Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on Monday said that he will not attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on Tuesday, becoming the sixth Democratic senator to boycott the joint meeting.
“I’m concerned that behind it was a mischievous effort to manipulate domestic politics in both countries, which should not be the terms of engagement between friendly allies,” Whitehouse said in a statement to Rhode Island television station WPRI.
Despite his decision to skip the speech, the senator said he is still “committed to a strong and lasting relationship between the United States and Israel, a country which represents our values in a very dangerous neighborhood.”
More than 40 House and Senate Democrats plan on skipping the Tuesday speech, which House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) invited Netanyahu to deliver without consulting the White House.