US Vice President Kamala Harris will be absent from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
Though it is customary for vice presidents to preside over the Senate to attend speeches by foreign leaders, she has declined to attend the session in question.
An aide to Harris told The New York Times on Monday that her absence will be due to a scheduling conflict with her campaign and does not reflect a change in her position vis-a-vis Israel.
Two people familiar with the plans for the speech told the Times that Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee and is a Jewish pro-Israel Democrat, will sit beside House Speaker Mike Johnson and behind Netanyahu during the address.
