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Democrats split sharply over legislation to terminate aid to Israel, highlighting hardening attitudes toward the Jewish state as support for the Palestinian cause grows within party ranks.
House lawmakers voted 104-313 to reject an amendment that would have cut $3.3 billion in foreign aid to Israel for the next fiscal year in a vote that even split House Democratic leadership, which declined to whip members either way.
The hotly contested vote gave lawmakers their first chance this Congress to weigh in directly on taxpayer-funded aid to Israel.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., joined 97 other Democrats in opposing its elimination, while the chamber’s second-ranking Democrat, Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., joined 102 other Democrats in supporting the measure. Ten Democrats voted present.
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Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a leading Israel critic, offered the measure as an amendment to a State Department appropriations bill, calling the country the “biggest welfare recipient of the United States.”
He was the lone Republican to support the amendment.
Opponents argued the measure would damage one of the United States’ most critical relationships in the Middle East amid the Iran war and hamper Israel’s ability to combat terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah.
“The same terrorists and terrorist entities that threaten Israel also threaten the United States and our people directly,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., said Wednesday. “When we give Israel the tools and capabilities to eliminate these terrorist threats … we are making America and the American people safer.”
The Florida Republican also noted that the vast majority of the funding is used by Israel to purchase American-made weaponry, supporting the U.S. industrial base.
Several prominent Democrats agreed, offering sharp criticism of the Massie amendment.
“This amendment would embolden the enemies of peace, those pursuing the complete elimination of Israel and those who seek the death of Jews,” former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said during debate on the measure.
Despite the Massie amendment failing overwhelmingly, supporters still took a victory lap.
“More Democrats than ever before voted to stop sending money to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, despite the fact that this amendment was an imperfect vehicle for our movement,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar, D-Texas, said following the vote. “Tomorrow we get back to work to build a Democratic Party that spends taxpayer dollars on working people, not an out of control military abroad. We will win.”
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Jeffries, who announced his opposition to the Massie amendment during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, argued the measure was poorly drafted. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., the third-ranking House Democrat, agreed.
“As written, it is overly broad in that it prohibits or would limit the use of funds for longstanding initiatives related to humanitarian aid, refugee resettlement, peace-building and U.S. Embassy operations,” Jeffries wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter, adding that U.S. policy toward Israel must change.
Clark, his deputy, and a bevy of Democrats rejected his position, arguing the country’s war in Gaza — an event some lawmakers have labeled a genocide — necessitated a need to end financial support to the Jewish state.
“If we hope to change Israel’s behavior, we must use our leverage,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said on the House floor. “The American people have seen this tragedy with their own eyes. … They do not support giving Israel more weapons.”
Massie’s amendment did not include language preventing non-military aid from also being cut off.
“It’s really bad for our ally, for our national security. They shouldn’t be messing around like this,” Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, told Fox News in June.
The Ohio Democrat also accused Republicans of putting the measure on the floor to expose divisions among his party.
Wednesday’s vote comes as a growing number of Democrats take an increasingly hard line against Israel, according to recent polling.
An NBC News survey released in March found that 67% of Democratic voters have more sympathy for Gaza than Israel, while just 17% said the opposite.
Three socialists trounced establishment-aligned candidates in New York’s June primaries while largely running on opposition to Israel.
Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who supports terminating U.S. aid to Israel, was pressed to support Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel during an interview with a leftist news outlet Tuesday.
Though Khanna declined to say the brutal attack was justified, the questioning was viewed by several Democratic commentators as reflective of growing hostility toward Israel within the party.
Given changing attitudes, some Democrats predicted Massie’s amendment would draw significant support.
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“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was quite large because I don’t think this is just an ideological issue. I don’t think this is just a lefty thing,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told Fox News. “I think this is affecting people all across the board.”
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