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A group of left-leaning House Democrats is urging its colleagues to oppose the $26 billion aid package for Israel, hoping to maximize the number of \u201cno\u201d votes from the party and send a warning to President Biden about the depth of his political coalition\u2019s discontent over his support for Israel\u2019s tactics in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Framing the upcoming vote as a make-or-break moral choice akin to Congress\u2019s votes to authorize and fund the Iraq war, progressive leaders in the House are working to muster a sizable bloc of Democratic opposition to the aid measure, which is expected to pass on Saturday and become law in the coming days.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the wake of those votes, people came around much, much later and said, \u2018We shouldn\u2019t have allowed that to go forward,\u2019\u201d Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington and the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said of the decades-ago debate over Iraq. \u201cAnd I think that this is that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Representative Joaquin Castro, Democrat of Texas, called it a \u201cdefining vote,\u201d adding, \u201cWe\u2019re either going to participate in the carnage, or we\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is little doubt that the bill, which would send roughly $13 billion in military assistance<\/a> to Israel as it continues its offensive in Gaza, will pass the House, along with money for Ukraine, Taiwan and other American allies.<\/p>\n But progressive Democrats estimated that 40 to 60 members of their party may oppose it on the House floor on Saturday. That would be a striking signal from Congress, where ironclad bipartisan backing for Israel has long been the norm. And it would highlight the fraught divisions the war in Gaza has sown within the Democratic Party, even as more Democrats including Mr. Biden have begun to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s approach to the conflict and urge him to better protect civilians.<\/p>\n The legislation would allocate $5 billion to Israel\u2019s defense capabilities and $9 billion for \u201cworldwide humanitarian aid,\u201d including for civilians in Gaza. But it would not place further conditions on how Israel could use American military aid, nor block future arms transfers from the United States as an increasing number of Democrats have sought to do.<\/p>\n Democrats who are leading the push against the Israel aid bill said they strongly supported the Jewish state and its right to defend itself, and would vote in favor of sending military aid that supports Israel\u2019s defense capabilities, such as by replenishing the Iron Dome, David\u2019s Sling and Iron Beam defense systems. They also denounced the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas that prompted the war, and said the hostages taken by Hamas must be released.<\/p>\n But they argued that approving more offensive weaponry without conditions was an untenable moral and political position that would amount to an endorsement of Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s prosecution of the war, including his intention to invade Rafah over the objections of the Biden administration. More than 33,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the start of the conflict, according to the health ministry there, and the population is facing a hunger crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand the need for defensive weapons for Israel, particularly in light of the attack by Iran,\u201d said Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, who ran his first campaign on an antiwar platform and helped lead efforts to end U.S. participation in the war in Yemen. \u201cBut there is no justification to provide bombs and weapons to Netanyahu to continue the war in Gaza that is killing thousands of innocent Palestinian women and children.\u201d<\/p>\n Saturday\u2019s vote will recall a similar situation from 2007, when the speaker at the time, Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, split a piece of spending legislation<\/a> to allow Democrats to register their opposition to funding the Iraq war while backing a domestic funding bill. Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, similarly divided<\/a> the foreign aid package to be considered on Saturday in order to get each element across the finish line in the face of distinct coalitions of resistance<\/a> to different pieces of the bill.<\/p>\n