RSS
Schumer Faces Pressure Not to Sign on to Netanyahu Congressional Address
US Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY). Photo: Reuters/Yuri Gripas.
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is facing pressure from top Democrats not to sign on to an invitation for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the US Congress despite being handed a deadline by the House’s Republican leader.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters on Tuesday that if Schumer chooses not to co-sign the invitation by Wednesday, House Republicans will hold the speech alone and invite senators.
Schumer signaled to reporters that he is still deliberating over whether to sign the invitation.
“I’m discussing that now with the Speaker of the House, and as I’ve always said our relationship with Israel is ironclad and transcends any one prime minister or president,” Schumer said on Tuesday.
Many liberal lawmakers have expressed disapproval of how Netanyahu and the Israeli government have prosecuted the war in Gaza and are pushing back against a potential invitation to Israel’s prime minister.
Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) vowed not to attend an address by Netanyahu in an interview with CNN, accusing the Israeli leader of causing “the worst humanitarian disaster in modern history.” Sanders claimed that Israel is waging war against the “entire Palestinian people, women and children.”
“So why you would invite somebody who has done such horrific things to the Palestinian people is something that I think is a very bad idea,” Sanders said.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, launched the war with its Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel, where the Palestinian terror group murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped over 250 others. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas.
Sanders wasn’t alone in opposing the idea of inviting Netanyahu to address Congress.
“I don’t think it’s a good time … let’s not complicate an already complicated situation,” Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) told Axios.
House Intelligence Committee member Jim Himes (D-CT) told the outlet that Netanyahu should focus on rescuing the hostages from Gaza, “not on charming legislators.”
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) claimed that Netanyahu was “dividing this country … in a similar way he’s divided Israel, and I think that’s awfully dangerous.”
Phillips, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also dismissed any potential speech by Netanyahu as a “political gesture.”
Johnson first floated the idea of inviting Netanyahu to address Congress in March after Schumer held a speech on the Senate floor condemning the prime minister and calling for elections in Israel to replace him. To some observers, Schumer’s hesitance to sign on to the invitation signals a growing divide between the Democratic Party and Israel. Schumer originally agreed to join Johnson’s invitation to Netanyahu earlier this month, but has not yet followed through.
In recent months, Democratic lawmakers have grown more critical of the Jewish state’s military response to the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7. Liberal lawmakers have placed pressure on party leadership to take a more adversarial approach to Israel, publicly calling for a “ceasefire” and suggesting that Israel has committed “genocide” against Palestinians.
Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden confirmed that his administration would stop providing certain weapons to Israel if the Jewish state decided to launch a major military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a step that many consider necessary to dismantle Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure.
The post Schumer Faces Pressure Not to Sign on to Netanyahu Congressional Address first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.