Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress Wednesday afternoon, but not every member of Maryland’s federal delegation will be there.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, renewed calls for an immediate ceasefire and the return of all the hostages taken on Oct. 7 in remarks delivered on the Senate floor Tuesday.

Van Hollen also explained that he was choosing to not attend Netanyahu’s joint address, in part because of the harm he says Netanyahu’s “extremist” government is inflicting on the partnership between the Israeli and U.S. governments.

In an appearance on CNN Wednesday morning, Van Hollen said he was pro-Israel but opposed the policies of Netanyahu’s government.

“I also refuse to be a pawn or a prop in the political deception that somehow Prime Minister Netanyahu is the great guardian of U.S.-Israel relations, when in fact he and this extreme right-wing government have systematically undermined it,” he said to CNN’s John Berman.

Sen. Ben Cardin, another Maryland Democrat, will be presiding over the joint session of Congress. In a statement Wednesday, Cardin said the U.S.-Israel relationship “transcends politics and partisanship, and it transcends any one Israeli government or any one U.S. administration.”

Cardin is the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Normally, the vice president would preside over a joint session of Congress, but Vice President Kamala Harris is on the campaign trail.

Harris, now the front-runner to become the next Democratic nominee for president, plans to meet with Netanyahu later in the week, according to NBC News.

The war in Gaza, between Israel and Hamas, has been a divisive issue since Oct. 7 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and took more than 200 hostages.

Since then, many have protested the killings of more than 39,000 Palestinians in the war. Others condemned Netanyahu’s inability to free Israeli and American hostages taken by Hamas and other militants during the attack that sparked the war.

Despite some of the people and groups who were protesting, many Jewish Americans view the war in Gaza as just because it came as a response to the brutal Oct. 7 Hamas attack, even if they don’t outright support Netanyahu and his policies. The families of hostages taken by Hamas are also protesting, demanding Netanyahu agree to a cease-fire deal that would free their loved ones.

President Pro Tempore of the Senate Patty Murray, from Washington state, would normally preside over a joint session in the vice president’s absence. But, according to NBC, Murray is also skipping Netanyahu’s address.

Democratic Reps. John Sarbanes, Steny Hoyer and David Trone will all attend the joint session, and Rep. Kweisi Mfume, also a Democrat, will skip it, according to Maryland Matters.

Spokespeople for Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican, and Reps. Glenn Ivey, Dutch Ruppersberger and Jamie Raskin, all Democrats, did not respond to Maryland Matters when asked.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

This is a developing story.