- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
The House on Tuesday failed to pass a standalone package for $17.6 billion in Israel aid amid opposition from both Republicans and Democratic leaders.
Because of resistance among members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, House Speaker Mike Johnson had been forced to bring up the bill under a procedure that requires two-thirds majority of the House to approve it. That means he needed the support of a sizable number of Democrats to get behind it, and failed to cross that threshold.
Inside a closed caucus meeting Tuesday morning, House Democratic leadership made a forceful case against supporting the standalone Israel aid package to members. Dozens of Democrats exiting the meeting said they will be voting against the bill.
The answer you get from people who seriously want to give them the aide for FA reasons are:
Israel has historically relied upon Western (chiefly US) military assistance to maintain a significant stockpile and sophistication of arms and military preparedness to dissuade military action against it from its neighbors and other actors who are openly hostile its existence as a state;
Israel’s prosecution of its current conflict has significantly depleted those stockpiles of armaments to the point that they no longer constitute such a quantum as to provide adequate deterrence to an attack.
Then maybe they should have used a semblance of restraint in their response.