Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress today he was invited by leadership from both parties in a rare show of Washington bipartisanship now Netanyahu also met with President Biden earlier today and has sat down with families of hostages still in captivity tomorrow he'll meet with vice president Harris and then on Friday he'll head to Mara Lago for a meeting with former president Trump now in his speech today the Prime Minister made the case for why Israel continues to rely on American support saying this and if Israel's hands are tied America is next and I'll tell you what else is next the ability of all democracies to fight terrorism will be imperiled that's what's on the line so let me assure you the hands of the Jewish state will never be Shackled Israel will always defend itself but more than 50 members of Congress including New Jersey's 12th Congressional Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman boycotted the speech saying the prime minister's prolonged and deadly war in Gaza has gone too far to date 39,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed and there's still no ceasefire in sight Washington correspondent Ben hulac was in the room to hear the speech and see the reaction Ben great to speak with you uh we saw earlier today Benjamin Netanyahu gave a pretty fiery speech uh to a joint session of of Congress what were some of the key takeaways of that speech that you heard thing that stuck out to me was and this was towards the end of the speech but Netanyahu and I'm I'm roughly paraphrasing but the key point he said was we do not seek as Israel to obtain to take control of Gaza but then he said in the short and and medium term we will have to some have some sort of overriding security control over Gaza uh that obviously uh stood out and and what that means and would look like remains to be seen yeah there was some other really strong language that he used he called uh protesters well first I'll start with he he defended Israel's right to defend itself after October 7th he detailed a lot of the horrors that happened on that day um but he pretty much he went in on protesters against Israel's response said that all protesters are Iran's useful idiots uh how did you see New Jersey delegation respond at various points throughout that speech um I would say New Jersey's delegation roughly mirrored the broader Congress the house and the Senate the vibe the sense from Democrats and Visually it's I think it's important to remember Democrats are largely on one side Republicans on another the Democratic side was sort of tepid and Mild in its response um really perfunctory clapping uh and then they peeled out of the chamber most Democrats the second Netanyahu was done for Republicans it was this rapturous Applause and really more of a pep rally in a lot of ways um Josh gimer and Republicans are are clearly the most ENT supporters of Israel among the delegation I spent a lot of time looking at Corey Booker and he released a statement before the speech uh saying I'm with the Israeli people but Netanyahu is perhaps the worst leader the nation's ever had um he was really stone-faced throughout and that's the same with the broad delegation um Bonnie Watson Coleman of course was not here she a while ago telegraphed she would not be coming to this speech and Views Netanyahu as a war criminal yeah we spoke with Bonnie Watson Coleman congresswoman yesterday um do you know who else boycotted the speech from the Democratic uh not just New Jersey we know it was only her do you know who else boycotted the speech a few dozen members um uh no one really from New Jersey uh or with New Jersey ties would stick out um Bernie Sanders senator from Vermont has been critical of Israel's war in Gaza basically since day one since the fall he was not here um the vice president KLA Harris was not here uh and and nor of course was President Biden um those are big names really uh I would add Nancy Peli was not here and I don't know exactly why she wasn't here but she was a notable absence uh just in the short time that we have left less than a minute how much uh is this kind of a risky issue and topic for Democrats as they head into this November general election it's uh it's an issue that's pretty fraught uh on both sides certainly I would say the Democrats are broadly horrified by the 40,000 people who've been killed in Gaza since the War Began October 7 and they're also horrified um about the attack itself uh they want to see some sort of path to piece as do Republicans but the tenor in which they're supporting the party's support is real is really un Stark display yeah um I don't know this is a bit of speculation but talking to members today yesterday uh they view the election in November about really a St contrast between a younger more vibrant candidate in kamla harrris and an older man who may drag the us toward authoritarianism in Donald Trump that's the de we have to leave it there Ben I'm sorry to interrupt you but thanks for that reporting from Washington Ben hulac thank you no worries thanks [Music]