House Democrats are lined up to oppose a Republican proposal to rescind President Biden’s recent halt on the transfer of some weapons to Israel, claiming it is purely a communications “stunt” intended to divide Democrats rather than assist Israel in protecting itself.
“It’s just another political stunt to try to go after Joe Biden,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), the senior Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said Wednesday morning as he exited a closed-door meeting in the Capitol basement. “That’s all it really is.”
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GOP leaders have criticized Biden’s weapons freeze, describing it as a dangerous setback to Israel’s ability to drive out Hamas militants following the group’s fatal attack on October 7. On Thursday, the House floor will debate their plan, which mandates the delivery of firearms subject to the freeze within 15 days of adoption.
However, Democrats are opposing the plan, claiming that it will harm Israel’s standing in the United States by converting the normally bipartisan issue of Israeli security into a politicized one. Some of Congress’s most famous Jewish politicians and Israel advocates are among those opposing the GOP proposal, which they see as a deceitful attempt to appear to back Israel while not actually doing so.
“The bill is an attack on Israel at its weakest point,” said Rep. Brad Sherman (Calif.), a Jewish Democrat and strong Israel supporter. “Israel has the weapons it needs to carry out everything it’s doing in Gaza.”
Sherman, a senior member of the Foreign Affairs panel, stated that Israel’s success is primarily dependent on two factors: “bipartisan support in the United States and its image around the world.”
According to him, the GOP bill would harm both.
“I may be more willing to criticize the Biden administration than others,” Sherman stated, “but I’m not willing to attack Israel on its two most vulnerable points.”
The Biden administration has threatened to veto the law if it reaches the president’s desk, giving Democrats plenty of political cover.
The GOP measure follows Biden’s announcement last week that he is willing to withhold certain offensive weapons systems from Israel if Washington’s ally moves forward with its plan to advance on Rafah, a final Hamas stronghold where more than 1 million Palestinians have sought refuge after months of Israeli strikes in other parts of Gaza.
The decision was intended, at least in part, to assuage liberals in Biden’s party who believe Israel has done much too little to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza, where around 35,000 people have been murdered since October 7. Simultaneously, the government is preparing almost $1 billion in new military assistance for Tel Aviv, according to The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
However, GOP leaders have remained focused on the arms freeze rather than the anticipated release of additional aid.
“It is critical that we once again voice the will of Congress on this issue. And so I don’t think we’ll change our approach to the legislation,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters in the Capitol on Tuesday evening.
Meeks, who spoke against the Republicans’ bill in the Democratic Caucus meeting Wednesday morning, said the proposal violates existing laws that prohibit the transfer of weapons to a foreign country, even a close ally, if the administration believes there is credible evidence that that country has committed “gross” human rights violations.
State Department officials said it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel had violated international human rights laws in a report they delivered to Congress last week, but they refrained from accusing Israel of clear wrongdoing, citing the difficulty of reaching “conclusive findings on individual incidents” in the fog of war.
“When it comes to the use of weapons, concerns about incidents where given the totality of the damage that’s been done to children, women, and men, it was reasonable to assess that, in certain instances, Israel acted in ways that are not consistent with international humanitarian law,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Nonetheless, a handful of Democrats have rejected Biden’s arms moratorium, with 26 writing to the president last week, warning that Congress has “a duty to continue to equip Israel with the resources she needs to defend herself.”
“With democracy under assault around the world, we cannot undermine our ally Israel, especially in her greatest hour of need,” they wrote.
Some of Israel’s staunchest Democratic allies are poised to defy the party and support the GOP plan.
Others, however, chastised Republican leaders for pursuing partisan legislation that has no chance of becoming law.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), a well-known Jewish Democrat who backed last week’s letter to Biden, described the legislation as unserious and cynically designed to divide people.
Democratic leaders have admitted that some members of their party may find Thursday’s vote difficult. However, they anticipate that the majority of the caucus will support Biden when the bill reaches the floor.
“Overwhelmingly, House Democrats will reject this bill,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.
