Israel hits a low point with Democrats in Congress
Israel’s relationship with Democrats on Capitol Hill is rapidly deteriorating, with a growing number of lawmakers saying they can no longer support U.S. funding for even the country’s defensive weaponry.
Why it matters: Opposing the use of American taxpayer dollars to fund Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system was “seen as insanely fringe four years ago,” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) told Axios. No longer.
- Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) told Axios he “cannot support more military assistance” to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he has “supported Iron Dome in the past, but there doesn’t seem to be any accountability.”
- Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) told Axios he doesn’t think that position is “wildly controversial in light of what the Israeli government has said for a long time.”
- “I think many of us are in the place of saying, ‘They have enough money to wage the wars they’re doing, they don’t need our money, period,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.).
The intrigue: McGovern, Huffman and Pocan voted to fund Iron Dome in 2021, along with 207 of their Democratic colleagues and 210 Republicans.
- Just eight Democrats voted against the funding at the time, with two — including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — voting “present.”
- Ocasio-Cortez made headlines earlier this month by telling a Democratic Socialists of America meeting she “will never” vote for funding to Israel, later clarifying that her pledge includes defensive weaponry.
- Several other high-profile progressives such as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and House hopeful Brad Lander — who is Jewish — have since followed suit, as has the influential progressive pro-Israel organization J Street.