Democrat Rep. Mark Pocan Boycotts Netanyahu's D.C. Address, Offers to ‘Gladly’ Serve Him War Crimes Warrant

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) announced he would boycott Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “wildly inappropriate” joint address to Congress on Wednesday, insisting he would rather serve the Israeli leader an arrest warrant for war crimes on the House floor.

In a press release published shortly before the long-awaited congressional address, Pocan declared he would not attend the event, citing Netanyahu’s “deadly and excessive response” to Hamas’s unprecedented, unprovoked, and brutal October 7, 2023, attack, the deadliest against Jewish people since the Nazi Holocaust.

“For nearly 10 months, Netanyahu has waged a deadly and excessive response that has targeted Gazan civilians,” he stated. 

Calling it “wildly inappropriate to give the distinct honor of addressing Congress to a man who has violated international human rights law so severely that an arrest warrant for war crimes has been recommended by the International Criminal Court,” Pocan expressed his “regret” that such a warrant had not been issued, insisting he “would have gladly served it to him on the House floor.”

He blamed Netanyahu for having “failed to rescue or secure the release of the more than 100 of his citizens who remain hostages of Hamas” by not capitulating to the demands of the U.S.-designated Islamic terrorist group. The Democrat congressman also accused Netanyahu of “ignoring the pleas of their family members to bring them home.” 

“It’s time for Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire now and get the hostages back,” he concluded, arguing that the Israeli premier “doesn’t stand for peace in the Middle East.”

Pocan noted that he had invited Maya Roman, a cousin of former Hamas-held hostage Yarden Roman, as his guest for the speech.

Following the October 7 attack, Pocan criticized Israel’s “over-response” in Gaza, likening it to “shooting a fish in a barrel.”

The multi-pronged Hamas attack saw some 3,000 terrorists infiltrate Israel by land, sea, and air and gun down participants at an outdoor music festival as well as going door-to-door hunting for Jewish men, women, and children in local towns who were then subject to torture, rape, execution, immolation, and kidnapping.

The massacre, which drew parallels to scenes from the Nazi Holocaust, resulted in nearly 1,200 dead inside the Jewish State, over 4,800 more wounded, and at least 241 hostages of all ages taken — of which nearly half remain in Gaza.

The vast majority of the victims are civilians and include dozens of American citizens.

Pocan’s statement comes ahead of Netanyahu’s speech before Congress at 2:00 p.m.

Since House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) invited Netanyahu in June to speak before a joint session of Congress, several lawmakers have announced their intention to boycott his speech. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have both labeled Netanyahu a “war criminal” and declared they will not attend.