Netanyahu to Address a Congress Deeply Divided Over His Leadership

Vice President Kamala Harris will be absent from the rostrum.

The rows of seats on the Democratic side of the House chamber will be conspicuously emptier than those on the Republican side.

And tensions are running so high that Speaker Mike Johnson has threatened to have anyone who causes a disturbance on the floor or in the gallery above arrested.

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel arrives on Capitol Hill on Wednesday afternoon to address a joint meeting of Congress, he will confront a legislative body divided over his leadership in the face of international censure over the war in Gaza, with some showing open hostility to the government of a country that is supposed to be among the United States’ closest allies.

“I will seek to anchor the bipartisan support that is so important for Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu said before departing Israel for his visit to Washington.

In reality, his visit will underscore the rifts in Congress, particularly among Democrats, over the Israel-Hamas war at a moment when the party is seeking to unite around Ms. Harris as its presumptive presidential nominee. She declined to preside over Mr. Netanyahu’s speech, as is traditional for the vice president, citing a scheduling conflict.

She is only the most high-profile Democrat who will be absent — empty seats on one side of the chamber will represent the deep anger from the party’s progressive base about Mr. Netanyahu’s conduct of the war with Hamas.