A HOUSE DIVIDED

Thousands gathered to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. Inside, roughly half of Congressional Democrats simply didn’t show up.

• Netanyahu arrived to waves of thunderous applause from the primarily Republican audience that assembled for his controversial appearance on Wednesday afternoon, and to stony silence from those Democrats who didn’t boycott. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who has family in the West Bank, sat silently holding a sign that read “guilty of genocide” on one side, and “war criminal” on the other. Notable absences included Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Patty Murray (D-WA), and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Vice President Harris was also not in attendance, thanks to what her office called a long-scheduled trip.

• Netanyahu’s appearance in Washington D.C. follows nine months of brutal fighting that has led to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and claimed over 39,000 lives, according to local health authorities. Parts of Gaza are experiencing famine due to restrictions on aid flows, according to both international aid groups and the U.S. government. Nearly all of the enclave’s population, more than 2 million people, have been displaced.

• Netanyahu struck a bellicose tone and repeated his vow to achieve “victory” over Hamas, following the group’s deadly terrorist attack on October 7 last year. He thanked President Biden for throwing American support behind Israel in the wake of that attack. He introduced Israeli soldiers who took part in the fighting and received injuries. And he harshly criticized protestors who have objected to Israel’s devastating campaign, accusing them of in broad strokes of being backed by Iran and of supporting Hamas. “I have a message for these protesters,” he said. “You have officially become Iran’s useful idiots.”

• Outside, thousands of protestors thronged the streets amid tight security. Many chanted “Free, free Palestine” while marching towards the Capitol. Police used pepper spray on some protestors who approached the police line and “failed to obey” orders to move back, the Associated Press reported.

Pelosi, who evidently followed Netanyahu’s speech from a distance, slammed his performance as “by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States.”

• Similarly, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) criticized Netanyahu for making a “political speech,” which was aimed at Republicans and, he said, damaged U.S.-Israeli relations. “He offered very few, if any details on how he was actually going to secure Israel,” Murphy told Politico. “It was a lot of poor sloganeering, a lot of applause lines, but very little in the way of, of substance. So I knew this would be a setback for U.S.-Israel relations.” Murphy called Netanyahu’s stance “expected, but still incredibly sad.” He added: “I think suggesting that every protester is an agent of Hamas was pretty distasteful.”

Netanyahu is due to meet President Biden, and separately with Vice President Harris, on Thursday. He will also make a trip on Friday to Mar-A-Lago in Florida to visit disgraced former President Trump.

NEWS NEWS NEWS

Democrats approved a plan to begin voting on their nominee for president on August 1, with a goal of wrapping up the process by August 7.  Ballots will be sent to delegates electronically, and the party’s convention kicks off on August 19. VP Harris has already earned the backing of hundreds of delegates, including all of her big-name potential challengers, just days after Biden’s historic decision to withdraw.

Biden will speak from the Oval Office Wednesday night at 8pm ET. It’ll be his first public remarks since his COVID diagnosis and subsequent decision to drop out of the presidential race. He is expected to defend the choice to step aside as “the right thing to do” and detail how he will “finish the job” during his remaining time in office, Axios reported.

FBI Director Christopher Wray shared new details about the assassination attempt on Trump. He testified before the House Judiciary Committee that the gunman searched online for “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” one week before the shooting at the Pennsylvania rally.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said he will move swiftly to appoint a new senator in Robert Menendez’s (D-NJ) stead after the lawmaker said he will resign in disgrace after he was convicted of corruption and selling the power of his office for cash payments, gold bars and a luxury car.

Nikki Haley is apparently pissed about a political action committee named “Haley Voters for Harris. “Kamala Harris and I are total opposites on every issue,” the former presidential hopeful said. Well that’s certainly true: Kamala Harris has a backbone and a chance of actually becoming the president, which Haley would know nothing about.