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2024-11-20 Home Front: Politix
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White House urging Democrats to reject progressive push to block arms transfers to Israel
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[ToI] With legislation almost certain to fail given bipartisan backing for Israel, administration’s decision to weigh in shows desire for party to maintain pro-Israel stance after election
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 and keep 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 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” member Rep. 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 in the Senate to demonstrate that the party should take a harder line on Israel than under Biden.
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.”
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.
Sanders also noted that other Western allies have taken similar steps to curb weapons shipments to Israel such as the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
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Posted by Skidmark 2024-11-20 06:47||
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File under: Hamas
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