Jewish senator to skip Netanyahu speech to Congress

Senator Brian Schatz has said he will not attend a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a joint session of the U.S. Congress in Washington DC on July 24.

The Jewish Democrat from Hawaii criticized what he said was a “partisan address to Congress just months ahead” of the US presidential elections.

“As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I welcome a substantive discussion about the future, not political rhetoric that will do nothing to bring peace in the region. I therefore will not attend Wednesday’s address,” he said, Al Jazeera reported. 

Schatz joins several high-profile Democrats, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, and independent Senator Bernie Sanders in boycotting Netanyahu’s speech.