(Headline USA) House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., warned lawmakers this week that anyone who disrupts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress next week will be arrested.
“There are a number of Democrats in the House who have said they’re going to boycott that event. Some others may protest,” Johnson said on Wednesday.
“We’re going to have extra sergeants at arms on the floor,” he added. “If anybody gets out of hand, we’re going to arrest people if we have to do it.”
Netanyahu is set to address the House and Senate next Wednesday, his first address to Congress since 2015. He was boycotted then as well over his opposition to then-President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.
Now, several Democratic lawmakers have vowed to boycott Netanyahu’s address over Israel’s continued military campaign in Gaza.
“I boycotted his last visit,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said.
“I certainly will not attend this one. It’s not going to help move us forward—it’s a detriment,” he continued. “Should he come for any reason, in any venue, I am not going to be there.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., agreed, calling Netanyahu a “war criminal” during a CNN interview.
“Look, you have a prime minister who has created the worst humanitarian disaster in modern history,” Sanders claimed.
“Five percent of the [Palestinian] population is now dead or wounded, 60% of whom are women and children,” he continued. “… So why you would invite somebody who has done such horrific things to the Palestinian people is something that I think is a very bad idea.”
Just this week, hundreds of congressional staffers, most from Democratic offices, urged their bosses to interrupt Netanyahu’s address or at least refuse to attend it.
In a letter, the anonymous staffers wrote, “Citizens, students, and lawmakers across the country and the world have spoken out against the actions of Mr. Netanyahu in his War on Gaza. We hope you will join your fellow members of Congress in protest at his speech or in refusing to attend it.”
