Led by Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), this campaign comes at a time when more Democrats, historical supporters of the Jewish state, are urging the president to intensify efforts to rein in America's main ally in the Middle East. International human rights groups accused Israel of carrying out indiscriminate bombing of Gaza that amounts to war crimes.
Nearly 23,000 Palestinians have been killed over the past three months of fighting in the densely populated enclave, according to Gaza health officials. As Israel launches a devastating campaign in response to the cross-border attack by Hamas militants that left 1,200 people dead.
The Biden administration, which was quick to support Israel after the October 7 Hamas massacre, has been unusually tight-lipped about its ongoing military support program and is seeking to exempt Israel from it. Arms transfers go through a mandatory congressional notification process that applies to all other foreign arms sales.
Administration officials already bypassed Congress in this regard late last month, angering Democrats by invoking emergency authority and “the urgency of Israel's defense needs” to approve the sale of $147.5 million worth of artillery shells and related equipment.
Currently, lawmakers are negotiating Biden's request for more than $10 billion in additional military aid to Israel — already the largest recipient of U.S. security aid — as part of a $106 billion supplemental budget request that would cover a range of national security initiatives. . The proposal would also provide billions of dollars for U.S. border security, as well as military aid to Ukraine and Taiwan, but it remains stalled as Republicans and Democrats search for agreement on immigration reforms targeting illegal crossings at the southern U.S. border.
Biden's request, according to the text of the bill released by the Senate Appropriations Committee, includes a provision that says “any requirement to notify Congress applies to available funds…because Israel may be ceded if the Secretary of State determines that doing so is in the national security interest.” from the United States.”
Kaine and his fellow Senate Democrats — Martin Heinrich (NM), Chris Van Hollen (MD), Jeff Merkley (OR), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Peter Welsh (VT), Ben Ray Logan (NM), Dick Durbin (IL), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire), Raphael J. Warnock (Georgia), Tom Carper (Delasco), and Chris Murphy (Connecticut) – their amendment would eliminate this provision.
“I have strongly supported the American aid necessary to defend Israel, but all countries must be held to the same standard,” Kaine said in a statement. The statement did not go so far as to condemn the Israeli attack or make other demands for the administration to rein in Israel.
Other Democrats in the House and Senate were far more critical, calling on the administration to force Israel to meet certain conditions for receiving US aid or outright opposing any additional aid. The Democratic Party's left wing has been particularly vocal in urging Biden to take a stronger stance in support of Palestinian human rights.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said last week that he opposes the administration's request for additional aid to Israel, describing She described the campaign in Gaza as “grossly disproportionate, immoral and in violation of international law.”
“More importantly for Americans, we must understand that Israel’s war against the Palestinian people has been waged largely with American bombs, artillery shells, and other forms of weaponry,” Sanders said in a statement.
A number of other lawmakers called on the administration to impose conditions on the Americans Arms transfers.
The administration's lack of transparency has also prompted Democrats in Congress to demand basic information about its aid to Israel, the criteria for Israel's goals and methods, and the process for measuring its success in Gaza. Critics have drawn comparisons with Biden's approach to helping Ukraine, which the administration says also faces a desperate need for more weapons in its war against Russia. Since the war there began two years ago, the State Department and the Pentagon have publicly documented tens of billions of dollars in American aid.
