‘No way in hell’ : Omar says she will not attend Israeli president’s upcoming address to joint session of Congress

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said Wednesday that she has no plans to attend Israeli president’s Isaac Herzog upcoming joint address to Congress, citing the ongoing tensions between Israeli government and Palestine. 

“There is no way in hell I am attending the joint session address from a President whose country has banned me and denied @RashidaTlaib the ability to see her grandma,” Omar wrote in a Twitter thread. She said the U.S. shouldn’t be inviting a president of a government that barred her and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) from visiting their country. 

“Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address comes on behalf of the most right wing government in Israel’s history, at a time when the government is openly promising to “crush” Palestinian hopes of statehood—essentially putting a nail in the coffin of peace and a two-state solution,” Omar said in her thread. 

Omar added in her thread the recent issues and concerns with the country and its government, noting the far-right members of the government’s attempt to push legislation that will overhaul the country’s Supreme Court. 

She also noted that she recently opposed an invitation for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s joint address to Congress last month due to his government’s human rights record.

“The United States can and should use its diplomatic tools to engage with the Israeli government, but giving the current government the honor of a joint televised address sends the absolute wrong signal at the wrong time,” Omar concluded in her thread. 

Herzog, who has been the country’s president since 2021, is set to address a joint meeting of Congress on July 19, as the politician is visiting Washington to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of Israel. 

Herzog will be the second Israeli president to address Congress after his father, Chaim Herzog, did so in November 1987.