Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a staunch supporter of the state of Israel, said he would invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before Congress.
Interviewed on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Johnson also took aim at Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for his incendiary comments last week which were harshly criticized in which he slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for new elections in Israel, saying, “Nobody expects Prime Minister Netanyahu to do the things that must be done to break the cycle of violence, preserve Israel’s credibility on the world stage, and work toward a two-state solution.”
“Mr. Speaker, where are you on Ukraine aid, on aid for Israel?” “Squawk Box” host Joe Kernan asked. “I know you were considering inviting Prime Minister Netanyahu to address Congress. I mean, staggering comments, I guess it’s one man’s opinion, but staggering comments from Majority Leader Schumer about the prime minister. Were you considering it? You spoke with the prime minister as recently as yesterday morning. Are you going to invite him?”
“I would love to have him come and address a joint session of Congress,” Johnson answered. “We’ll certainly extend an invitation; he invited me, and I’ve been invited to speak at the Knesset there. I think I would be the third U.S. Speaker in history to do that; it would be a great honor of mine. We’re just trying to work out schedules and all this.”
Johnson turned to Schumer: “What Chuck Schumer did was almost staggering, just unbelievable. To suggest to our strongest ally in the Middle East, the only stable democracy, that he knows better how to run their democracy is just patently absurd. I mean, imagine if I came on your show this morning and called for a regime change in Ukraine in the middle of their crisis, fighting for their very survival. That’s what Israel’s facing right now, and for the leader of the Senate to say such a thing was just outrageous. And I think it was received that way in Israel; I don’t think they appreciate that very much, and it sends a terrible signal to our allies and our enemies around the world. So I wish Schumer would keep his comments to himself.”
“Wouldn’t he have to buy in on the prime minister speaking to Congress? Do you know whether that — he wouldn’t say no, would he?” Kernan queried.
“Well, I guess we’ll find out,” Johnson replied. “Look, I’m the one who extends the invitations to speak in the House, and if we just have the House, that’s fine, too. But I think a big majority of that Senate would want to come and stand in support of Netanyahu and Israel. I think it’s a really, really critical time for that nation; they’re fighting for their very existence.”
“We need to stand strong with them, and we’ve passed resolutions to do so,” he continued. “I’ve attempted twice to get the Israel funding piece done; we will turn to the supplemental and all those issues immediately upon the appropriations being done, and as we’ve discussed, that’s what’s happening today and by the weekend. And so we’ll address that; we’ll look at it; we have lots of thoughtful conversations here on different routes to handle all of that. I won’t show all the cards this morning, but there are ideas, very thoughtful ideas, on how to do it. I think we’ll get the job done and we’ll project strength. Because, you know, we maintain peace through strength. That’s an old Reagan admonition and one that we still believe in.”
Schumer later issued a statement saying, “I will always welcome the opportunity for the Prime Minister of Israel to speak to Congress in a bipartisan way.”