US doubles down on support for Israel as campus protests rage in Gaza

President Biden is sending billions of dollars to support Israel’s war against Hamas, even as the destruction of Gaza and Palestinian deaths fuel growing protests on college campuses.

The $26 billion in new aid to Israel, overwhelmingly approved in Congress and signed into law by Biden this week, also comes amid a deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and an imminent Israeli invasion of the southern city of Rafah. , where more than a million Palestinian civilians are sheltering.

Although Democrats have expressed growing concerns about the way Israel is conducting its war in Gaza, they largely rallied behind sending more weapons when the bill passed the House and Senate last week. .

Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said weapons for Israel remain “sacrosanct” in Washington, and the latest package was helped by an outcry around Israel following Iran’s April 13 attack, with about of 300 missiles and drones against the country.

But Elgindy said the relief package highlights a “huge gap” between Democrats in Congress and ordinary voters, including those currently protesting at colleges across the country.

“Eventually that gap will have to close unless the party wants to remain permanently at odds with its voters, which I don’t imagine they want to do,” he said. “Public opinion has changed very, very dramatically, especially among the left and among people who identify as Democrats.”

“The general trend in this case is that Democrats are gradually moving more and more toward aid conditionality,” he added, “even if this particular vote doesn’t reflect that.”

The debate comes at a time when college campuses in the US are agitated by pro-Palestinian students demonstrating against the war in Gaza and calling on universities to divest from Israeli companies or defense companies that supply weapons to Israel.

But Julie Rayman, managing director of policy and political affairs at the American Jewish Committee, said the protests are “emotionally driven” and problematic because some have shouted to free Palestine “from the river to the sea,” which could be interpreted as a call eliminate Israel as a state.

She said there is a disconnect between what some of these students are calling for and what lawmakers in Congress are asking for, such as alleviating the suffering in Gaza.

“What we are seeing now [on] college campuses is, frankly, and I think arguably, not productive,” she said. “I don’t necessarily worry that these protests are massive signals about the way society views this” war.

Rayman sees support for Israel as “overwhelmingly” strong in Washington, a consensus she says must be maintained.

“There are all sorts of questions that need to be considered” about U.S. engagement with Israel and how it prioritizes humanitarian aid, she said. “But none of this can come at the expense of guaranteeing the defense of our most strategic ally.”

The $26 billion package is almost entirely earmarked for defensive and offensive weapons for Israel, with some funds for US forces in the Middle East.

Critics of prevailing U.S. policy toward Israel have urged Biden to use Israel’s desire for U.S. weapons as leverage to ease suffering in Gaza, where more than 34,000 Palestinians have died in nearly seven months of war.

The war is in retaliation for Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel on October 7, when militant fighters killed more than 1,100 people and kidnapped about 250 others. About 100 hostages are believed to still be alive in Gaza, and negotiations are ongoing. underway to free them. in exchange for a ceasefire have so far failed.

Although Biden has pushed for the release of hostages and a temporary ceasefire agreement and has expressed frustration over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, he has continued to unconditionally send more weapons to Israel, which is committed to fighting until Hamas is destroyed. That objective targeted Rafah, a last Hamas stronghold. The US has said it will not support an invasion of the city unless there is a safe civilian evacuation plan, but Israel has vowed to proceed regardless of outside pressure.

“My commitment to Israel, I want to make clear again, is unyielding,” Biden said after signing the $95 billion supplemental national security bill on Wednesday, which also includes aid to Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific.

“Israel’s security is critical. I will always ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Iran and the terrorists it supports.”

Biden also highlighted how the bill contains $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza, where the U.S. military is dropping food and water and approaching the finish line in building a port off the territory’s coast. for further assistance. As Israel faces accusations, it continues to restrict the passage of aid trucks over land.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said Biden maintains a disconnect between what he says and how he acts, with the president expressing concern about Israel’s actions in Gaza but still giving the green light to new weapons.

“The picture is quite clear: what Biden is doing is increasing his rhetorical criticism of Israel and when it comes to practical politics, the entire movement is towards continuing to support what Biden himself criticizes,” he said.

Israel’s supporters say the approval of U.S. aid by the White House and Congress signals relatively steady support to ensure the Israeli people are safe from Iran, Hamas and other regional threats.

Yaakov Lappin, a military and strategic affairs analyst at the MirYam Institute, an Israel-led forum, said the aid package was a “critical development for Israel’s security,” even if the White House has sometimes appeared more critical.

“The White House has very strict conditions for its support,” he said, but “Congressional support for Israel remains very strong on the whole, and we saw that right now with the votes.”

On Capitol Hill, Democrats willing to oppose aid to Israel remain a small minority, even as concern about the humanitarian crisis grows. In the House, which voted on separate aid packages for each nation, the final result was 366-58, with just 37 Democrats against.

“Our votes against [Israel aid] they are votes against the supply of more offensive weapons that could result in more civilian deaths in Rafah and elsewhere,” said one joint statement of 19 Democrats who voted against the package.

“When faced with the question of providing offensive aid to further this conflict, we believe there is a moral imperative to find another way.”

A growing number of Democrats have called for arms supplies to Israel after an Israeli attack killed seven aid workers at the World Central Kitchen charity, which Israel blamed on a mistake but which still led to a strong reaction in Washington.

Some of the critical Democratic lawmakers voted in favor of the package last weekend.

Among them was Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), who said she still wants to restrict offensive weapons to Israel but supported the aid package because it contained humanitarian assistance for Gaza and other conflict-stricken locations.

“While I am deeply concerned about continued military assistance to Israel, I could not in good conscience vote against this life-saving humanitarian assistance when millions of people around the world are suffering,” Jacobs said. said in a statement after the vote.

In the Senate, only a small group of Democrats are actively calling for conditioning aid to Israel, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who tried and failed to pass an amendment to the bill that would restrict offensive military assistance. .

“This amendment didn’t even get a vote,” Sanders said on the floor this week. “We can’t even discuss it.”

However, university students are forcing the issue, with growing protest camps and pressure on university leadership.

House Republican leaders were booed during a press conference this week at Columbia University, where the wave of demonstrations began. Some universities cracked down on protesters and arrested dozens of them.

Biden also condemned the student protesters as “anti-Semitic.”

“This was a huge disaster for Biden,” said Parsi of the Quincy Institute, referring to the protests on college campuses. “This is an important voting group.”

Parsi added that the protests could lead to more pressure on Democrats to act on Gaza, as they are bringing a “new level of energy” and a “completely new level of skepticism” about US policy toward Israel.