Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met large-scale protests in the U.S. capital, and a divided Congress, sought Washington's support in his address to lawmakers on Wednesday.
"As we speak we're actively engaged in intensive efforts to secure their (hostages) release. And I'm confident that these efforts can succeed," he said.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers skipped his speech to Congress, expressing dismay over Israel's massacre of almost 40,000 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, and the humanitarian crisis from Israel's attacks and blockade on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
"America and Israel must stand together," Netanyahu said as he began his speech, after walking into loud applause and shouts from Republicans and a more subdued reception from Democrats.
It was a record fourth speech by a foreign leader to a joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives, surpassing British wartime leader Winston Churchill, who made three.
Thousands of demonstrators took to nearby streets amid the tightest security since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. The Capitol building was surrounded by high fencing, with a heavy police presence.
Pro-Palestinian groups, including Jewish ones, and university students have for months protested in the U.S. against Israel's attacks in Gaza, where health authorities say nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly all of its 2.3 million people have been displaced.
Netanyahu, who is accused of committing genocide in Gaza, praised the Israeli military and denounced the Hamas attack, in remarks greeted with standing ovations and cheers from Republicans, as many Democrats - who have criticized the heavy death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza - sat quietly.
Republican leaders in Congress orchestrated the visit, but it was less confrontational than Netanyahu's last in 2015 when Republicans sidestepped then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and Netanyahu used his speech to criticize Obama's Iran policy.
On this visit, Netanyahu sought to bolster his traditional links to Republicans but also looked to ease tensions with President Joe Biden, a Democrat whose support he will rely on for the remaining six months of the president's term.
Netanyahu dismissed the anti-war protesters in Washington as "anti-Israel," saying they are funded by Israel's traditional enemy Iran and accusing them of being Tehran's "useful idiots." He blamed reports of hunger in Gaza on Hamas.
Some lawmakers said they were uncomfortable about appearing to endorse Netanyahu and his hard-right coalition government as he faces declining poll numbers in Israel. In May, the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor said he is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Others said they wanted Netanyahu to focus on reaching a cease-fire agreement and bringing home all of the hostages seized by Hamas on Oct. 7.
"For him, this is all about shoring up his support back home, which is one of the reasons I don't want to attend," Senator Chris Van Hollen told reporters. "I don't want to be part of a political prop in this act of deception. He is not the great guardian of the U.S.-Israel relationship."
A Republican House member, Representative Thomas Massie, also said he would not attend. "The purpose of having Netanyahu address Congress is to bolster his political standing in Israel and to quell int’l opposition to his war. I don’t feel like being a prop so I won’t be attending," Massie wrote on X.
Some of the most prominent Democrats skipped the speech. They included Senators Dick Durbin, the chamber's No. 2 Democrat, Tim Kaine, Jeff Merkley and Brian Schatz, all members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as Patty Murray, who chairs Senate Appropriations.
In the House, absentees were to include progressive Representatives Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Ami Bera and Joaquin Castro, senior members of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Adam Smith, the top Democrat on Armed Services and Rosa DeLauro, his counterpart on the appropriations committee.
Smith said he never attends joint meetings but also described himself on Tuesday as "very, very opposed to what Prime Minister Netanyahu is doing in Israel."
The longtime Israeli leader delivered his speech to a joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives in a city preoccupied with domestic politics.
Biden announced on Sunday that he was ending his reelection bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination to challenge Republican Donald Trump.
Harris, who normally would preside over the speech as vice president, did not attend the speech. Neither did Republican Senator JD Vance, Trump's vice presidential running mate.
Murray would have presided, as the senior Senate Democrat, in Harris' absence. Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, who leads the foreign relations committee, will replace her.
Biden and Harris will both meet Netanyahu on Thursday, and are expected to press him for progress toward a ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Hamas. Harris has at times been more forward-leaning than her boss in criticizing Israel for heavy Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza.
Netanyahu was to travel to Florida to meet with Trump on Friday. The meeting will be their first since the end of Trump's presidency, during which the two forged close ties.
Bearing flags and posters of hostages, hundreds of Israelis marched along a busy street in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, demanding a cease-fire in Gaza as Netanyahu addressed the U.S. Congress.
"Get out of the AC, get out of your houses, come to the street!" one of the demonstrators called through a microphone to bystanders watching from bars and balconies in Israel's largest city.
"We are not a parade! You are seeing here families whose children were kidnapped in their beds on a Saturday morning," he shouted. "It could have been your family."
While Israel's steadfast ally has maintained its support and military supplies for the war effort, relations have been strained by the spiraling civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with protests erupting in the United States and increasing criticism from President Joe Biden's administration.
Netanyahu, who has insisted military force is the only way to defeat Hamas, reiterated in the Capital his vow to achieve military victory in Gaza.
Responding to Netanyahu's speech, the Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said "45 minutes of speech and applause won't erase the one sad fact: the words 'Deal Now!' were absent from the prime minister's address."
In Tel Aviv's "hostage square," relatives of the captives seized by Hamas urged him to silence the guns.
"I want to tell you my Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, my grandfather could have been alive today with us, he was waiting for someone to come and save him," Talya Dancyg told the gathering.
"He was waiting for you to seal the deal," she continued in an emotional speech just two days after it was announced that her grandfather, Alex Dancyg, had died in captivity in Gaza.
"Every day that passes and our people are still there it's a shame to our country," she added.
"Deal now," the protesters chanted in reply.
At home, Netanyahu has found himself caught between a public that increasingly supports prioritizing a deal to release the dozens of hostages still in captivity, and a right-wing flank of his coalition that has threatened to collapse the government if he agrees to a cease-fire.
"You told the families not to lose hope," said Omri Shtivi, whose brother Idan was taken hostage at the Nova music festival.
"I haven't lost hope but the hostages have... Any decision you make will shape the contours of our future, and if you want us to keep hope, you just need to say: 'there is a deal'."
