CBC members protest Israeli prime minister’s address to Congress

By Ashlee BanksSpecial to the AFRO Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus opted against attending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s joint session address to Congress.On July 24, the Israeli leader spoke to members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to discuss the longstanding relationship between the Middle Eastern nation and the United States.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pictured before a meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson) Netanyahu also used the hour-long speech to declare that he would have “total victory” in the Israel-Hamas conflict.U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) did not attend Netanyahu’s speech and said Congress should not lend its “platform to a war criminal.”& “I continue to grieve for nearly 40,000 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military,” said Pressley in a statement. “The violence and bloodshed we have seen over the last nine months is devastating.”& U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, (D-N.Y.) was also absent from the address and said Congressional leaders made a bad call by inviting Netanyahu to the Capitol grounds.“I am disgusted and horrified by Netanyahu’s violent and bigoted speech to the...