A majority of House Democrats backed a push Wednesday to eliminate $3.3 billion in U.S. assistance to Israel, marking one of the clearest signs yet that Washington’s once-dependable bipartisan consensus on Israel is weakening after the devastating Gaza war, which has left thousands of Palestinians dead.
The amendment failed by a wide margin, 104-314, and was not added to a larger national security funding package. Still, the vote offered a revealing snapshot of how sharply views are shifting inside the Democratic Party and across the country as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military campaign nears its third year.
The issue also exposed fractures among House Democratic leaders, with the vote widely viewed as an early measure of where lawmakers stand ahead of the U.S. midterm elections that will decide which party controls Congress.
More than 100 Democrats supported the proposal to remove the foreign military aid, while nearly the same number of Democrats opposed it. Republicans, by contrast, largely lined up in favor of keeping the Israel funding intact.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he opposed the amendment that would have reduced the aid to zero, but he also acknowledged growing concerns, saying that “for the good of Israel and the Palestinian people, American policy in the Middle East must change.”
In a letter sent to colleagues before a private caucus meeting this week, where he addressed the matter directly, Jeffries wrote that he believes “there are more decisive ways to achieve the urgent change necessary when it comes to the far-right Netanyahu government.”
Democrats divided over US support for Israel
The widening Democratic divide over Israel is becoming a major political fault line, especially as the party’s energized progressive wing boosts self-described democratic socialist candidates in several high-profile House contests, including notable races in New York last month.
For years, mainstream Democrats largely supported U.S. military aid to Israel. But as the war in Gaza has stretched on following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, more lawmakers have begun distancing themselves from Netanyahu’s approach and questioning the direction of American support.
The Democratic Whip, Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, announced she would support the measure to withhold the funds.
Republicans have seized on the divide to portray Democrats as being overtaken by their more radical far-left elements, even as House Speaker Mike Johnson faces divisions within his own ranks as President Donald Trump’s most ardent America First Republicans lean toward less foreign military spending.
According to an AP-NORC poll this month, about one-third of US adults — including roughly half of Democrats — believe Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians during the war in Gaza, an accusation that’s been leveled by some human rights organizations and vehemently denied by Israel and the US government.
Amendment pushed forward from Rep. Thomas Massie
The amendment to strip Israel’s foreign aid was offered by Rep. Thomas Massie, the libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican who lost his own bid for reelection after Trump backed his challenger.
During the floor debate, Massie said the $3.3 billion could be better spent at home on US roads, bridges and veterans’ needs, especially as national deficits are on the rise. He said the American weapons were used on “oftentimes innocent civilians.”
“I think we should stop it — we should put them on a diet,” Massie said.
But Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, himself a former party leader, championed longtime support of Israel and warned against withdrawing US aid.
“I rise in strong opposition to this amendment, which would dangerously undermine American national security,” Hoyer said. He said it would limit the United States’ ability to confront terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, which he said “expressly target American citizens and military personnel.”
Lawmakers under pressure as midterms near
The lawmakers were feeling pressure from all sides as they prepare for midterm elections this fall.
The powerful American-Israel group AIPAC encouraged its supporters to contact members of Congress to register their opposition.
“We must ensure his dangerous amendment is defeated,” AIPAC said in a statement ahead of the vote.
At the same time, the progressive advocacy organization J Street gave lawmakers more leeway to express their views, as Jeffries did, even as the group opposed the amendment as poorly drafted and overly broad.
President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a statement that J Street recognizes “that, for many Democrats, this is one of the few opportunities to cast a recorded vote expressing opposition to the way American military assistance and American-supplied weapons have been used by the Israeli government in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and elsewhere.”
He said that what unites the majority of Democrats “is far more significant” than this vote as they work to support “the security and rights of both Israelis and Palestinians.”
