Vice President Harris has declined to preside over the Senate chamber when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday afternoon, according to two people familiar with her plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Netanyahu, who has clashed with President Biden over his handling of the war in Gaza, is expected to meet with Harris at another point during his visit, however, according to a U.S. official. He will also probably meet with Biden during his time in Washington.
As Harris seeks the Democratic presidential nomination after Biden’s departure from the campaign, all eyes will be on how she navigates the inflammatory and divisive issue of Israel’s war in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack on the country by Hamas. Harris’s team informed the Senate she would not preside over the Netanyahu speech even before Biden announced Sunday that he was no longer running for reelection. A Harris spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Democrats are deeply divided over the war, and dozens of liberal lawmakers are expected to boycott Netanyahu’s speech, saying they fear he is using them as a prop to bolster his shaky political standing at home. Republicans have banded together in support of Netanyahu, attacking Democrats for any criticism of the prime minister, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) threatened to have anyone who disrupts the event arrested.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) also declined to preside over the joint meeting, according to her spokesman. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, will perform the ceremonial role, according to a person familiar with his plans. Cardin, who is Jewish, is retiring at the end of the year.
The scramble over who would preside over the Senate underscores the awkwardness of the speech for Democrats, who voted in large numbers this spring to send billions of dollars in additional military support to Israel but who have also agonized over Netanyahu’s tactics and the humanitarian catastrophe that has unfolded across the strip.
White House officials have in private tried to distance themselves from Netanyahu’s visit, telling people they were not involved in the invitation, according to two people who have spoken to senior officials directly. Before he dropped out, Biden was expected to travel to Texas on the day of Netanyahu’s address to Congress and miss the speech.
As vice president, Harris is also president of the Senate, and casts the deciding vote on legislation or nominations in cases where the vote is tied. She rarely presides over congressional proceedings, however, except in special cases such as a joint meeting.
Harris has at times been the highest-ranking member of the Biden administration to question the way Israel has prosecuted its war against Hamas and to speak out about the scale of civilian casualties, sparking some fears in Israel that she could take a tougher tack than Biden on the war effort if she were to win in 2024.
“As Israel defends itself, it matters how,” Harris said in December. “Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating.”
More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s assault, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack in Israel that killed about 1,200 people and left hundreds taken hostage. Biden, a staunch defender of Israel, has clashed with Netanyahu over his insistence that Israel allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza and over a temporary pause on the delivery of certain weapons.