US politics updates: Israel’s Netanyahu addresses joint session of Congress

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• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has completed his latest speech to a joint session of the United States Congress, marking his fourth appearance before the legislative body.
• But several high-profile Democrats were noticeably absent, in protest of Israel’s war on Gaza and the humanitarian crisis it sparked.
• The Democrats’ presumptive nominee for president, Kamala Harris, was also not present, though she would ordinarily preside over such a speech. Her campaign cited scheduling conflicts: She gave a speech in Indianapolis earlier on Wednesday.
• Netanyahu was also greeted by antiwar protesters outside the Capitol, as he seeks to rally US support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. But he blasted them from his podium, calling them “Iran’s useful idiots”.
• The prime minister described the war in Gaza as “a clash between barbarism and civilisation”. He also reasserted a post-war vision for Gaza that involved Israel keeping “overriding security control”.