Hakeem Jeffries says he will oppose bid to cut off Israel aid

[Polybius]

Source: Politico

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told fellow Democrats Tuesday he will oppose an amendment aimed at cutting off U.S. aid to Israel, wading directly into a contentious issue that is dividing the party.

Jeffries announced his position in a “Dear Colleague” letter circulated Tuesday and later spoke about his opposition during a morning caucus meeting.

The amendment to the fiscal 2027 spending bill for the State Department and overseas programs was introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and could come up for a vote in the coming days. It has sharply divided the party for weeks, with progressives calling for an end to America’s financial support for Israel as leadership-aligned members warned that the measure could also cut off aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

Jeffries said the amendment is “overly broad in that it prohibits or would limit the use of funds for longstanding initiatives related to humanitarian aid, refugee resettlement, peace-building and U.S. Embassy operations.” He added that the measure would also restrict U.S. capabilities to “confront Hamas.”

Read more: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/14/congress/hakeem-jeffries-israel-aid-00996273

[lostincalifornia]

1. I hope people are fooled into what this really is. This was offered a month ago by an Indiania republican, and Massie

is offering the same thing a month later.

Both of these offers were by rethugs from the house. Why do you think they are doing it?

BECAUSE THEY KNOW THERE IS A GOOD PROBABILITY THAT THE REPUKES MIGHT LOSE THE HOUSE IN THE MIDTERS


and with their devious games, they are hoping to divide the Democrats among themselves hoping that the rethugs will retain the majority in the House.

I really hope people don't allow themselves to get played by these thugs, and not vote for your DEMOCRATIC representative.

NOTE: The bill offerred by massie is a terrible bill the way it is written, and they are hoping people WON'T read it or understand it. It is NOT as black and white as they want you to believe.

Whether it is the corporate media, or the rethugs, no DEMOCRAT should be fooled by what the rethugs are doing.

If Democrats don't win at least one of the Houses, it is over. This is the only way we can stop trump and his anti-Democratic thugs for completely taking over the country.

[Polybius]

2. No, Massie is sincere on this

So much so that he was primaried out of his office, with a lot of help from AIPAC. Trump hates him, btw.

[lostincalifornia]

6. So what. Rep. Marlin Stutzman(R) a pro netanyaho representative offered a similar resolution a month ago.

The end result is the same.

Masse himself is an antisemite just based on his associations with holocaust deniers and prominent antisemites.

I also bet he knows the odds that it will pass are nil, and regardless of his revenge motivations which are undoubtedly true

Forget Israel, Massie is a consistent opponent of any US foreign aid to any country.

The point is we have been conned multiple times in 2000, 2016, and 2024 by different elements all intent on division.

In 2000 it was Nader. In 2016, it was the rethugs and a media that gave him a free pass. That is when we lost the Supreme Court. In 2024, the rethugs with the media's help did a 2016 redux.

Have we learned anything from that?

I doubt it, but hope we have.

[sarisataka]

5. People think he is doing this as a statement on Israel

his greater motivation is that he is an isolationist. He also voted against a resolution supporting Ukraine's sovereignty and was opposed to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.

If the subject is foreign aid, he is against it. It would not be surprising if this were to pass, he would turn his attention to ending aid to Ukraine.

[lostincalifornia]

7. Yes, very true, but the fact is he is also an antisemite, and what you are pointing out is not going to be mentioned

much I suspect by the media.

The media want to exploit the Israeli/Palestinian issue.

[Initech]

3. This is some fucking bullshit. Isreal needs to be completely cut off.

No money for Netanyahu's illegal genocide. PERIOD. End of debate. Fuck Netanyahu. Fuck AIPAC.

[lostincalifornia]

8. So what are you going to do if the bill fails? I am pretty sure you will vote for the Democrat in November no matter

how they voted on this issue.

[Initech]

10. What else do we do? Isreal isn't going to be stopped by MSNOW slop or strongly worded letters.

In a just world, we'd be dealing with Netanyahu the same way we dealt with Bin Laden. But our world is not just right now.

[lostincalifornia]

11. and that is the point I was trying to make, obviously not very well. We have to win at least

one House, and if by some miracle the Senate also.

That is the only way we can actually do something, perhaps even getting rid of the filibuster and expanding the Supreme Court.

[calilama]

15. Bin Laden and Netanyahu?..wtf

in a just world you wouldnt embarrass yourself comparing Bin Laden to Netanyahu...lots of Jewish Dems feel they have no political home in the Democratic Party with it's newfound obsessive hatred of Israel and tacit support of the raging antisemitism flooding our discourse....make it a litmus test issue and you will hand the 2028 election to the GOP...Genocide is a blood libel which couldnt even be proved in the ICJ trial...there are actual genocides happening but Israel is held to a standard that no other nation is

[angrychair]

4. Not really news

I already assumed that was the case.

He didn't take $1.5 million dollars in AIPAC money for nothing.

[pat_k]

9. So get co-sponsors for an amendment that makes military support conditional...

..while protecting whatever the hell he considers "overly broad."

Ending U.S. military support for genocide and war crimes by Israel is a moral imperative.

It is also a moral imperative to support Democrats over Republicans to save this liberal democracy of ours from destruction by the radical right.

In our current crisis, I think most in the Pro-Democracy coalition are clear that electing Democratic Party nominees (or the Independent candidate, in the case of Dan Sullivan in NE) outweighs the former. If the will of the people is cut out, we can't effect change on anything, Including the intolerable support of war crimes.

But the immoral support of a war criminal state by so many of our electeds and candidates is a sort of lunacy that is so obviously wrong it is difficult to fathom. If these people don't wake the fuck up, we will end up destroying America's liberal democracy in the name of supporting a war criminal state.

On edit: And to those who would brand me anti-Semitic, I say bullshit. Nothing I have ever said about the actions of the Israeli radical right government is more extreme than the condemnations in the Israeli press.

[lostincalifornia]

12. Massie is against all foreign aid, including Ukraine. It is just that he has decided to choose

this issue to stir things up, and as the OP mentioned, revenge against trump, though it won't be much of revenge against trump because in the end he lost his seat which is what trump wanted.

[iemanja]

13. One more example of why we need new leadership.

[Bayard]

14. Israel should get no more aid from us to continue their genocide

Otherwise, we are colluding with murderers. Palestinians should be getting those funds, and it would be little enough for what has been done to them. It sounds like a new amendment needs to be written that spells out the specifics.

I don't hate Israel. But, I hate what they have done to Gaza and its people. It is imperative to stop enabling them.