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\n

Nearly half of House Democrats voted to cut off aid to Israel Wednesday, underscoring a seismic shift in political support for the longtime U.S. ally.<\/p>\n

The amendment to a State Department spending bill would have eliminated $3.3 billion in funding, and thanks to strong Republican support for the Jewish state, it failed 314-104. But the vote served as a moment of reckoning for House Democrats who have had to confront years of voter outrage about Israel\u2019s handling of the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s also a real sense that the status quo cannot continue,\u201d the House\u2019s No. 2 Democrat, Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, said in an interview before voting for the amendment.<\/p>\n

The vote came after months of contentious primary elections where progressive candidates toppled incumbent<\/a> after incumbent<\/a> by publicly eschewing spending from pro-Israel groups and promising to recast America\u2019s relationship with the nation.<\/p>\n

The scale of Democratic support for the amendment Wednesday was an acknowledgement of the grassroots fury that has reshaped the political landscape inside the party \u2014 a transformation that has rapidly accelerated under President Donald Trump and his close ties to the hard-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

Just over two years ago, only 37 House Democrats \u2014 mostly on the party\u2019s hard-left flank \u2014 voted for a similar bid<\/a> to crack down on U.S. for Israel.<\/p>\n

This time, a much broader swath of Democrats came along \u2014 103 of the 211 members voting Wednesday, plus another 10 who voted \u201cpresent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The supporters included Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the esteemed former speaker, who said in a statement that she reluctantly backed the amendment because Americans \u201care rightly demanding an end to a perpetual cycle of war, and the Netanyahu government cannot maintain its current course.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the amendment in question was introduced by an isolationist Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, the vast majority of the support it received on the floor came from a divided Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

The split went to the very top.<\/p>\n

Clark\u2019s support for the measure broke with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who blasted Massie\u2019s amendment as a poorly constructed effort<\/a> that could end humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The still-sizable Democratic opposition plus the \u201cno\u201d votes of 215 Republicans was enough to sink the measure. But even Jeffries and other top Democrats allied with him who rejected the amendment acknowledged this week that the U.S. needs to recalibrate its relationship with Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s the goal \u2014 making sure that Israel lives up to standards that we have for other countries,\u201d said Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. \u201cThat\u2019s appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) voted \u201cpresent\u201d but said in an interview that he would favor a more carefully targeted effort to end military aid to Israel \u201cand certainly condition even the defensive aid.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was torn, he said, because he does not \u201cwant to cut off all cooperation with Israel, all support for peace building, civil society, a diplomatic presence, things that support the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n

With scores of members now on the record about their opposition, and a growing contingent of Israel skeptics poised to join the House next term, fractious Israel politics will be an ongoing challenge for Jeffries next term.<\/p>\n

The minority leader represents a significant orthodox Jewish community in his Brooklyn congressional district and has touted his strong support for Israel. The amendment episode previewed how he plans to handle the divide.<\/p>\n

Jeffries hosted two lengthy private caucus meetings where lawmakers hashed out their disagreements and eventually advised members to \u201cvote their conscience\u201d during a Tuesday meeting. In a \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letter<\/a> he said a \u201cmeaningful change in direction is needed\u201d especially as a 10-year security assistance agreement signed by former President Barack Obama expires later this year.<\/p>\n

Whether his approach will satisfy incoming ultraprogressive members, some of whom have not committed to backing him as leader, remains to be seen. But left-leaning House Democrats celebrated the vote tally \u2014 and leadership\u2019s agree-to-disagree tack \u2014 as a massive victory.<\/p>\n

Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, urged his colleagues to support the amendment in his own Tuesday letter, saying that the \u201cAmerican people are crying out for an end to US tax dollars subsidizing Israel\u2019s military.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just progressives, though, who voted for the amendment. In a sign of the omnipresent Israel politics dominating this midterm cycle, the hawkish Rep. Seth Moulton \u2014 who is challenging progressive Sen. Ed Markey in Massachusetts \u2014 voted also \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe simply cannot continue to condone Netanyahu\u2019s actions that are against our moral conscience and our own national security interests,\u201d he said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rep. Lauren Underwood \u2014 a leader of House Democrats\u2019 campaign arm who flipped her Illinois seat blue in 2018 \u2014 voted for the amendment as well. So did Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado, a member of leadership, and Rep. Valarie Foushee of North Carolina, who weathered a primary challenge this term from the left.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve all grown frustrated with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s actions,\u201d Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) \u2014 who has previously backed Israel aid but voted for the Massie amendment \u2014 said. \u201cHis actions have really, I think, motivated a lot of the yes votes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly half of House Democrats voted to cut off aid to Israel Wednesday, underscoring a seismic shift in political support for the longtime U.S. ally. The amendment to a State Department spending bill would have eliminated $3.3 billion in funding, and thanks to strong Republican support for the Jewish state, it failed 314-104. But the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25914\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}