Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress Wednesday, thanking the Biden administration for supporting Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has killed over 39,000 Palestinians, and pledging to carry on until Israel achieves “total victory.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Our world is in upheaval. In the Middle East, Iran’s axis of terror confronts America, Israel and our Arab friends. This is not a clash of civilizations. It’s a clash between barbarism and civilization.”

Netanyahu also falsely accused Iran of funding the pro-Palestinian demonstrations taking place outside the Capitol.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Well, I have a message for these protesters: When the tyrants of Tehran, who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair, are praising, promoting and funding you, you have officially become Iran’s useful idiots.”

Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, held up a sign that read “guilty of genocide” on one side and “war criminal” on the other as she watched the proceedings. In a statement, Tlaib wrote, “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.” About half of House and Senate Democrats — more than 100 lawmakers — chose not to attend Netanyahu’s address. Many of them gathered at a side event to call for a ceasefire.

Netanyahu is meeting with President Biden at the White House today; he’ll also meet separately with Vice President Kamala Harris. On Friday, he is scheduled to meet with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Outside the Capitol, thousands of protesters took to the streets. At least 23 people were arrested, and police deployed chemical spray on peaceful demonstrators. At one point protesters hoisted the Palestinian flag in front of Union Station and issued notice of a citizen’s arrest against Netanyahu. This is a Palestinian American protester.

Manal Yaghnam: “I’m here to raise awareness about the genocide and ethnic cleansing that’s happening in Gaza, as well as the West Bank. And I’m really hopeful that this is going to bring meaningful change to 75 years of oppression. And it’s finally making international headlines. And I want to be part of history.”

Many unionized workers also attended the protest against Netanyahu.

Daniel Vicente: “We have a moral obligation to speak out about when our products are being used for purposes that we never agreed with. The UAW is for a strong national defense for ourselves and our allies, but when weapon systems are being used for genocide, like, we have to speak out.”

This week, seven of the country’s most powerful unions, including the UAW and the SEIU, issued a joint call to the Biden administration to immediately halt all military funding to Israel.

A group of 45 U.S. doctors, surgeons and nurses who have volunteered in Gaza since October 7 have written an open letter to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, demanding an immediate ceasefire and an international arms embargo of Israel. The group of health workers includes evidence of a much higher death toll than is usually cited: more than 92,000 people, which represents over 4% of Gaza’s population. They write, “With only marginal exceptions, everyone in Gaza is sick, injured, or both. Israel’s continued, repeated displacement of the malnourished and sick population of Gaza, half of whom are children, to areas with no running water or even toilets available is absolutely shocking.”

In related news, CNN has found Israel is blocking physicians with Palestinian heritage from entering Gaza as part of international humanitarian missions.

Israel is intensifying its attacks against civilians in Khan Younis and across the Gaza Strip. In Deir al-Balah, doctors at Al-Aqsa Hospital were able to save newborn baby Yassin after his mother, and other family members, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat. This is the baby’s grandfather, who has lost multiple children to Israel’s assault, including Yassin’s mother Ola.

Adnan al-Kurd: “She was holding on to the hope of being able to hold her baby. She never expected she would become a martyr. She wanted to hold her child and fill our home with his presence. She would say, 'Mom, hopefully, this will make up for the loss of my martyred brothers and bring life back to our home.'”

President Biden addressed his decision to drop out of the presidential race Wednesday in a televised address from the Oval Office.

President Joe Biden: “Nothing — nothing — can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition. So I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation.”

Biden threw his support behind Kamala Harris, calling her “experienced, tough and capable.” This comes as the DNC set August 1 as the date for a virtual roll call to officially nominate the Democratic presidential nominee.

On Wednesday, as Netanyahu addressed Congress, Harris delivered a keynote speech at a gathering of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority in Indianapolis.

Vice President Kamala Harris: “Donald Trump, the former president, handpicked three members of the United States Supreme Court because he intended for them to overturn Roe v. Wade. The United States Supreme Court, previously the court of Thurgood and RBG. And as he intended, they did. Well, let me tell you something: When I am president of the United States and when Congress passes a law to restore those freedoms, I will sign it into law.”

In other election news, JD Vance’s views on women and the LGBTQ community have come under the spotlight following his nomination as Trump’s running mate. In this 2021 interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Vance attacks Kamala Harris, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pete Buttigieg, claiming people without children should not be involved in policy decisions.

JD Vance: “We’re effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, be it via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies, who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. And it’s just a basic fact. You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”

Harris is a stepmother to two adult children. Also in 2021, Vance advocated for a voting system that would allow people with children to cast more votes, on behalf of their children.

In other news about JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee has written the foreword to a forthcoming book by Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation and head of Project 2025. Trump’s campaign has disavowed any connection to Project 2025, a radical Republican blueprint to overhaul U.S. policy on everything from immigration to reproductive rights to the climate.

In Taiwan, at least three people are dead and nine crew members are missing after their cargo ship sank amid heavy winds and rain whipped up by Typhoon Gaemi. Earlier, the storm left a path of destruction in the Philippines, where much of the capital Manila remains underwater. At least 22 people were killed in the Philippines, and an oil tanker capsized off the coast. More than 600,000 people have been displaced.

Yonon Ferreras: “The effect of this on residents is trauma, fear, uncertainty and worry, since the flooded waters continue to rise at this moment.”

A series of climate actions targeting airports are taking place this week. In Europe, activists from the German group Last Generation temporarily grounded flights at the Frankfurt and Cologne airports by gluing themselves to the tarmac. The activists have been calling on the German government to divest from oil, gas and coal by 2030.

In the U.K., police arrested at least seven members of the direct action group Just Stop Oil Wednesday as they cycled toward London’s Heathrow Airport ahead of a planned protest action. Direct actions at or near airports have also been reported in Austria, Finland, Switzerland, Norway and Canada, where on Wednesday, Last Generation activists blocked access to Montreal International Airport for hours, demanding an end to fossil fuels.