Jamaal Bowman becomes 2nd Democrat who will skip Israeli president’s speech to Congress
‘I don’t think Israel has gone far enough in protecting and uplifting Palestinian rights and Palestinian lives,’ the progressive New York House rep was quoted as saying

Rep. Jamaal Bowman arrives at the U.S. Capitol, June 22, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images)
(JTA) — New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman has announced that he will join his colleague Ilhan Omar in skipping next week’s address by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Congress.
Bowman’s office told Haaretz that the progressive Democrat would not attend Herzog’s address.
“I don’t think Israel has gone far enough in protecting and uplifting Palestinian rights and Palestinian lives,” a reporter for the Epoch Times, a right-wing anti-China newspaper, said Bowman told him; the reporter tweeted that several other progressive Democrats had declined to say whether they would attend the speech.
Omar’s boycott pledge preceded the official announcement from the White House that President Joe Biden would meet with Herzog while the Israeli president is in Washington. During the visit next Tuesday, Biden will “reaffirm the ironclad commitment of the United States to Israel’s security” in addition to discussing Israel’s ties with its Arab neighbors and the ongoing danger of Iran, according to the White House’s announcement Thursday afternoon.
The announcement also hints at two of the biggest wedges between the United States and Israel right now, as Israel’s right-wing government advances legislation to weaken the country’s judiciary. “President Biden will stress the importance of our shared democratic values, and discuss ways to advance equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and security for Palestinians and Israelis,” the announcement says.
Herzog’s visit is a symbol of the troubled waters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made no secret of his desire to be invited to Washington, but Biden has said that he is concerned about the judiciary changes and is not planning to invite Netanyahu anytime soon. Herzog’s role is ostensibly nonpartisan, though he has criticized the judiciary proposals, saying that they could spark “a civil war,” and sought to broker a compromise.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Make a Passover Gift Today!
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 4
Opinion What Jewish university presidents say: Trump is exploiting campus antisemitism, not fighting it
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture How this Marc Chagall painting explains Pope Francis’ soul
-
Opinion He’s one of Israel’s worst extremists. So why is Yale legitimizing him?
-
Fast Forward FSU shooting suspect used neo-Nazi imagery on social media, ADL finds
-
Fast Forward Pope Francis’ final speech called for ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza war
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.