US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib calls for war criminal Netanyahu to be arrested

A US congresswoman on Tuesday slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's invitation to deliver a speech to Congress.

"Netanyahu is a war criminal committing genocide against the Palestinian people. It is utterly disgraceful that leaders from both parties have invited him to address Congress.

"He should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court," Rashida Tlaib said in a statement.

Netanyahu arrived in Washington late Monday to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.

He will meet US President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday and is expected to have an audience Friday with Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump at his residence in Florida.

Tlaib, a Palestinian American lawmaker from the state of Michigan, said the US has provided more than $141 billion in weapons to Israel to "fund the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians" since 1948, including $17.9 billion since October.

Stressing that Netanyahu's "apartheid regime" has already killed more than 39,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, she said: "Yet my colleagues and the Biden Administration continue to approve more funding and send more weapons."

"Make no mistake: this event is a celebration of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. It is a sad day for our democracy when my colleagues will smile for a photo op with a man who is actively committing genocide," she added.

It is "hypocritical" to claim to be concerned about the massive death toll of innocent civilians, and then turn around and welcome the person responsible for "these war crimes" to the Capitol, said the Democratic lawmaker.

"Their silence is betrayal, and history will remember them accordingly. Our government must stop supporting and funding this genocide now," she added.

Some lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, are expected to skip Netanyahu's address.

Thousands plan to protest Netanyahu's visit this week in demonstrations demanding a cease-fire in Gaza.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive against Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.

Nearly 39,100 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.