The US House of Representatives debated the Israel Security Assistance Act along bitter partisan lines on Thursday. Republicans attempted to move forward with the legislation to compel the Biden administration to immediately deliver all previous restricted weapons shipments and prevent the White House from withholding future arms shipments to Israel.The bill was sent back to the committee after an hour of debate.Republicans condemned Democrats and Biden for appealing to the radical factions of their party and turning their backs on Israel at its time of need by suspending a shipment of 1,800 munitions of 2,000-lb. and 1,700 500-lb. Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bombs.
Across the aisle, Democrats, including Jewish members and staunch supporters of Israel, disparaged their Republican colleagues’ efforts as political and dangerous, criticizing the majority’s months-long delay in passing the national security supplemental bill, which provided Israel with more than $14 billion in defense aid.Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida), Brad Sherman (D-California), Brad Schneider (D-Illinois), and Dan Goldman (D-New York) who are all Jewish and active proponents of Israel’s security and independence, strongly opposed the bill for what they said is its partisan nature and exploitation of Israel for political gain.
A pseudo pro-Israel bill
Sherman described the legislation as a “pseudo pro-Israel” bill that has no strategic significance. No one should be tempted to vote for the Israel Security Assistance Act, as a better bill will be coming, he said.According to Sherman, the Israel Security Assistance Act attacks Israel at its two weakest points: bipartisan support and its international image.“Israel has one friend in the world and cannot afford to have only one half of one friend,” he said, adding that the national security supplemental bill had garnered overwhelming bipartisan support.The Israel Security Assistance Act “poisoned” the bipartisan nature of the supplemental by condemning Biden by name in a clear effort to get as little Democratic support as possible, Sherman said.He also described Congress’s attempt to exempt Israel from the Lahey Law and other international humanitarian laws as “poison on the world stage.”Wasserman Schultz quickly and fervently criticized Biden’s decision to withhold last week’s arms shipments and was among the 26 members of her party who expressed concern over the decision in a letter to the White House.On Thursday, she said she rose in “strong opposition to the bill,” which threatens US national security and Israel’s relationship with the US.According to Wasserman Schultz, Israel and the White House agree that the shipment of 2,000-lb. bombs is not needed for the Rafah operation.The legislation “imperils our diplomats” who are working to secure a hostage deal because it threatens to block military and national security funds, she said.“A plan to defend US national security agencies that send assistance, share intelligence, and help defeat Hamas is exactly how you cut off your nose to spite your face,” Wasserman Schultz said.Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he was disappointed in the administration’s “fading moral clarity” to its ironclad commitment to Israel.Rafah is the last stage of Israel’s military operation, and to eliminate Hamas, Israel must use larger bombs there to destroy underground command centers, McCaul said.As The Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday, the IDF ordered evacuations in Jabalya, an area northern Gazan that Israel claimed full operational control of in January. Saturday’s evacuation was the IDF’s effective acknowledgment of a substantial loss of control and that it needed to undertake another massive operation.Saturday’s evacuation in Jabalya goes far beyond the periodic small-scale “clean-up” operations that the IDF predicted it would need to undertake for up to nine months from January to put down a secondary Hamas attempted insurgency.According to the IDF, Hamas is restoring command and control capabilities, and only a larger operation, including evacuating large numbers of Palestinian civilians, would be sufficient to prevent its possible return to power in the near future.Furthermore, the IDF publicly acknowledged that the months of delay by the government since January in selecting a new entity or hybrid of countries and entities to manage Gaza in place of Hamas has squandered many of the IDF’s operational achievements.Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.