in May asked judges to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Warrants for three Hamas leaders have also been requested.
The Republican majority in the House of Representatives has called for sanctions against the ICC.
The International Court of Justice found Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories illegal on July 19 and in February called for the country to prevent any acts of genocide in its Gaza offensive.


Gaza war: US charges Hamas leaders over October 7 attack on Israel

US says ‘time to finalise’ Gaza deal after Israeli hostage deaths

Gaza war: UK sparks diplomatic row with Israel by halting some arms exports

Israel mourns hostages killed in Gaza as ceasefire deal remains out of reach

Israel-Gaza war

Defiant Netanyahu to face US Congress amid Biden’s withdrawal from election race

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses lawmakers in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem, on July 17. Photo: AP

US President Joe Biden and Israeli PM Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel in October. Photo: Reuters

A protest in Tel Aviv on June 29 against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group. Photo: AP

A Palestinian boy stands on the rubble of buildings destroyed in a previous Israel bombardment in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on July 19. Photo: AFP

Jewish US Senator Brian Schatz walks to the US Capitol in 2017 in Washington. Photo: AFP

Joe Biden drops out of US presidential race, endorses Kamala Harris

US President Joe Biden looks down as he takes part in a debate with former president Donald Trump in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, 2024. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS

US President Joe Biden with Vice-President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in May. Photo: EPA-EFE

Donald Trump, wearing a bandage on his ear after he was injured during an assassination attempt several days earlier, speaks onstage during the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 18. Photo: AFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping waits for a meeting with then US president Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 29, 2019. Photo: AFP

Harris, 59, is the first woman, Black and South Asian vice-president in US history. Photo: AFP

World leaders pay tribute to Joe Biden as he drops out of 2024 US presidential race

US President Joe Biden shakes hands with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (left) in Washington on July 11. Photo: PA Wire / dpa

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Biden had made many difficult decisions that made “the world safer”. Photo: AFP

Elon Musk has spoken out in support of Trump. Photo: Getty Images / TNS

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms. Photo: Bloomberg

Key senator Joe Manchin urges Biden to step aside as polls show Trump rise

US Senator Joe Manchin. Photo: AFP

US President Joe Biden, left, with Senator Joe Manchin. On Sunday, Manchin urged Biden to drop his re-election bid. Photo: AP 

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is surrounded by US Secret Service agents after a shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. Photo: AP

Fighting continues in southern Gaza as Israeli strikes hit central areas

An explosion following an Israeli air strike on a residential building in Nuseirat, central Gaza at the weekend. Photo: Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to Israeli soldiers during a visit to the southern city of Rafah in Gaza. Photo: Avi Ohayon / GPO / dpa -

Israel’s Yemen strike will embolden Houthis, analysts say

A member of the security forces affiliated with Yemen’s Houthi rebels stands guard in front of a bonfire incinerating seized narcotic substances, in Sanaa on Saturday. Photo: AFP

Rescuers arrive at the scene of a giant fire at an oil storage facility following Israeli strikes in Yemen’s Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah on Saturday. Photo

Houthi supporters protest against the United States and Israel in Sana’a, Yemen, on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

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While US Republicans pressed to invite Israeli PM Netanyahu to address Congress, he has lost support among Democrats


While US Republicans pressed to invite Israeli PM Netanyahu to address Congress, he has lost support among Democrats.
