Senators on both sides of the aisle are expressing optimism that they will pass a spending bill to provide increased security and humanitarian aid to Israel.
The display of unity follows a classified briefing on Oct. 18 in which senators received new intelligence about the ongoing Israel-Hamas War.
“I think you’re not going to find any problem whatsoever getting support [to] Israel,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). “The good news is a lot of Israeli defense aid is already codified. It’s already in place.”
“I can’t be more clear,” said Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). “I’m standing with Israel, and I look forward to voting for whatever they need. The military, intelligence, humanitarian [aid], everything. They have my vote.”
Bipartisan support for Israel is fast becoming a key metric for gauging the likelihood of passing legislation to provide defense to other U.S. partners as well.
The Biden administration is reportedly formulating a mammoth spending request that seeks to secure some $100 billion in security assistance to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine. After some complaints from Republican lawmakers, the bill likely will include funding for the United States’ own southern border as well.
Likewise, Sen. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said that Congress was likely to pass some funding for all the causes of concern.
Senators Call for Aid to Israel, Intelligence Briefs for the Public
The classified briefing and subsequent discussions about aid to Israel follow an explosion at the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, which killed hundreds of civilians.Though open-source intelligence has now verified that the disaster was the result of a misfired rocket from Gaza, initial reports, which were repeated by Western media outlets, claimed that Israel had bombed the Hospital.
“It’s clear that Israel was not involved with the hospital bombing,” Mr. Fetterman said.
“Trying to blame Israel [for] that is just absolutely despicable.”
To that end, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said the United States would need to step up its efforts to share intelligence with the public to ensure that misinformation or disinformation about the war in the Middle East did not proliferate.
“I’m not going to get into the details [about the hearing], but what we’ve concluded was that a lot of information needs to be shared with the American people,” Mr. Tillis said.
Mr. Tillis added that he did not believe Israel would require large amounts of U.S. arms in the immediate future but that securing the pipeline for such aid early was a vital display of support to the nation’s adversaries.
“I believe that they [Israel] have sufficient inventories to deal with the situation now. So this is more about sustainment,” Mr. Tillis said.
“Having said that, we need to do it quickly because even beyond just the certainty of the dollars being in the pipeline to fund it, it’s the result of the commitment of Congress. I think it means a lot to the Israeli people, and it should mean a lot to Hamas and those who are supporting them.”
Still, not all in Congress are on board with the proposed aid packages.
There are voices in the Republican Party that intend to push back on the proposals. Among them is Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who expressed disdain for the idea of providing $100 million in humanitarian aid to the residents of war-torn Gaza, saying that it would be co-opted by the Hamas terrorist organization.
“We have 31 Americans killed, we don’t know how many Americans are hostages, and we’ve got a president that wants to give money to Gazans,” Mr. Scott said. “Give me a break.”
