Democratic leaders in the US Congress are seeking to clamp down on a growing movement in their ranks to restrict arms sales and put conditions on military aid to Israel, which once had unconditional bipartisan support.
The pro-Israel old guard in the House of Representatives has started to lose traction as a new generation of Democrats willing to criticise the close US ally rises through the ranks and vocally pro-Palestinian members continue to win elections.
The fractures were on display this week as the pro-Palestinian faction tried to block President Joe Biden’s $735 million sale of precision-guided munitions to Israel.
Israel is in the middle of a deadly aerial campaign in the Gaza Strip, in response to a barrage of Hamas rocket attacks.
The violence has killed at least 212 Palestinians, including 61 children, and 10 people in Israel, including one child.
A group of 10 pro-Palestinian Democrats introduced legislation on Wednesday to block the arms sale after Gregory Meeks of New York, the House foreign affairs committee chairman, ultimately declined to ask the Biden administration to halt the sale.
The legislation was introduced by left-wing firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who defeated the House’s number three Democrat and staunch Israel defender Joseph Crowley in 2018.
“For decades, the US has sold billions of dollars in weaponry to Israel without ever requiring them to respect basic Palestinian rights,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez said when introducing the bill.
“In so doing, we have directly contributed to the death, displacement and disenfranchisement of millions.”
“At a time when so many, including President Biden, support a ceasefire, we should not be sending ‘direct attack’ weaponry to Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu to prolong this violence.”
The Biden administration first notified Congress of the $735m arms sale on May 5, but The Washington Post reported on Monday that Mr Meeks had failed to promptly inform members of the foreign affairs committee, who learnt about it last weekend.
After backlash on the committee, initial reports on Monday indicated that Mr Meeks would use his authority to ask the Biden administration to halt the sale.
But Steny Hoyer, the House’s number two Democrat, said on Tuesday that Mr Meeks had backed off his decision to place a hold on the sale.
Mr Hoyer that same day blamed Hamas for civilian casualties in Gaza and Israel, while saying that placing conditions on aid to Israel “would only embolden Hamas and encourage it to continue its disregard for innocent life and destabilising actions".
Mr Meeks later denied that he ever intended to halt the arms sale after intense criticism from Republicans.
Instead, he said that the Biden administration would brief Congress on the arms sale by the end of the week.
"I never said I was going to hold it," Mr Meeks told The National. "I wanted to make sure we have open space for dialogue.
“It’s not about what’s taking place in the Middle East right now, because these weapons are going to be delivered a year from now, [when] they will probably receive them.”
Mr Meeks assumed leadership of the foreign affairs committee after the former chairman, Eliot Engel of New York, lost his re-election bid to Jamaal Bowman.
During the race, Mr Engel faced heavy criticism for his history of unconditional support for Israel. Mr Bowman is now one of the co-sponsors of Ms Ocasio-Cortez’s bill to halt the Israel arms sale.
But she and her allies would need Mr Meeks’s support to force the House to vote on their bill.
The 15-day deadline to force such a vote expires on Thursday and pro-Israel Democrats would probably join forces with Republicans to kill any such legislation, effectively making the bill a symbolic objection to the sale in the face of opposition from Democratic leadership.
"This was sort of slid through without a lot of attention or notice," Pramila Jayapal, another co-sponsor on the bill, told The National.
“Given the situation today and the fire keg that is there in the Middle East, this is the wrong time to be approving military sales.
“It doesn’t mean it can never happen, but I think this is not the time to be doing it because I think we really have to focus on the ceasefire. It felt important to send that message.”
Pro-Palestinian advocates may still have other cards to play in Congress.
Betty McCollum of Minnesota, another co-sponsor of the Ocasio-Cortez bill, now chairs the powerful defence spending panel.
Ms McCollum has introduced her own legislation that would put conditions on US military aid to pressure Israel into avoiding forcible displacement of Palestinians, annexing Palestinian territory or detaining Palestinian minors.
At least one advocacy group backing her bill has suggested that she could use her new position in leadership to attach similar restrictions on aid to Israel in the annual defence spending bill.
