Netanyahu scheduled for speech to Congress on June 13, when Biden will be out of town

Leaders in the US House and Senate are planning to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address Congress on June 13, a leadership aide said Monday, a date on which President Joe Biden will be abroad attending a meeting of world leaders.

Leaders in the US House and Senate are planning to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address Congress on June 13, a leadership aide said Monday, a date on which President Joe Biden will be abroad attending a meeting of world leaders. The top four congressional Republican and Democratic leaders extended the invitation to Netanyahu last week, but it wasn’t clear at the time whether the prime minister’s visit to Washington would also include a meeting at the White House. In scheduling the speech while Biden is on another continent, that question appears to be skirted. Biden is planning to attend a summit of Group of 7 leaders in Puglia, Italy, which runs from June 13 to 15. The dates have been set for several months. Biden and Netanyahu have spoken by phone regularly since the October 7 attacks by Hamas that set off the current grinding conflict in Gaza, and they last met in person when the president flew to Tel Aviv in the days immediately following the attack. The leaders’ relationship, however, has become strained over Israel’s war plans and over efforts to alleviate humanitarian suffering in the Palestinian enclave. If Netanyahu follows through with his June 13 date, it would not be the first time he visits Washington without meeting the sitting Democratic president. In 2015, Republicans invited Netanyahu to spell out his opposition to the Iran nuclear deal in a speech to Congress, bypassing President Barack Obama’s White House in the process.