Vote on U.S. aid to Israel exposes sharp divide in Congress

Geoff Bennett:

Israel's war in Gaza and its joint military operation with the U.S. against Iran are fueling deep divisions on Capitol Hill, especially among Democrats.

Last night, more than half of House Democrats voted to end U.S. military funding for Israel. And a separate provision aimed at strengthening U.S.-Israel cooperation, part of the must-pass annual National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, is also exposing sharp differences.

Lisa Desjardins has been on Capitol Hill for much of the day and joins us now.

Lisa, it's great to see you.

So let's start with aid, U.S. aid to Israel. What happened this week?

Lisa Desjardins:

For the first time, at least in modern memory, a major political party has seen the majority of its party vote to cut military aid, all of it, to Israel.

This happened yesterday in a vote in the House; 103 Democrats voted to strip all of the military funding to Israel -- that's about $3.3 billion -- out of the bill. Now, most every Republican voted to keep the funding, so it did end up staying in that bill.

But there's no question this is exposing, as Republicans intended it to expose, a boiling divide in the Democratic Party. You can also look at the Democratic leaders of the House. There are the three right there. Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democratic side, and then the head of the Democratic Caucus itself, Pete Aguilar, they voted against cutting this funding.

But there in the middle, the number two Democrat in the House, voted yes. That is a very rare break, as you know, from anyone in Democratic leadership. Again, it's a profound debate. Some Democrats that I spoke with, like Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, said, listen, they may not like everything that Netanyahu is doing, but they will not end their support for Israeli aid.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO):

What Hamas did was one of the worst things I have ever seen or read about during my lifetime. And I think that we have to make sure that, when Israel is attacked, that they can respond.

Lisa Desjardins:

However, other Democrats are seeing what we saw in recent elections, recent primaries, where we're seeing the base increasingly vote on Israel and increasingly vote in opposition to any more support for Israel, especially funding.

So I spoke with Pramila Jayapal. She is a progressive. And I also spoke to the Republican who sponsored this move, Thomas Massie, about what they saw here.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA):

This is U.S. taxpayer dollars. And we have not upheld the Israeli government to any of our domestic laws or international laws in terms of requirements, completely unaccountable money. And it has to stop.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY):

I think it shows that public opinion is shifting. I think it shows that it's being reflected in at least one party here in Washington, D.C. And I think it shows that AIPAC's influence on Washington, D.C., has diminished severely.

Lisa Desjardins:

Now, other Republicans say it benefits them, ultimately. They think this is still a national security issue that they can win on.

AIPAC itself, as you well -- as know, is one of the most influential groups or has been in Washington. And I think their future is at stake here. They know it.

They sent out a statement yesterday after that vote, saying it was just a messaging vote. However, they said it was dangerous and encouraged enemies of America and Israel.

Geoff Bennett:

There's also attention on Israel in a different piece of legislation, the defense bill, the NDAA, in particular, this section that would integrate U.S. and Israel defense technology. What more should we know?

Lisa Desjardins:

This is why I love "News Hour." We can get into difficult issues like this.

My colleague Bridget Craig has been looking into this. And, together, we wanted to raise this section of the NDAA. This is the House-passed version. Section 219, it is called, the U.S.-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.

This creates essentially, Geoff, a new framework to organize how the U.S. and Israel work together on some of the most sensitive and critical technology that they share. Critics of this especially point to one series of phrases, that it would direct data fusion and network integration between Israel and the U.S.

I spoke with Josh Paul. He's a former State Department official who left the State Department after he -- over protests when the U.S. sent aid to Israel for Gaza. He says that this exact statute, this would stipulate -- give Israel too much power in the weapons chain and also in determining policy.

Josh Paul, Former State Department Official:

That would essentially give Israel the leverage that we currently have to be able to drive U.S. policy and to shape U.S. defense approaches.

At the same time, it also vastly expands the range of technologies and emerging technologies, some of the most sensitive capabilities that we have, for cooperation with Israel, including A.I., quantum, biotech, in a way that would, first of all, create a new level of cooperation, but with a partner that has a track record of not protecting U.S. intellectual property.

Lisa Desjardins:

Others say that's a vast overreaction, this is streamlined, this is accountability.

I spoke with Jonathan Ruhe at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, and he says this actually could benefit the U.S.

Jonathan Ruhe, Jewish Institute for National Security of America: So it's in the U.S. interest in terms of how it helps us deal with threats to our military, to our homeland defense, because Israel ends up being a laboratory, much like we're seeing also in Ukraine right now, where they -- Israel is forced almost to develop cutting-edge technologies.

So Israel has a much faster turnaround, not only to produce cutting edge technologies for defense, but also to test them on the battlefield.

Lisa Desjardins:

This is a small part of a big bill, but it was a very high priority, remains a priority for AIPAC.

Geoff Bennett:

And the NDAA, the defense bill, it sets policy for the military. It sets its budget. That's why it's described as a must-pass bill, and yet it's in limbo.

Lisa Desjardins:

Right.

It's usually a bipartisan bill. As you know, we're not in bipartisan times, by and large. And there are two issues. One is the Senate. The other is the House. In the Senate, it is being blocked generally by Democrats, who have problems with Iran funding and that defense policy there.

In the House, the House itself has problems passing a number of bills. There are several issues with the House of the NDAA, but I am told they are going to attempt to pass this bill next week. Why are we paying attention to it? This is nothing less than our military policy across the board.

And in the Trump administration especially, that is America's footprint in the world, and it is also how we use our resources. Republicans in this bill would spend more than we have ever seen before on the military. So it's very important to watch it.

Geoff Bennett:

Absolutely.

Lisa Desjardins, tracking that and so many other things for us, we appreciate it.

Lisa Desjardins:

You're welcome.