House Speaker Kevin McCarthy used his visit to Israel this week to issue a remarkable threat: If President Joe Biden won’t invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, McCarthy will.
Once again, we’re seeing Republicans flout major governance norms to score political points. If Netanyahu were to accept the offer, it would be the second time in less than a decade that he’d be skirting the White House at the GOP’s invitation. In 2015, House Speaker John Boehner, under whom McCarthy served as majority whip, invited the Israeli prime minister to address Congress. Eight years later, Netanyahu and McCarthy are joining forces again to advance their reactionary political agendas. In a particularly fitting sign of the times, the GOP is signaling support to Netanyahu as he comes under intense fire in Israel over an authoritarian power grab.
McCarthy is currently leading a bipartisan congressional delegation to Israel to mark its 75th Independence Day. But the spirit of his remarks during an interview with Israel Hayom on Sunday were far from bipartisan. McCarthy told the paper that if the White House doesn’t invite Netanyahu “soon” to Washington, then “I’ll invite the prime minister to come meet with the House.”
Observing the tensions between Netanyahu and Biden, McCarthy smells opportunity.
“President Biden hasn’t talked to me about the debt ceiling for the last 80 some days, so I think he, the prime minister, might be in good company if he treats me the same way,” he added.
It was an extraordinary maneuver. McCarthy is not a member of the Biden administration, and his party does not control the White House — he doesn’t have the authority to signal the U.S.’s diplomatic posture. Of course, McCarthy knows that. His goal was to undercut the authority of the White House by threatening to invite Netanyahu to address Congress directly without Biden’s blessing.
There’s a reason Netanyahu hasn’t been invited by the White…
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