{"id":937429,"date":"2026-07-15T21:50:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T21:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/937429\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T21:50:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T21:50:27","slug":"theres-a-new-democratic-consensus-on-aid-to-israel-against-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/937429\/","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a new Democratic consensus on aid to Israel — against it"},"content":{"rendered":"

When US Rep. Hakeem Jeffries ascended the stage at the mass pro-Israel rally in Washington, DC, on November 14, 2023 \u2014 a political lifetime ago \u2014 he wanted the crowd to know how proud he was that the Biden administration was sending billions of dollars of military aid to Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongress will continue to support, in a bipartisan way, the State of Israel and Israel\u2019s unequivocal right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state, always and forever,\u201d Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the US House of Representatives, said at the time<\/a>. \u201cI strongly support President Biden\u2019s supplemental funding request for Israel, for Ukraine and for humanitarian assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those billions \u2014 which were approved by Congress months later \u2014 came on top of the $38 billion in military aid the US had previously agreed to give Israel from 2019 to 2028. That agreement is expiring soon, and as the US prepares to consider a fresh memorandum of understanding with Israel, Jeffries has a new figure in mind for Israel aid: zero.<\/p>\n

\u201cA meaningful change in direction is needed,\u201d Jeffries wrote in a recent letter<\/a> to his Democratic caucus. \u201cIsrael has an advanced economy and is capable of paying for its own sophisticated weapons, as the Prime Minister recently acknowledged.\u201d<\/p>\n

To clear up any confusion, this was meant as a pro-Israel letter. Its goal was to urge Democrats against voting on Wednesday to immediately bar all aid to Israel in an appropriations bill.<\/p>\n

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Doing so, he said, would undermine Israel\u2019s fight against terrorist groups that also threaten the US, and would also threaten funding for humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tProtesters march in a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on October 4, 2025. (AP\/Jose Luis Magana)<\/p>\n

But Jeffries does agree on the core idea: At some point, soon, US military aid to Israel should end. That statement, by a senior pro-Israel stalwart no less, shows how much the fault lines have shifted for Israel over the past couple of years among Democrats.<\/p>\n

A commitment that has long symbolized the US-Israel relationship is quickly falling out of favor. Both parties, once jointly committed to US military aid, now have voices calling to turn off the spigot. Israel knows it, and is preparing accordingly.<\/p>\n

A \u2018sacrosanct\u2019 pledge<\/p>\n

\u201cOur security assistance to Israel is sacrosanct,\u201d Antony Blinken, US president Joe Biden\u2019s secretary of state, told the liberal Israel lobby J Street in late 2022<\/a>. Blinken, a Democrat, was speaking for what had been a longstanding bipartisan consensus.<\/p>\n

Support for US aid to Israel, in fact, was once virtually unanimous. In 2016, Congress passed a resolution expressing support for continued US aid to Israel. The vote was 405-4<\/a>. Shortly afterward, the Democratic administration of president Barack Obama inked an unprecedented MOU with Israel, providing $3.8 billion per year for 10 years, $800 million more than the previous MOU.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tUS President Barack Obama shakes hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a bilateral meeting at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016. (AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster)<\/p>\n

When Donald Trump took office after Obama, he tried hard to undo much of his predecessor\u2019s legacy. But when the Obama-era MOU came into effect, Trump\u2019s White House celebrated it.<\/p>\n

The MOU \u201creflects the enduring and unshakable commitment of the President, this Administration, and the American people to Israel\u2019s security,\u201d read an announcement<\/a> from Trump\u2019s US State Department. \u201cThe MOU was negotiated under the previous Administration, reflecting the bi-partisan nature of this commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Biden assumed the presidency, he continued supporting US aid to Israel, and upped the commitment after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack launched the Gaza war.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA large billboard thanking US President Joe Biden for his support with Israel, above the Ayalon Highway in Ramat Gan, October 11, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

But now, instead of agreeing on the importance of sending assistance to Israel, leading Democrats agree that the aid needs to end. Two party members thought of as longshot 2028 presidential contenders, former ambassador Rahm Emanuel and Rep. Ro Khanna, both recently visited Israel. Both want to end aid.<\/p>\n

Emanuel, who is on the party\u2019s pro-Israel wing, said in a speech<\/a> in Tel Aviv that the US \u201cshould end at long last the American taxpayer\u2019s subsidy of Israel\u2019s defense budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khanna, who is firmly on the party\u2019s anti-Israel wing and alleged that he was detained by settlers<\/a> in the West Bank, supported the congressional measure to immediately block assistance for Israel.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tUS Representative Ro Khanna (Democrat of California) is interviewed by Reuters during a visit to Turmus Ayya, near Ramallah, in the West Bank, July 9, 2026. (REUTERS\/Ammar Awad)<\/p>\n

That measure, an amendment to the appropriations bill, is being spearheaded by a Republican, Thomas Massie, who has long opposed aid to Israel. Massie will soon leave Congress after losing a primary race over his seat representing Kentucky, in part over his opposition to Israel, but he isn\u2019t the only Republican to question US military aid to Jerusalem. In 2024, running for president, Trump mused<\/a> about converting the assistance into a loan.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t forget, we help Israel a lot,\u201d Trump said<\/a> the following year in a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who pushed unsuccessfully to eliminate US tariffs on Israel. \u201cYou know, we give Israel $4 billion a year \u2014 and congratulations, by the way, that\u2019s pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new debate<\/p>\n

