Around 70 members of Congress skipped Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s address to the joint sessions of Congress on Wednesday.
Of the 71 members who missed the address, two missed it for non-political reasons, both Democrats.
Sen. Tim Kaine said he had previous commitments in his home state of Virginia but reiterated his support for Israel, and Rep. Katie Porter, who, according to the Washington Examiner, also had a previous commitment.
Rep. Thomas Massie was the one Republican to skip the address; he tweeted before the address that Congress was undertaking “political theater on behalf of the State Department” and “I don’t feel like being a prop, so I won’t be attending.
The remaining Congress people were a list of the usual suspects, with major anti-Israel voices such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar, and recently defeated Jamaal Bowman.
Several major Democrats, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, also missed the address.
Missing in action
Vice President Kamala Harris was also conspicuously missing, with multiple Republicans attacking her for being unpresidential, with House Speaker Mike Johnson saying, “It’s not a good look for America, and it’s not a good look for her party, that she aims to lead.”
Johnson also said that as VP, it was her duty to oversee joint sessions of Congress.
Conversely, prominent anti-Israel legislator Rep. Rashida Tlaib did attend the address, choosing to protest him at the address.
Tlaib held up a sign saying “War Criminal” during his speech; she also wore a keffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian nationalism.
She was also accompanied by a Palestinian who had lost more than 150 members of his family in the war, according to The Guardian.
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