A growing number of Democrats express interest in making weapons conditional on Israel, but the issue continues to generate divisions in the party, and even supporters of the idea have differing opinions on the path to imposing restrictions on aid.
Calls to withdraw military support for Israel grew after a deadly Israeli attack killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity earlier this month.
While the push for gun conditioning continues primarily among progressives, some centrist Democrats have expressed frustration following the WCK attack, which killed an American Canadian citizen.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told The Hill that there needs to be an investigation into the WCK attack and a plan for how Israel will do things differently in Gaza.
“And if we don’t get an acceptable answer, I think going forward it will be reasonable to discuss with them about [certain] conditions on what we provide them,” he said.
“The loss of civilian life is significant, unacceptable, and when innocent women and children are killed, we need to figure out a different way forward,” Kelly added.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, urged the U.S. to send only defensive weapons to Israel, a call he emphasized after the WCK attack.
“I still think it’s smart to avoid escalation,” Kaine told The Hill about sending only defensive weapons. He added that the first priority is to get Hamas to agree to a temporary ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
“The ball is in their court now. The pace of humanitarian aid is accelerating,” said the senator.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) also signaled openness to weapons conditioning in the wake of the WCK attack.
And Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said she would block the sale of F-15s to Israel after the attack. In a statement to The Hill, Warren said she has “long called for conditioning aid to Israel.”
Israel has conducted a preliminary investigation into the WCK attack and fired two police officers over the incident, although a more detailed review is expected. Israeli forces said they mistakenly thought the WCK workers were Hamas fighters.
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) is among those who say Israel has overstepped its bounds.
“My inclination at this point is to only support defensive guns,” he told The Hill. “I told [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] to your face that I thought the bombing campaign was causing more damage to Israel than to Hamas, and I think Israel absolutely has to do more to facilitate humanitarian aid.”
King also told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week that the US has a “responsibility” as a weapons supplier to ensure the protection of civilians.
More than 50 House Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.),signed a letterthis month demanding an investigation into the WCK strike – and calling for aid to be withheld at least until it is concluded.
“The letter is simple: Until there is an investigation, we must withhold,” Pelosi said in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday, citing the Leahy Act, which prohibits the U.S. from supplying weapons to foreign countries that violate human rights.
“If we provide you with assistance… you cannot interfere with our provision of humanitarian assistance,” she added.
Even Democrats who continue to oppose conditions of support for Israel are pushing for increased humanitarian aid and minimizing civilian deaths.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee,told NewsNationlast week that Democrats are in “different places” on the issue.
But he emphasized that the party generally wants to support Israel while also addressing the crisis in Gaza.
“We are not asking them to stop trying to meet their security needs,” he said. “We are saying that the way they are doing it is not necessary because they could be doing more to allow humanitarian assistance to enter and then, once received, ensure that it reaches those who need it. That’s where the pressure is coming from now.”
More than 33,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza in the war, which has been going on for more than six months and has created a humanitarian crisis in the coastal strip.
Most Democrats still side with Israel, saying the nation must be allowed to ensure its security following Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and nearly 240 hostages were taken.
Around 100 hostages are believed to have been left alive in Gaza, although that number is uncertain as Hamas negotiators say there are not even 40 hostages needed for another potential ceasefire agreement.
At the White House, President Biden is increasingly frustrated with the death toll and the humanitarian situation. After the WCK attack, he had a tense call with Netanyahu, which was quickly followed by Israel’s opening of a new humanitarian corridor in northern Gaza.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Biden responded to a question about conditioning aid to Israel, citing his efforts to pressure Netanyahu to send more humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“It’s not enough. But there needs to be more,” he said of the humanitarian aid reaching Gaza. “We’ll see what he does in terms of fulfilling the commitments he made to me.”
Biden is facing pressure from his left flank in the war between Israel and Hamas during a bitter election year, and his frustration has slowly grown amid the rising death toll in Gaza, which has sparked protest votes against the president in the Democratic primary.
Now Biden has stepped up direct US interventions, with American troops dropping air aid and building a pier off the coast of Gaza to facilitate more deliveries.
But the US warned last week that famine has already reached Gaza, highlighting how dire the situation has become.
If Democrats agree to condition the aid, it could be done in different ways, although it would be difficult to pass any measure given that Republicans control the House. And the Senate has already approved a national security supplement that includes about $14 billion in additional support for Israel.
The State Department, which manages arms transfers, must notify Congress 30 days in advance of the sale or transfer of major defense equipment valued at $14 million or more, or weapons and defense articles valued at $50 million. dollars or more.
Congress can adopt a joint resolution disapproving a pending transfer to derail it, or it can, at any time, pass legislation blocking it. Congress has never adopted a joint resolution to block a transfer, but it has informally influenced transfer efforts before, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Despite its growing disagreement with Israel, the Biden administration has continued to send more weapons to the country, including the recent authorization of F-35 fighter jets and 2,000-pound bombs that were used for widespread destruction in Gaza.
A State Department official told The Hill that it was not effective to impose conditions on weapons and that it could be extremely difficult to ensure compliance if they did, since it would likely require putting U.S. officials on the ground for screening.
And providing only defensive weapons would hamper the ability to rescue hostages, they added.
“At a time when there are still American hostages in the hands of Hamas, I do not believe that any military can rescue hostages with an Iron Dome interceptor,” said the official.
The official argued that “there are always some sectors of Congress that have doubts and concerns”, especially during a conflict, but stressed that the Biden administration is not talking about conditions or restrictions.
“We are not negotiating restrictions or conditions because that is not government policy,” the official said.
Ongoing negotiations between Israel, Hamas, Egypt, Qatar and the US have had an impact on how policymakers view arms conditioning on Israel, as many hope that it will soon be possible to reach agreement on a ceasefire and the release of hostages.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told The Hill he wanted to see a “pause that allows more humanitarian aid” to Gaza when asked if he would support an effort to condition weapons.
“I defend that Israel continues its right to self-defense,” he added.
The rising death toll in Gaza fueled anger in the Democratic Party for months and reached a boiling point in March when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Netanyahu was too willing to accept the number of deaths in Gaza. Schumer also called for new elections in Israel.
But despite growing unrest among Democrats, it is unclear whether there is enough pressure to take concrete action toward a “steadfast” ally.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) unsuccessfully pushed to tie Israeli aid to human rights protections, and he was joined byseven other senatorsin a March letter calling for conditions on offensive weapons.
Rep. Gregory Meeks (DN.Y.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he was “waiting for assurances” about what types of weapons will be sent to Israel in the future.
“I want to make sure I know the types of weapons and what they would be used for,” he said on CNN last week. “I say no more indiscriminate bombings. I don’t want the types of weapons that Israel has [so far] used to have more deaths.
“I want to ensure that humanitarian aid arrives. I don’t want people to die of hunger,” he continued. “And I want Hamas to release the hostages. That’s enough.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
