Lawmakers cautioned deepening US defence ties with Israel would be ‘exceptionally dangerous’

“This provision … threatens to compromise sensitive technologies and, based on our prior experience, risks giving the Government of Israel the ability to interfere in US defence decisions,” Van Hollen said.

Since October 2023, Israel has killed over 73,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded more than 174,000 others in its carnage in the blockaded enclave. It reduced most of the enclave to ruins and displaced all of its population.

The letter criticises Israel for its violations of international humanitarian law in its genocide in Gaza and rising settler violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It says such developments should prevent any discussion of deepening military ties.

Declining public support for Israel

US public support for Israel has fallen since the Gaza genocide began in 2023, particularly among Democrats.

A June Quinnipiac University poll found 48 percent of voters and 66 percent of Democrats believe the United States is too supportive of Israel, up from 16 percent and 20 percent when the question was first asked in 2017.

Support for Israel among Democratic voters has plummeted, candidates critical of Israel are winning Democratic primaries, and even moderate lawmakers are increasingly willing to challenge decades of US support for Israel.

A memorandum of understanding that provides $3.8 billion in annual US military aid to Israel is approaching its expiration date in 2028, and conversations are under way on how Washington’s assistance to Israel would evolve beyond that date.

Some members of Congress have already tried to strip the provision from the fiscal 2027 NDAA.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California introduced an amendment to block it, but it did not make it into the House version of the bill.

Once the House and Senate write their versions of the NDAA, members of the two chambers work out a compromise version of the bill, which must pass both chambers — typically near the end of the calendar year — before it can be sent to the White House for President Donald Trump to sign into law or veto.