The new question dividing Democrats is whether Israel should even be able to purchase US weapons, and whether a ban on arms sales should include parts for missile defense systems. A bill called the Block the Bombs Act, which prohibits certain arms sales to Israel, has 75 cosponsors<\/a> \u2014 more than a third of House Democrats (and Massie).<\/p>\n

Polls show<\/a> that about half of Democrats believe Israel is guilty of genocide. Progressive candidates are running on the idea that billions lavished on Israel should instead be spent addressing the needs of Americans at home.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tFormer White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel speaks at Tel Aviv University on July 8, 2026. (Tovah Lazaroff\/JTA)<\/p>\n

The Democratic pro-Israel position is becoming, in effect, that aid should end, but arms sales should continue to ensure Israel\u2019s qualitative military edge over its neighbors, along with ongoing collaborations on defense tech and intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cA new security arrangement should undergird the maintenance of Israel\u2019s qualitative military edge against Iran and other malign actors in the region,\u201d Jeffries wrote in his letter. \u201cMutually beneficial joint technology, innovation, research and further development of defensive programs like Iron Dome, Arrow and David\u2019s Sling should be prioritized.\u201d<\/p>\n

He asked his fellow Democrats not to vote for the Massie amendment. But recognizing that some would, he didn\u2019t demand party discipline, writing that \u201cgiven the strongly held views throughout the Caucus in this important area of foreign policy, we are not whipping this vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are good faith reasons that will result in members voting in a variety of different ways with respect to the amendment,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Next year, depending on the outcome of the US midterm elections, Jeffries may be speaker of the House. He may be able to push through continued funding for Israel, but for the first time in decades, it\u2019s not a given.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tUS Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, pictured at the US Capitol in Washington, DC,, April 29, 2026. (AP\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/p>\n

J Street, like Jeffries, opposed the Massie amendment, but said<\/a> it would still support Democrats who vote for it \u201cto signal their opposition to unconditional [military aid] and support for stronger oversight of how US security assistance is used.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those supporting the amendment is Jeffries\u2019s No. 2, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts. Clark, somewhat paradoxically, said in a statement<\/a> on Wednesday that the Massie amendment is \u201coverly broad\u201d and a \u201cstunt\u201d designed to \u201cscore cheap political points.\u201d But she also said she would vote for the amendment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should not provide a blank check for military aid to any country that does not comply with U.S. law, interests, and values,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe Netanyahu government has failed to meet that standard. I will be voting yes\u2026 because I believe we must change course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reading the tea leaves<\/p>\n

US aid to Israel still has its defenders. The pro-Israel lobby AIPAC issued a robust defense of the assistance in April, writing in a memo<\/a> that the aid ensures US access to cutting-edge weapons, does not require an American troop presence on the ground as in other countries, and creates 20,000 jobs at home because the aid must be spent in the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecurity assistance to Israel advances America\u2019s interests and values, helps enable our democratic ally to defend itself and strengthens the ironclad relationship between the United States and the Jewish state,\u201d AIPAC wrote.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks on a video from Israel to the 2019 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, at the Washington Convention Center, in Washington, DC, on March 26, 2019. (AP\/Jose Luis Magana)<\/p>\n

Israelis, though, are realistic about where things appear headed. One person reading the tea leaves and\u00a0backing away from continued US funding is Netanyahu himself, who said earlier this year that he hopes to gradually wind down reliance on US military aid.<\/p>\n

Other Israeli voices have argued that ending US aid will give Israel more freedom of action on the battlefield. And the $3.8 billion Israel gets from the US annually is only a fraction of its own $45.8 billion defense budget, which has ballooned since the October 7 attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be as independent as possible,\u201d Netanyahu told the Economist <\/a>in January. Referring to a meeting with the US president weeks earlier, he said, \u201cIn my visit to President Trump, I said we very deeply appreciate the military aid that America has given us over the years, but here too we\u2019ve come of age, and we\u2019ve developed incredible capacities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emanuel and Jeffries both framed their calls for a transition from aid to weapons sales as a move to normalize the US relationship with Israel, treating it like any other country rather than a client state.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael should be able to buy American arms under the same financial terms, the same restrictions, and the same requirements as every other trusted ally that abides by our laws,\u201d Emanuel said.<\/p>\n

Stopping aid, he added, means Israel will become a country \u201cthat buys its weapons like an ally, and not a dependent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When US Rep. Hakeem Jeffries ascended the stage at the mass pro-Israel rally in Washington, DC, on November…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":937430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[314155,361294,8123,99,41026,291662,50,25455,88006,8118,377614],"class_list":["post-937429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-2023-2025-israel-hamas-war","tag-2026-us-midterm-elections","tag-hakeem-jeffries","tag-israel","tag-israel-us-relations","tag-j-street","tag-news","tag-rahm-emanuel","tag-ro-khanna","tag-thomas-massie","tag-us-aid-to-israel"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116926208505231641","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/937430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}