WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is lobbying Democratic senators to vote against legislation being advanced by several of the party’s most progressive members that would block more than $20 billion in weapon shipments to Israel, two US officials told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.
The series of Joint Resolutions of Disapproval co-sponsored by Senators Bernie Sanders, Peter Welch, Jeff Merkley and Brian Schatz are slated to come to a vote on Wednesday and aim to block six weapon transfers to Israel, which include guided missiles, tank rounds, mortars, tactical vehicles and F-15 fighter jets.
While the votes are all but certain to fail, given the strong support for Israel in both parties — particularly the GOP, they are likely to mark a watershed moment in a more divided Democratic Party that is still working to understand the lessons of this month’s election, which saw Republicans win the White House and Senate while maintaining their majority in the House.
The Biden administration’s decision to engage on the matter demonstrates its desire for the Democratic Party to maintain a more pro-Israel posture post-election.
While moderates have argued that the party did too much to cater to its progressive wing, including by staking out adversarial positions toward Israel, lawmakers such as “Squad” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have charged that the party catered to special interest groups such as the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby and therefore lost support — a claim denounced by several mainstream Jewish organizations.
Accordingly, the progressive flank is looking for a strong showing during Wednesday’s voting to demonstrate that the party should take a harder line on Israel than under Biden.
President Joe Biden shakes hands with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, left, during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, November 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has been privately working to push back against the Senate legislation, with officials from the White House, State Department and Pentagon reaching out to various lawmakers on the fence about how they might vote, one US official told The Times of Israel.
These Democrats have expressed concerns regarding the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza and the notion that US-supplied weapons are being used to kill women and children, the US official said. Some have also maintained that Israel hasn’t done enough to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza and didn’t meet many of the steps laid out by the Biden administration in a letter to Jerusalem last month that warned of a partial arms embargo if the Gaza humanitarian crisis isn’t alleviated within 30 days.
As the deadline expired last week, the US said that Israel made enough progress on many of the steps laid out in the letter to remain in compliance with US law, thereby allowing weapons shipments to continue. The decision infuriated progressives but was also made days after the election of Donald Trump, who would almost surely have reversed any decision withholding arms to Israel upon returning to office.
In making the case against the Senate resolutions, Biden aides have argued that the weapons in question are essential for Israel’s defense and won’t be delivered for another year or two, “So the likelihood of them being used in this iteration of the Gaza context is very low,” explained one US official.
“At a time when Hezbollah is about to agree to a ceasefire, now is not the time to send a message to Israel’s adversaries that there is a break in the relationship between the United States and Israel,” the US official continued. “It actually only encourages Israel’s adversaries to be more obstinate and sends a terrible message to Iran, as Iran considers retaliation against Israel.”
Palestinians, including children, wait to receive food distributed by an aid organization in Deir Al Balah, Gaza, on November 18, 2024. (Hassan Jedi/ Anadolu/ Reuters)
The official went on to reject arguments from some Democratic senators who have expressed willingness to back the legislation, while arguing that they still support sending defensive weapons to Israel.
“That is a false concept,” said the US official. “You can’t retrieve hostages or get to a rocket launcher with an Iron Dome missile.”
As for Democratic frustrations over Israel’s track record on ensuring humanitarian aid reaches civilians, the US official said the matter was separate than the issues raised in the resolutions. “If we want Israel to be able to make choices on humanitarian assistance, they need to know that the United States has their back.”
The US official also argued that there are more effective ways to send Israel messages regarding civilian casualties than through these resolutions.