“While a vote on [Ms McCollum’s] bill may be unlikely given the political dynamics in the House right now, it’d be wonderful if she got a hearing on the bill, attached a version of it to the must-pass [defence spending bill] and found someone to introduce a Senate companion,” said Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative manager for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
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A Palestinian man inspects the damage of a six-storey building destroyed by an early morning Israeli air strike in Gaza city. AP Photo -
Palestinians, who fled their homes due to Israeli air and artillery strikes, wash their clothes at a UN-run school in Gaza city. Reuters -
Rockets are launched towards Israel from the southern Gaza Strip. AFP -
A satellite image shows the rubble of a Gaza Strip high-rise building. AP Photo -
A member of the Palestinian Abu Dayer family receives treatment at Al-Shifa Hospital following an Israeli air strike on their home in Gaza city. AFP -
More than 200 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed in the attacks. AFP -
Palestinians run amid Israeli air strikes on Gaza city. AFP -
A Palestinian man reacts to the death of his father who was killed by an Israeli airstrike that destroyed the upper floors of a commercial building and caused damage to a health ministry and prime health care clinic in Gaza city. AP Photo -
A ball of fire explodes above buildings in Gaza city as Israeli forces shell the Palestinian enclave. AFP -
Israeli soldiers cheer as they take photos at an artillery position along the Israel-Gaza border. AP Photo -
Wounded Palestinian girl Sara Al-Metrabeeay lies on a bed in Shifa Hospital in Gaza city. Reuters -
Fighting continues between the Israeli Army and Hamas forces at the Gaza border, Israel. EPA -
Israelis gather to watch the Iron Dome aerial defence system launch a missile to intercept a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip, above the city of Ashdod. AFP -
An Israeli artillery soldier carries shells as their unit aims at targets in the Gaza Strip. EPA -
People inspect a destroyed car inside a house, following an Israeli airstrike on the upper floors of a commercial building in Gaza city. AP Photo
The defence spending panel regularly appropriates $500m a year to fund Israeli missile defence programmes.
But most of the military aid to Israel comes in the form of $3.3 billion in yearly financing from the foreign aid spending panel, of which Barbara Lee of California is now chairwoman.
While Ms Lee has yet to comment on the arms sale, she has criticised Israel’s “unjust attempts to forcibly displace Palestinian families from their homes".
She took control of the panel this year after Nita Lowey of New York, the former chairwoman and another stalwart Israel defender, retired.
Despite their new potential allies in leadership, pro-Palestinian advocates in Congress still face an uphill battle with the Democrats’ top brass.
Mr Meeks, for instance, objected to Ms McCollum’s efforts to place conditions on Israeli military aid, saying it would impinge on the preliminary agreement under former president Barack Obama.
The 10-year agreement stipulates that the US will provide Israel with $3.8bn in military aid a year.
"I don't think that the [preliminary deal] that was agreed to should be conditioned," Mr Meeks told The National. "That's for Israel's defence.
“Thousands of rockets have been fired at Israel. Without them being intercepted, we would have an even larger tragedy taking place than we have right now.
"So, that’s clearly why I agree with the president on this, that Israel has the right to defend itself.”
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A Palestinian man carries his daughter next to a destroyed tower, following Israeli air strikes in Gaza city. EPA -
Rockets are launched towards Israel from Gaza city. AFP -
A Palestinian man stands next to his destroyed house after Israeli air strikes in Gaza city. EPA -
Palestinian demonstrators clash with Israeli troops at the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus city, in the occupied West Bank. AFP -
A Palestinian protester collects stones amid clashes with Israeli security forces near the settlement of Beit El and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. AFP -
Palestinian firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a paint factory after it was hit by an Israeli air strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip. AP Photo -
An Israeli soldier works at an artillery unit near the border between Israel and the Gaza strip, on the Israeli side. Reuters -
Israeli relatives attend the funeral of Yigal Yehoshua in the city of Modiin. The Israeli man, 56, who was beaten in the city of Lod, died in hospital, police said. AFP -
Israeli soldiers fire a 155mm self-propelled howitzer towards the Gaza Strip from their position along the border. AFP -
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urges President Biden to 'remain strong' in support of Israel's military campaign against Hamas. EPA -
Eritrean asylum seeker Kahase Gerensae and his children take shelter in the stairwell outside their apartment in Ashdod, Israel, during a siren warning of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. AP Photo -
Palestinians walk among the rubble of a destroyed building after Israeli air strikes in Gaza city. EPA -
A Palestinian child, who was wounded in overnight Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, receives treatment at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza city. Getty Images -
Suzy Ishkontana, 7, and her father Riad Ishkontana, 42, survived an Israeli air strike that killed their family and destroyed their home. AP Photo
