House Republican leadership is likely to bring up another bill addressing the situation in Israel and antisemitism later this month, according to several sources familiar with the plan.
Next week, the House is going to be focused on a host of bills aimed at China or bashing the Biden administration policy toward the country’s most powerful rival.
But after that, House Republicans want to put at least one bill on the floor to try to highlight the party’s support for Israel while dividing Democrats. The Republican leadership hasn’t yet decided what bills they may put on the floor, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
Speaker Mike Johnson, who is in Italy this week for the G7 parliamentary meeting, said in a statement that the “United States Congress will continue to stand with our ally Israel and work to bring all remaining hostages home.”
The Republican Jewish Coalition will hold its annual meeting in Las Vegas this week. Former President Donald Trump and Johnson will address the group via satellite, while a number of top House and Senate GOP lawmakers will be there. We’re sure to hear tons of incendiary comments on how President Joe Biden — and by extension, Vice President Kamala Harris — have failed to support one of America’s most important allies.
Yet the political and military situation in Israel is bad and getting worse. This could impact how Congress reacts in the coming weeks.
Catching you up: Six hostages — including dual American-Israeli citizen Hersh Polin Goldberg — were murdered by Hamas in Gaza. Israeli soldiers found the six bodies in a tunnel near Rafah. Hamas has said that they have instructed their soldiers to kill hostages if Israeli soldiers are approaching.
Biden said Monday that he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t doing enough to free the remaining hostages. Asked by reporters on Monday night when he planned to speak to Netanyahu, Biden responded “Eventually.” Biden repeated the same one-word answer when pressed for more details, per the White House pool reports.
The Washington Post reported that the White House — working with Egyptian and Qatari officials — is preparing a “take it or leave it” offer for Hamas.
Biden and Harris huddled Monday morning at the White House with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, NSA Jake Sullivan, CIA Director Bill Burns, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, Harris’ national security adviser Phil Gordon and Brett McGurk, White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu said Monday he would not give up on controlling the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the border between Gaza and Egypt, a newfound sticking point in the ceasefire talks.
A defiant Netanyahu also slammed his critics following massive protests inside Israel: “No one is more committed to freeing the hostages than me. But no one will preach to me.”
– John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman
