Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming to Washington today to give an address before a joint session of Congress, but at least one New Jersey House member won’t be there to hear it.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), who has been New Jersey’s most vocally pro-Palestine member of Congress since the war in Gaza began last October, said yesterday evening that Netanyahu’s “inhumane and disrespectful” conduct makes him unworthy of speaking before Congress, and that she won’t be in attendance.
“I am deeply disappointed that Prime Minister Netanyahu will be addressing Congress tomorrow,” Watson Coleman said. “A foreign head of government speaking directly to the legislative branch is a distinct honor that should be reserved for revered world leaders. Prime Minister Netanyahu has shown himself to be nothing of the sort. He has shown himself to be a war criminal.”
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has at every turn disregarded the safety of the Palestinian and Israeli people and ignored the reasonable requests of the United States,” she continued. “He has abandoned a two-state solution, the only viable option for an enduring peace. Time and again he has thumbed his nose at our country. His conduct has been both inhumane and disrespectful. I will not be attending his address.”
Watson Coleman has emphasized in the past that she believes Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel was reprehensible, and that Israel has the right to defend itself. But with Palestinian casualties in Gaza mounting to extreme levels, Watson Coleman has been deeply critical of Israel’s wartime policies, and was the lone New Jerseyan to vote against an Israel foreign aid bill in April.
The congresswoman is one of a growing number of progressive Democrats to say they’ll ditch the address by Netanyahu, who was initially invited by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. Also skipping the address is Vice President Kamala Harris, though she cited a scheduling conflict as her reason for doing so.