Senate Democrats are in disagreement over whether new restrictions should be placed on a multi-billion-dollar aid package for Israel, given its recent conflict with Hamas in Gaza. While Sen. Richard Blumenthal opposes “micromanaging” Israel’s actions, Sen. Bernie Sanders is concerned about civilian casualties and the need to “save lives.” Despite this debate, legislating restrictions seems difficult due to the unlikeliness of Congress enacting new conditions on funding for Israel, including the lack of agreement among lawmakers on what the new requirements would be. However, some Democrats believe that simply discussing conditions on aid may influence Israel.
Moreover, even Senator Sanders acknowledges that the aid package is likely to pass soon and that the idea of conditioning aid to Israel is not favored by most Republicans and Democrats. Bernie has influenced the conversation around the conditions on aid for Israel but Sen. Blumenthal and others have met privately with senior Israeli Defense Forces officials about how Israel may wish to minimize civilian casualties in future offensives. While it may be difficult to legislate. Although addressing the conditions on foreign aid poses challenges, the current discussion regarding Israel’s war on Gaza’s welfare is a significant sign of progress. Israel has often been exempt from the standards required for foreign countries receiving U.S. military support, and according to analysts, Israel has repeatedly violated international humanitarian laws. Additionally, the U.S.-Israel military relationship is unique.
Despite the challenges involved in conditioning the aid package for Israel, it is an essential conversation for Congress as the amount of civilian harm caused by the conflict has increased. On Thursday, Israeli news outlets +972 and Local Call published an investigation reminding people that the country has loosened its limits on harming civilians and striking non-military targets, indicating a need for gold standards to apply to foreign policy decisions and protections for civilians in combat areas. Such action may inadvertently send a strong message while conditioning the aid package for Israel.
According to experts like Annie Shiel, the ability to establish conditions on the aid package would be further complicated following a breakdown of trust by the U.S. in identifying Israeli war criminal violations due to the lack of a tracking system. Such a conducive environment opens up the possibilities of establishing better designed arms transfer policies, creating an opportunity to set forth a diplomatic approach to prevent possible war crimes. As a well-respected advocate in civilian war conflict, Shiel as well as other experts would expect to continue broadcasting the message to Congress.
