The White House and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on Wednesday evening condemned the protest in Washington, D.C., against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech, which turned violent and included expressions of support for Hamas.

Based on photos and video from the protest, which included thousands of protesters, demonstrators assaulted a police officer while he was making an arrest; spray painted “Hamas is comin” on a statue outside D.C.’s Union Station, along with other pro-Hamas graffiti; carried Hamas flags; called for a “final solution”; burned an effigy of Netanyahu and carried one showing him with horns covered in blood; and took down and burned an American flag outside Union Station before replacing it with a Palestinian flag.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced legislation Wednesday that would impose tariffs on countries that buy crude oil or petroleum products from Iran, Jewish Insider has learned.

Graham unveiled the Tariffs for Terrorism Act following months of discussions with former President Donald Trump about ways to build on their efforts to deprive Iran of its oil revenues. If implemented, the tariffs would serve as an obstacle to Tehran being able to export their petroleum to countries that engage with the United States. 

In his fourth address to Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an aggressive case to the U.S. and the world in defense of Israel’s operations in Gaza, while also offering appreciation to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump for their support for Israel.

While the hour-long speech received frequent applause from the lawmakers in attendance, about 120 congressional Democrats and a handful of Republicans were absent from the address, a significant boycott of a speech by a foreign leader. In the chamber, many Democrats remained seated or declined to applaud for significant portions of the speech.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) criticized Vice President Kamala Harris’ decision to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress today as a “terrible symbolic gesture” and predicted that she would “pay a price for it politically.”

Johnson made the comments in an interview with Jewish Insider on Tuesday evening while discussing plans for Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to preside in Harris’s absence. The House speaker said he viewed Harris skipping the joint session as “more than unhelpful, it’s unconscionable. It is an affront to our most strategic ally in the region at its most desperate time of need.”

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) was “an American patriot and a proud Jew,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a Wednesday memorial service that brought together a bipartisan mix of Lieberman’s admirers.

Speaking at Washington Hebrew Congregation hours before a high-stakes appearance on Capitol Hill, Netanyahu said he first met Lieberman in the 1980s, when the latter was attorney general of Connecticut: “What struck me first when I met him was his moral clarity and his moral courage.” 

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) will introduce legislation today forcing universities and the Department of Education to immediately act on Title VI complaints amid a surge in cases of antisemitism on college campuses — or else face a fine of $1 million.

The Restoring Civility on Campus Act, a copy of which was obtained exclusively by Jewish Insider, would require the DOE and universities to immediately open an investigation when a civil rights complaint is filed alleging “discrimination on the basis of shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics on or after October 7, 2023.” 

The families of hostages being held hostage in Gaza urged lawmakers across the political spectrum to place pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while he’s in the United States this week to agree to a hostage deal. They also called on Democrats to press President Joe Biden to aggressively pursue a hostage deal before leaving office, framing it as a potential legacy-maker.

Jon Polin, father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin who will be part of a joint meeting with Biden and Netanyahu later this week, told reporters on Tuesday evening that bipartisan pressure on Netanyahu is critical to convincing him to sign the deal.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gets set to address a joint session of Congress later today, American Jewish leaders are voicing divergent views on what they want to hear at this delicate moment in U.S.-Israel relations, with some even suggesting that the visit could actually set back those relations.

“While unfortunately there are some folks inside and outside of Congress at the fringes who have tried to make support for Israel a more and more controversial issue, that’s not where the majority of Congress is as we’ve seen in votes on legislation and resolutions, and so it’s very important that the prime minister strengthen the bipartisan consensus and support of Israel in his speech and meetings,” Nathan Diament, executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, told Jewish Insider on Monday.