Netanyahu set to address senate Republicans in video call as tensions with Biden administration mount

Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address Republican senators via video call on Wednesday afternoon, as tensions continue to mount between the Israeli prime minister and the Biden administration.

Mr Netanyahu is joining the lawmakers’ weekly policy lunch. Mr Netanyahu requested to speak with Senate Democrats as well, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer declined, Punchbowl News reports.

Congressional Republicans have, by-and-large, been steadfast allies in the push to support Israel and its campaign in Gaza. Ahead of the call with Mr Netanyahu, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned the Democratic response to the war.

“As much as some of our colleagues might like them to be, Democrats’ egregious and hypocritical attempts to influence Israeli domestic politics aren’t some simple or narrow critique of a particular prime minister,” Mr McConnell said.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is increasingly criticising the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) planned invasion into the southern city of Rafah, where some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering after being displaced from northern Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu approved a plan for the assault over the weekend. Then, on Monday the prime minister agreed to send officials to Washington DC to discuss his Rafah strategy as US officials — including Mr Biden and White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan — say the US would not support the offensive “without a credible plan” from the IDF.

Mr Netanyahu’s call with Republican senators also comes just days after Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer — America’s highest-ranking Jewish official — gave a speech calling for new elections in Israel.

“The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel,” Mr Schumer said on the Senate